by Ashlyn Swain | staff writer
After a two month delay, the new band hall is completed. The band directors and students in the program now have 100 new stands, a mirror, yard lines and sound proof walls within the band hall.
“It’s new and exciting to be in there, especially with the new stands that we have,” junior Bryanna Carroll said. “Everybody’s all happy because the new ones actually work and it just feels super cool to get those resources.”
The new facility is a big step in working to keep up with the demands of one of the campus’ largest student organizations.
“As we’ve grown our program to have 360 kids, we’ve started to need at least two spaces to rehearse in and our smaller band hall is not large enough to hold that many children,” head band director Jarrett Lipman said.
And the new facility means that band members no longer have to practice in the B wing halls, relocating now to their new space.
“[The band hall] has helped enormously in the past couple of days, and has allowed us to have students not practicing in the hallways and B-Wing,” Lipman said. “It’s allowed us to not have to borrow choir and orchestra practicing spaces as often as well and it’s just given us plenty more space to be able to do what we need to do as a program.”
The B-wing is busy with students all day and the band hall is no exception.
“Often times, we have many things going on during every period, whether it’s colorguard and band or band and instrument ensemble or lessons,” Mussachio said. “It’s allowed us to have space for everything without feeling like you’re right on top of someone else’s rehearsal or lesson.”
The construction was stuck at a halt through April and May making marching season more of a challenge.
“The construction was supposed to be done June 27, and was delayed because of all of the rain in April and May,” Lipman said.
Despite the construction setbacks, all of the features are functional and working as planned.
“There’s a lot of space and there’s brand new air conditioning in there. It feels so nice and cool, I think that’s what everybody’s happiest about,” Carroll said. “Especially with all the growth in the program, the extra space keeps us from cramming ourselves into our old band halls.”
“The money came from the 2015 bond that the taxpayers pay. It has funded several other projects around the district,” Lipman said.
The new band hall’s completion was apparently a huge weight lifted off the program’s shoulders, according to the directors.
“… With the people who were in the program last year, realizing that the construction is finally over and we don’t have to work around the construction anymore is nice,” assistant band director Daniel Mussachio said.
