Inside Schmucker Hall

Schmucker Hall (the home of the music unit) has four main classrooms - rooms 117, 210, 214 and 215, one of which is specialized for music education, a 225 seat recital hall, and a 10 station technology/piano lab.  16 practice rooms (including 2 dedicated organ practice rooms) provide a student to practice room ratio of six (6) to one (1).

Choral ensembles and Opera Workshop rehearse in the Recital Hall. Nearly all small ensemble, student, and faculty recitals take place in the Paul Recital Hall, formerly the main reading room when Schmucker Hall housed the College library. This attractive space is very good for these types of performances. Visiting artists such as the Brentano Quartet and the Da Capo Chamber Players have spoken quite favorably about the room and its acoustical properties.

Band, orchestra and choir music libraries are maintained in Schmucker Hall, overseen by the ensemble directors.

Schmucker Hall also houses a 10-station music technology/piano lab to which all music majors and minors have access.  Each station has a computer which is connected to an electric piano via a midi controller.  These computers are equipped with both Finale and Sibelius music notation software, Auralia music theory software, and other programs that support the curriculum.  The computers are also connected to the campus network and the internet.

A Recording Studio is equipped with a digital audio workstation for recording, and another computer workstation for post-production.  The digital audio workstation is wired into two recording spaces-- the Recital Hall and a smaller classroom nearby.  The recording studio is amply supplied with microphones, speakers, cables and other equipment sufficient for a variety of recording situations.  Equipment housed in this studio is often used in other locations, such as for choral concerts that take place in Christ Chapel.