After two years of construction, the new music buildings—which house new rooms for the band, choir and orchestra students—are now open for use. On the first day of second semester, music students were told to meet at the new buildings rather than the portables where they had been holding classes during construction.

Well into winter break, there was still a lot of work to be done in order to prepare the new rooms for students. Band teacher Todd Sum- mers was working during the second week of winter break to get the new buildings ready. The day before second semester started, he and the other teachers worked with music students to transport furniture and instruments. “We had a crew of about 30 students who came on that Monday and helped move the percussion and chairs,” Summers said. Choir teacher Bill Liberatore said that the students and teachers

managed to move every piece of equipment except the grand pianos. “We had professionals move those pianos,” he said.

Overall, both Summers and Liberatore are happier with their new classrooms than they were with the portables. Liberatore notes that the acoustics and overall design of the room create a much better teaching and learning environment. “They put high ceilings and windows all over the building, which floods the room with sunlight, and I think that’s gorgeous,” Liberatore said.

Liberatore cited the rooms’ new floor structure as another design improvement. “These rooms are flat, so you have all kinds of flexibility in terms of how you want to set the choir up,” Liberatore said. Summers also prefers the changes in the design of his new classrooms. “In general, the storage is bigger, the rehearsal space is bigger [and] the acoustics are way better,” Summers said. Additionally, he enjoys the interconnectivity between the mu-

sic buildings and the Performing Arts Center. “Being connected to Spangenberg is real nice because when we have concerts, we can just move our stuff from [the music rooms] to the stage,” Summers said.

Like the teachers, music students are also pleased with the new buildings. Senior saxophonist James Burrows found that the new re- hearsal rooms are more convenient. “I like that there are more rehearsal rooms, I like that it is easy to go on stage and I am just happy that we have a functional music department,” he said.

Senior choir student Jessica Guzman cites accessibility as a key improvement. “You don’t have to walk very far, since everything is in the same building,” Guzman said. “Also, we finally have our theater back, so we don’t have to go to Paly.” Both students are relieved that they can finally move into the new Performing Arts Center. “The teachers always told us it was going to be the next month, but we didn’t believe it was happening this year,” Guzman said.