FAQs: Practice Rooms during Construction
by necmusic
We’ve heard that there are concerns among students, alumni, and parents that the chronic practice room shortage will be exacerbated this fall by the neighborhood construction, here are some answers to the most frequently asked questions. If you have others, please feel free to send an email to askmike@necmusic.edu
Q: Why were students shut out of practice rooms this summer with no notification?
A: We estimate that approximately 10 students/alumni were directly affected beginning around July 20, and we understand their frustration. Although the exterior practice rooms on the second and third floor of the Brown Hall building (and a few spaces in the Williams Hall building) were closed for construction, there was still space available in the St. Botolph Building, the basement of Jordan Hall, and on the interior rim of the second and third floors in Brown. These may not have been some students’ preferred rooms, but they were available.
An extensive Construction Communications plan was formulated during the summer and, as part of that, a web page on the construction project was launched in late July with facts and links. We will update these regularly so anyone with questions should consult them.
Q: Because some of the practice rooms were locked, I couldn’t access instruments, like drum sets.
A: The construction crew kept some of the jazz practice rooms unlocked as long as they could without risking the safety of students. If there were student belongings in the locked rooms, Security would have allowed their owners to retrieve them. If students needed to use instruments in the affected practice rooms, Building Operations would have relocated them– if they had been asked.
Q: What’s going to happen in the fall when school starts? I hear that there will be a drastic shortage of practice rooms.
A: Most of the normal complement of practice rooms will be available as usual. Project Manager Steve Derochea says his goal is to have the practice rooms on the second and third floor of Brown Hall back in operation when school starts. His crew is currently removing radiators, installing duct work, and mounting the air-conditioning/heating registers on the walls. This will allow them to concentrate on the hallways where they are hanging ducts and electrical wiring. Then when school starts, they will only need to cycle through practice rooms to do the hook ups to the registers. Steve estimates that he will be able to do about six rooms a day in this phase and much of the work will be done in the early mornings. Once all the climate control is finished, then the work crews will need to go back into the rooms—on a staged basis—to put in the window protection (a thick sandwich of acoustic material, plywood, and plasterboard). This will probably begin in October. Again, this will only affect a few rooms at a time and probably only for a day each.
Q: Why are you giving us air-conditioning but taking away practice rooms?
A: The vast majority of practice rooms will be available as usual. Those affected by the construction are those in close proximity to the Northeastern and YMCA projects. The whole point of the work in these rooms is to alleviate as much as possible the noise and dust from the big construction taking place VERY close to our buildings. Students would otherwise find these rooms uninhabitable. What’s more, because we are able to permanently install air-conditioning and new heating systems, the practice rooms will be much more comfortable long after the construction is over.
Q: Is anything being done to supplement the number of practice rooms?
A: Yes, NEC administration is looking into renting or borrowing space where students can practice. More about that to come…
Violinist practicing in #124 on August 15
Jazz practice room with AC register on wall
Thank you very much for providing this FAQ. It goes a long way toward alleviating much of the concern raised by students and the community.
Please understand that the Facebook group/petition were never intended to antagonize the administration or anyone working in building operations. We were simply looking for an outlet to express our frustration over the lack of direct communication regarding the construction process. While we appreciate the work that went into the website and blog earlier this month, the fact is it came late in the process and was more or less buried under the main website. A simple school wide email explaining the situation/pointing to the website earlier in the summer (prior to the construction) is standard at most higher education institutions and would have been enough to placate students worries significantly.
Practice rooms at NEC have always been a source of stress for students. It’s an issue at any music school, but it seems to be a particular problem at NEC. We greatly appreciate the work being put into making them better and usable during the project. However, the issue of space is a perpetual one. Beyond the construction, it’s an issue that we needed to open up for discussion.
I am sure everyone is thrilled to hear that NEC is looking into finding additional practice space for its students – this is so important and so appreciated. PLEASE keep us in the loop and up to date on all of these issues. We just want to be a part of the dialogue regarding our education.
Thank you again for your hard work and your help. Looking forward to helping make the NEC community an even better place to be.
Thanks, Jeff. We thought that we were explaining the situation in good time to NEC’s many constituents and that the beginning of the fall semester was the appropriate moment–given that the vast majority of faculty and students leave the campus during the summer. The website and blog are only the first phase of the communications plan and, with any luck, the NEC community will be saturated with information by the beginning of the school year.
I think that if students and others in the community wanted to tackle the issue of practice room shortage, which as you note, is chronic at most music schools, you would find willing listeners in the administration–at all levels. Starting with a petition was probably wielding a bit of a blunt instrument since it immediately creates an adversarial situation instead of a collaborative one. President Tony Woodcock has already reached out to Zoe offering to meet with her and other interested people. She, however, replied that she is unable to meet until September.
Thanks for the response. Please really keep us in the loop about any effort to find additional practice spaces that are suitable for ensembles, and not just individual instruments. I mean we could find a place to put the existent drum sets and amplifiers that are just sitting around the closed rooms, that would be great. We students have already resorted to practicing in the kitchens of our apartments and likely disturbing our neighbors… Thanks!
I heard they are also working in brown hall and williams hall too. i hope the people who is responsible for the hall renovation make sure the AC/heater system will be quiet while active because in pierce hall the AC/Heating system under the ceiling is badly installed. it makes a constant clicking sound throughout the time when its one and you cann’t turn it off because its programmed. its really stupid because while u are in a concert in pierce hall you constantly hear loud clicking noises from the AC/heating unit! also i hope they wont destroy the acoutics in brown and williams by putting materials on the walls like pierce and JH124. also i hope they will sound proof the percussion rm above brown hall so it doesnt disturb concerts in brown hall.
Dear Micky, Yes, we have been very deliberate in choosing the AC/heating system for Brown and Williams. And we have involved acousticians throughout our planning. The only thing going on the walls in Brown and Williams is a new coat of paint.