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School of Music completing move back into Altgeld Hall

Altgeld Hall is completing a little more fine-tuning in preparation for the return of the SIUC School of Music.

For those outside of classrooms in Altgeld Hall, the occasional notes of a trombone are somewhat audible. But they are very much muffled in comparison to the noise heard outside of temporary facilities. Much louder than the stifled note of the occasional brass instrument are the sounds of construction workers putting the final touches on the $11 million renovations.

Although renovations are still wrapping up, former occupants of the building were able to begin their move back into Altgeld three weeks ago.

School of Music Director Robert Weiss said this was the ideal time for the move to take place because it is in between music-related camps and before the start of the fall semester.

The largest change Altgeld Hall saw was a 22,000-foot addition to the rear, which provides space for new instrument lockers, a larger rehearsal room and a room that contains risers for choral practice. According to Weiss, all of the additions, which will also include faculty offices and practice rooms, will be much more accommodating than prior facilities.

"There will be additional rehearsal spaces, faculty offices and all the practice rooms are all acoustically better than the old facility," said Weiss, who has worked with the School of Music since 1978. "Plus, there's the environment as far as temperature control. In the old building, there were a lot of problems, and as it was, it was never designed as a music building."

Weiss said issues with temperature control were inconvenient for more than just students. He said the temperatures were also inadequate for instruments such as the pianos. According to Weiss, pianos both shrank and swelled under the fluctuating temperatures of the temporary facilities.

Weiss said changes since the renovation have allowed not only better temperature control and more space, but also less transfer of sound from room to room.

"The walls [in previous buildings] were thin and the sound traveled between classes," Weiss said. "There will be percussion in the basement and a choir on the second floor, but neither should be bothered by each other. It won't be silent, but the sound is meant to be much less transferable."

Instrumentalists and their professors are not the only ones reaping the benefits of the renovations; other parts of the college, which once shared one room, now have their own space in the building.

"The professor who teaches opera has never had his own space before," said Edward M. Benyas, director of orchestras in the School of Music. " There used to be one large room that opera, jazz and dance shared."

Benyas, who will not have to move from his space in the Old Baptist Foundation, is thankful for the additions and renovations and what it will do for the school. He pointed out that the addition that connected Altgeld to Shyrock Auditorium, which is a somewhat difficult move that has to be made before concerts, was previously performed by members of the physical plant. Now, Benyas said, the School of Music can use the more convenient path down the short hallway to move necessary instruments. Directly outside of the corridor, a large patio area has been constructed which may be used for outside concerts.

As workers put the final touches and coats of paint in the building, Weiss said the final stages of moving are taking place. With the majority of rooms filled with boxes transferred but not yet unpacked, Weiss said 80 percent of the moving is complete for the process. The nearly complete renovations will be the first done to the building since 1958.

Altgeld Hall was established on the SIUC campus in 1896 and was then known as the Old Science Building. Prior to renovations that began three years ago, the building had served as the home of the School of Music since 1902. Once renovations began, parts of the college were moved to different locations on campus, including Quigley Hall, the Old Baptist Foundation and the Northwest Annex.

"It's a fantastic facility," Weiss said. "It's something we've been trying to get done since before I came in 1978, and now I have probably one of the nicest facilities for a school our size anyplace."