The hallways are dingy, ceilings low and lights flickering and dim. The tinkling of flute and percussion escapes from under the wood-paneled doorways, wafting into the narrow, snaky hallways of Regenstein Hall. Exploring the corridors in search of an available practice room is like walking through a Philip Glass or Steve Reich symphony, replete with minimal, repetitive notes — almost maddening to someone trying to hear the music in all the cacophony.
Students in the School of Music contend with practice facilities that often are not properly insulated; the peepholes in the doorways of Regenstein’s practice rooms — just drilled holes — release enough noise as it is. The walls, slabs of vanilla concrete barely contain sound.
It’s hard to reconcile the School of Music’s reputation — sixth in the country — with its dilapidated buildings.
“It’s definitely true that you can hear a lot of other stuff going on while you’re practicing,” said Music freshman Andrew Hill. “You can hear all the people around you and across the hall, and so sometimes it can be kind of distracting and annoying.”
With the completion of Campaign Northwestern’s $1.4 billion fundraising initiative, the School of Music has been allotted $21 million to augment its budget, said Music Dean Bernard Dobroski. But students should not expect much of that money to go toward the construction of a new facility.
“Some of that (Campaign Northwestern money) has been designated specifically for facilities … But facility costs are significantly more then the monies designated,” Dean Dobroskisaid. “Of that $21 million, I would say three-quarters of it is designated toward personnel expenses. Maybe a quarter of it could be diverted toward facilities.”
Dobroski said he remains hopeful that a new building is in the school’s future — “I think we are next on the list” — but only after sufficient fundraising goals are met.
This may be disappointing — especially considering the new of buildings that have been built for McCorrmick and Medill — but it does not dissuade many students.
“I’m of the school of thought ‘education over everything else,'” said freshman Sunaina Sondhi, a clarinetist. “I value the world-class teachers over a new facility, although it would be really nice to have more practice rooms. I could have gone to a school with really good facilities, but what am I suppose to practice if I’m not learning?”
Dobroski prides himself on the school’s faculty and said that students reap more in the way of educational benefits from private lessons with the world class musicians the school employs.
“Incidentally, if you look at costs, 95 percent of our budget is personnel. It’s such a personnel-intensive, it really isn’t fair to say that the university isn’t supporting the school,” he said, noting the intimate nature of lessons, often a one-on-one experience, that the school’s faculty roster allows.
At the Chicago College of Performing Arts, a conservatory affiliated with Roosevelt University, music students practice in glass, soundproofed booths in a neatly arranged quadrangle. The doors on the practice spaces offer glimpses inside in contrast to Regenstein’s lumbering wooden doorways, where behind which it is difficult to tell if a room is available. CCPA addresses this with posted practice schedules that students use to reserve the rooms.
Through the glass at CCPA one can see the students engaged in their craft, pumping away at the piano, or standing before an upright music stand with a violin in hand. CCPA’s hallways are silent, save for the low rumbling of a heater. No stray notes. No Philip Glass. Students do not race to snag a room; the pianos are polished and in working order, unlike the stained wooden uprights with broken keys in the rooms of the Music Practice Hall, commonly referred to as the beehive.
Conditions in the third-floor practice rooms of the Music Administration Building are not as dire, but the building’s floor is uneven, its stairwell tilting left as you ascend, creating the feeling of slight, uncomfortable imbalance. The rooms are more spacious thanks to tall ceilings and walls. Rooms have two doors, but sound still escapes. The spaces are vault-like, connecting in a crooked labyrinth to neighboring rooms. These rooms, however, do not alleviate problems of unavailability at Regenstein.
“There’s not that many practice rooms, so especially at peak times of the day, it’s kind of impossible sometimes to get a room,” said sophomore French horn player Lyndsey McKay, speaking on the go while in pursuit of a room at Regenstein. “Sometimes you can get a room, if people leave their stuff in it.”
At last landing a large, almost-square room designed for chamber groups, McKay unloaded her gear, explaining practice room etiquette. “If it’s empty, it’s yours.”
“You can stay there as long as you want. You have 10 minutes and if you leave your stuff longer than ten minutes without being there, then somebody can take the room,” she said.
Unlike CCPA, where facilities are confined to floors eight and nine in the Michigan Avenue high-rise, Northwestern’s campus separates the School of Music. MAB and two-floor bricked beehive sit west of Sheridan Road, while Pick-Staiger Concert Hall and Regenstein are right off the lake.
The location problem is just one of many that students find themselves addressing.
“I love this school. I was here as a student practicing in these dark and cold buildings at times, and I know what the students are going through,” Dobroski said.
Most students said they understand the budget balancing act facing the school’s administration, headed by incoming dean Toni-Marie Montgomery in the next academic year.
“Everybody wants something new,” McKay said. “So, I think if we had a new building that would be great, but the basic work that we need to be done can be done. It’s better to have a new building, but generally we aren’t making millions, so we can’t donate that much. I wish there could be more money, though.”
Though not pristine, practice conditions suffice, said Hill. “Basically whenever I practice I just need to get my starting note and then I just sing without even really touching the piano.
So, I guess for me personally it doesn’t matter that much,” he said, acknowledging that a new facility with more space “would be nicer,” however.
The beehive is often available, though its conditions are somewhat more ascetic than Regenstein.
“The atmosphere isn’t as nice. The pianos really aren’t in good shape,” said Sondhi, who recently had to stop practicing at the beehive because the buildiing was too cold.
But Sondhi is grateful for the new security system.
“At least now at night you can practice there, and there’s always a practice room in the Beehive,” she said.
Still, most students say the benefits gained from the school’s expert faculty outweigh the present conditions of the buildings. They hope a new building will be realized soon.
Sondhi harbors fond memories of the school.
“I remember the first time I came here to audition, walking into the practice room. I remember seeing the lake from my mirror because it reflects through the window,” she said.
“It was just so great. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m in one of the best schools in the country, and there’s the lake right behind me, and I can see Chicago, I can practice.’ I’ll never forget that.” nyou
