Music students of the past, present and future will be glad to know Texas A&M University-Commerce is about to break ground on the long-awaited music building.
Construction on the new building, which does not yet have an official name, is set to begin in late December. The location of the new music building will be located where the parking lot west of where the old Memorial Student Center is located. An official groundbreaking is tentatively set for Feb. 6.
New facilities will be instrumental in attracting new music majors to A&M-Commerce.
“We believe the program will grow exponentially once the building is complete,” Dr. Christopher White, music department head, said. “Prospective music majors will be impressed with the performing venues, rehearsal rooms, and classrooms.”
The current music building has one performance hall with a capacity for 200, one rehearsal hall for the band, four class rooms and a piano lab.
According to White, the new music building will have two performance halls, a recital hall with an audience capacity of 75 and a concert hall with an audience capacity of 500.
The building will also hold four large rehearsal rooms, a choir room, a band room, a percussion room, and a multipurpose room for jazz band and steel band. Additionally, the building will have three classrooms, a simulated elementary music classroom, an electronic music lab, a piano lab and a seminar room.
“The upgrade will be remarkable,” White said.
Students should expect to utilize the new facility by fall 2010.
The new building’s estimated cost is more than $29 million dollars. With the struggling economy, the question as to what the effects will be on the timeline of the completion of the new building remains. However, the outlook is hopeful there will be no delay in the completion of the building.
“Due to unprecedented and unexpected increases in the cost of construction materials-especially steel, concrete, and copper- much of the furnishings and equipment budget was removed from the approved construction contract; however, many of these materials are now declining in cost in the current economic market so we may be able to reinsert furnishings, furniture, and equipment into the project cost,” White said. “Regardless, President Jones has made a preliminary commitment to provide the furnishings and equipment the students need once we move in.”
The current music building will not be used once the new music building is in use.
According to Jim Patton, facilities project manager, the old building will be demolished, and then it will be landscaped to be become “green” space just west of the Rayburn Student Center.
Anybody who is curious to know what the new building will look like should visit the current music building to see the artwork depicting the plans for the building. It is located on the second floor across from the music
department office.