Aside from the occasional cockroaches, University of Wisconsin’s music students and faculty are finding ways to work around Humanities’s bumps and bruises.
In light of the recent design for the School of Music’s new performance center, improvements are being made to the current music facilities in the Humanities building.
Patrick Coughlin, who is in his third year as the School of Music Facility manager, said the building has its challenges, but he has always known that.
“It’s not falling apart at the seams but it definitely takes a lot of work to maintain it, and you really have to be on top of your game,” Coughlin said. “It’s a challenge.”
The building sometimes faces problems like leaking after heavy rains, but Coughlin said most of these issues are not unique to Humanities. The Physical Plant team takes care of building maintenance and repairs, and Coughlin said it is at least a little reassuring to hear from them that buildings all around campus are having similar problems.
As they look forward to the new facility, Coughlin said the School of Music is doing as much as it can now to continue adding and improving what they already have in Humanities, such as adding new carpeting and resources for the 300 music students that call the building home.
Professor Brian Hyer has been teaching music theory at UW for 24 years. When talks of a new performance center began in the early 2000s, Hyer said it hit him for the first time how young the building actually is.
“Thinking back, when I walked in the building for the first time it was in 1990, and it looks just the way it does today: dirty, drab, dark,” Hyer said. “It was 18 years old, and that never would have occurred to me.”
The faculty, Hyer said, is aware that they will not be relocating to a new building anytime soon, so he and others have been working hard to renovate the existing classrooms on the second floor.
Two of the biggest rooms have already begun renovations, and more classroom upgrades are beginning soon. Hyer said these upgrades will include new chalkboards, new lighting and new audio and video equipment, such as TV monitors.
“What we’re trying to do is maximize the functionality. We’re trying to get equipment that we need that will work,” Hyer said.
Maya Webne-Behrman, a violin and vocal major, said she understands the limitations of the building, but appreciates it for what it has to offer as well.
Webne-Behrman said the occasional cockroach appearance is unsettling, but she thinks the School of Music is doing a good job.
“You know, there are a lot of things that I really like about Humanities. If you were to ask me to complain about it, I could easily do that,” Webne-Behrman said. “There’s always room for improvement, we can always do better, but for what we have, I think it’s fine.”
As for the new performance center, both Hyer and Webne-Behrman agreed that it is an exciting development for the School of Music.
While Hyer said he thinks it may not be the top priority, he is willing to acknowledge a need for more rehearsal space.
“The university has been very generous in understanding our specific needs and they’ve been very generous the funding on these projects,” Hyer said. “We went decades where no one even asked for that funding, and I’m hoping to renovate other spaces in the Humanities building.”
