Photo Credit: Ian Proulx

One of the new music rooms, in all its acoustical glory

Menlo-Atherton High School recently renovated its music facilities. On Friday, March 19, I had the opportunity to tour the music building after walking into a class of hard-working music students.  I was surprised to see that some of the students were on computers, and I was uncertain and astonished as to why a music classroom would be so high tech.  It even has a smart board.  I asked the music teacher, Mr. Maier, why this was so.

He explained to me that the music room was from 1954 and was completely redone to provide the ultimate musical experience.  After gutting the inside and replacing the old walls with new soundproof ones, the inside of the music rooms are now, unlike their 1954 predecessors, top notch. They even have sound resistant rooms for practicing an instrument, as well as a recording studio that holds up to twelve people for ensembles.  Once an ensemble or song is finished recording, students can edit their recording at one of nine new computer workstations.

A former music student, Nicole Barnes, feels an attachment to the music program and often still spends her lunch times practicing for recitals.  She said, “It’s definitely a step up from the practice rooms last year, which were used mostly for storage.”  She went on to exclaim, “The rooms are so soundproof that you can’t even hear the bell ring at lunch!”