The University of Memphis basketball and football teams are not the only students getting a new practice facility.
Students at the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music will soon have a new $40 million facility for the arts once $2 million more is raised.
John Chiego, the director of the music school, said a good facility is imperative to attract student musicians across the country.
“Musicians are kind of like athletes too. If they are a great musician, they want a great performance hall to play in,” he said. “This new building will be a recruiting magnet for the school of music and the University.”
The current music building was constructed in the 1960s and was only meant to hold 16 faculty members and 200 students. Today, there are 40 full time faculty members, 25 part time faculty members, and more than over 400 students are enrolled at the music school.
“I think it is ironic that we have the finest school of music of any college in the state of Tennessee by far and I think we are the only ones that have a concert hall that does not fit our ensemble,” Chiego said.
The new center will hold the entire orchestra, choir and marching band, but before they can break ground, more money needs to be raised. U of M President David Rudd has been working with the development team to finish raising the money.
To date, $8 million has been raised, but the budget for the new building is $40 million. The state has agreed to provide the additional $30 million, leaving the University $2 million more to raise.
The center won’t only have more performance space, but also new teaching studios, practice rooms, classrooms and a master classroom equipped with the latest technology including high definition video and audio.
“We can actually have master classes with artist from anywhere in the world,” Chiego said. “It is going to open up a whole new world for what our students are given at the University of Memphis. It really is an incredible opportunity for us.”
Students can often be found outside playing their instruments near the Engineering Building, because the current building does not have enough practice rooms for students. Since more than 400 students are enrolled, 40 practice rooms should be available, but less than 20 are functional, representatives said. Some practice rooms have been converted into office space for the growing faculty.
“In my opinion, this construction of this building is extremely overdue,” said Matthew Visconti, a recent graduate who receive his doctorate from the school of music and his masters from Boston. “With the rise of interest of becoming a musician all over the country, the building is just not adequate enough for all the programs and students that the school of music has organizations from across the city will also have the opportunity to perform at the new facility.”
Visconti said the Rudi E. Scheidt School of Music is the only doctoral degree-granting program in music in Tennessee and this new development should help attract students from across the state.
“You’d be surprised by how much an older facility with limited space deters students,” he said. “A new facility would most definitely attract a large amount of new and talented students.”
