Music school lacks room, students say
No plans for change set

By Melissa Christensen
Staff Reporter

TCU music students and instructors said practice space is inadequate and the only major solution is long-term planning and construction.

Only nine practice rooms are available in Ed Landreth Hall for the 169 undergraduate music majors and the several hundred students in large ensembles who are not music majors. Eight practice rooms are available in the Walsh Center for Performing Arts, but they are exclusive to piano students.TCU music faculty members said the ratio of students to practice rooms is embarrassingly low.

Bobby Francis, director of bands, said at least 20 rooms are needed to allow students enough practice opportunities.

“If a student is performing in one of the top ensembles and taking individual lessons, a bare minimum of 10 hours and up to 15 hours of practice is appropriate,” he said.

The Fine Arts Task Force of the Commission on the Future of TCU listed the renovation of Ed Landreth Hall as the most urgent need in its final report. The Board of Trustees has authorized up to $30 million in campus-wide renovations of classroom facilities, but no specifics have been mentioned.

Chris Bohon, a junior classical guitar major, said music performance majors are encouraged to practice up to five hours each day. Practice rooms are open from 6:30 a.m. to 2 a.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 6:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Students said the practice rooms in Ed Landreth Hall are only available at odd times, such as early in the morning or late in the evening, and are inconveniently located in relation to the instrument storage rooms and large ensemble practice rooms in the Walsh Center.

James Buckner, a senior theory and composition major and euphonium player, said he practices about 14 hours a week, but only three of those are in a practice room and only then because he practices in the late evening.

“I get sick of trying to get a room,” he said. “It’s inconvenient to go between the two buildings and then up to the second floor just to see that they’re all being used.”

Buckner said he usually practices in the lobby outside the band hall in the Walsh Center.

Other students practice outdoors, in empty classrooms or at home. Students who live on campus, however, said they rarely practice in their own rooms even though residential policies allow practice between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Amy Stence, a junior English major and clarinet player, said she thinks practicing in the dorms is inconsiderate to roommates and neighbors. “Not everybody likes the sound of the clarinet,” she said. “I never know if somebody is trying to study.”

Curt Wilson, director of jazz studies, said portable practice modules made by Wenger could offer an immediate solution to the lacking practice space. He and students both said the modules could be placed along the walls in the open lobby of the Walsh Center.

Francis said the best solutions, however, are long-term, such as renovations to Ed Landreth Hall or construction of a new building. He said renovations to Jarvis Hall adjacent to the music buildings could include a floor of practice rooms.

While he hasn’t formally analyzed the practice space, Francis said he was going to look at the possibilities for expansion more in depth this year.

Students said a practice room is the ideal environment because distractions are limited and pianos are available in each room for tuning or matching pitch. Several students said TCU needed at least three times as many practice rooms to fulfill student needs.

Trey Harper, a senior music education major, said practice room shortages have been an issue for him during his four years at TCU.

“If TCU wants to (attract) national recognition, they need more practice space,” Harper said.

Melissa Christensen
m.s.christense@student.tcu.edu