Facilities & Labs

Music Building Hours

Hours subject to change during holidays, breaks and final exams.

Academic Year Hours
Monday - Thursday: 7am-11pm
Friday: 7am - 9pm
Saturday: 9am - 6pm
Sunday: 1 - 11pm

Summer Hours
Monday - Friday: 7am - 9pm
Saturday: 9am - 5pm
Sunday: 1 - 5pm

Dean's Office Hours
Academic Year: Monday - Friday: 8am - 5pm
Summer: Monday - Friday: 8:30am - 4:30pm

Dwight Anderson Music Library

The Music Library is located off of the main lobby in the north side of the Music building. For more information, visit their website.

Music Facilities

Performance Halls & Practice Rooms

Margaret Comstock Concert Hall, located in the main lobby of the north side of the Music building, seats 558,  and is the main performance hall. Malcolm Bird Recital Hall, a 140-seat theater located in the south side of the building, is used for teaching, practice and performances.

The music building features a large number of practice rooms:

• 29 Open Practice Rooms
• 10 Piano Major Practice Rooms
• 5 Percussion Practice Rooms
• 5 Drum Set Practice Rooms
• 3 Organ Practice Rooms
• 1 Harp Practice Room
• 4 SmartMusic Practice Rooms; with two other SmartMusic Computers in other locations in the building
• 2 Large Rehearsal Rooms
• 1 Medium-sized Rehearsal Room
• 3 Dance Studios

The Virtual Room

The Virtual Room, located on the second floor of the north wing, contains a digital signal processing system which is able to simulate many different acoustical environments. The room has no windows, and uses a special door which makes it more acoustically isolated than other rooms of the music building. Students, faculty, and guest ensembles are enabled to rehearse in an acoustical environment which is a simulation of a performance venue.

The system is easy to operate, and in addition to a number of pre-set acoustical environments (i.e., practice room, various sizes of recital halls and auditoriums, various sizes of churches, even a"sports arena"), there are custom settings which simulate Comstock Hall. The Virtual Room is primarily used for rehearsals, chamber music coaching sessions, auditions, and as a warm-up room before concerts.

Virtual Room Features

* A sound-isolating practice room equipped with digital signal processing that allows musicians to hear themselves in a variety of acoustical environments.
* System comes with 10 pre-set acoustical environments: Practice Room, Baroque Room, Medium Recital Hall, Large Recital Hall, Small Auditorium, Medium Auditorium, Large Auditorium, Cathedral, Sports Arena and system OFF.
* Accelerates development of articulation, intonation and control in a variety of environments from very "dry" to very "live." * Effective teaching/coaching studio to train students in the relationship between the acoustical environment and instrumental technique.
* A radical new version of the "greenroom" that allows for warm-up in a more realistic environment.
* Does not require any technical expertise to operate the room. Easier than a TV remote control.
* Allows practice for performance without having to schedule the performance space for rehearsal.
* Stimulates creativity and encourages practice by relieving the tedium of playing in an acoustically "dry" practice room.

Computer Teaching & Lab Facilities

A twenty-four workstation computer teaching lab is located on the lower level of the north wing. Each workstation has a midi keyboard, and CD burning capabilities. The lab is also open for student access throughout the semester.

 A ProTools lab, also located on the lower level, is equipped with state-of-the-art recording and mixing equipment.

The Psychology of Music laboratory, located on the first floor of the north wing, plays an important role in the Music Therapy Program. In addition to serving as a classroom for a number of music therapy classes, it contains equipment for two purposes.

 The first purpose is to learn how to measure someone’s physiological response to music. This equipment is called the Physiological Recording System by Biopac and is used primarily in the Psychology of Music course. (This course is required for Music Therapy majors but is also relevant to others who are interested in various aspects of the human response to music.) It measures various types of responses, such as blood pressure, electrical skin resistance, and heart rate. One of the areas in the psychology of music is how people respond to music and whether physiological and emotional responses are related. The responses that can be measured on this equipment can help to answer those questions.

Another piece of equipment is the Continuous Response Digital Interface (CRDI), which was developed for the second purpose: to measure ongoing and fluctuating musical responses while people are listening to music. It consists of a dial that can be manipulated by the listener, as the listener’s responses or perceptions vary. Both the Biopac Physiological Recording System and the CRDI are connected to computers to facilitate data analysis. The laboratory also includes a decibel meter, used to measure decibels, related to loudness.

The other equipment in the laboratory incorporates aspects of technology that music therapists use in working with clients, often those with physical disabilities. This includes a computerized device called a MIDI Creator that allows people to make music with only a slight movement, or by hitting a switch. It also includes programs to write music in simplified form, as might be adapted for people with decreased movement ability or intellectual capacity. This equipment is available to help Music Therapy majors experience what can be done in the clinic.

Dance Facilities

The School of Music is home to the UofL Dance Academy which provides classical dance training. The Dance Academy conducts its classes in three spacious sunlit studios which all have floating, Marley covered floors, ceiling to floor mirrors, and pianos. The middle studio also has an observation window which allows spectators to view classes and rehearsals.