Though Tufts' new music building is not due to be completed until September of 2006, some are already concerned that its 300-seat concert hall might be too small for the Tufts Symphony Orchestra (TSO) and the Tufts Chorale, the two largest performing music groups on campus.
The music building, a $27-million dollar component of the recent development projects on campus, will provide a much-needed upgrade to Tufts' musical facilities. An article in the Mar. 2 issue of the Daily discussed the new services the building will provide, as well as many members of the music department's satisfaction with the final plan for the building.
But according to TSO Director Malka Yaacobi, there are two potential problems with the long-awaited hall.
"There are two questions regarding the orchestra," Yaacobi said. "There is a question of whether the orchestra will physically fit on the stage... and [even if it does] it may overpower the hall. We may or may not be able to perform in the hall."
The building, she said, will offer "fantastic opportunities for many ensembles at Tufts, but it is not designed for the chorus and the orchestra, which amount together to more than 200 students."
Determining the exact makeup of the building was a delicate balancing act involving many competing interests and limited financial resources.
"The design went for the greatest good," Director of Chorale Services Andrew Clarke said. "If the hall was bigger, something else would have had to be compromised."
John Roberto, Vice-President of University Operations, said that the design of the hall was a deliberate and cooperative effort between the development team and the music department.
"I don't want to say definitively that the space is or is not big enough," he said. "When we were defining the programmatic needs of the building and what space would go into the building, there was a very thoughtful and deliberative process that we went through."
Construction Project Manager Raymond Santangelo agreed. He said that the hall size was carefully determined, and that the music department defined its needs.
"The hall was never intended to hold the orchestra," Santangelo said. "They [the music department] were the ones who basically said programmatically what it needed to fit... it was planned."
Clarke said that of the nearly 100 music group performances every year, only four or five would be affected.
In addition to the concert hall, the new building includes a new music library, practice rooms, a music studio and smaller performance venues.
"I would have loved to have seen a larger hall, larger stage, but I think there were other variables that entered into the decision-making process...it is what it is," Clarke said.
Though administrators weighed many options, and the final music building will enhance the resources available to the music department, disappointment and frustration linger for an orchestra already drained from dealing with the logistics of the problematic Cohen Auditorium.
Cohen is a multi-purpose space that is not optimal for musical performance because it must also function as a lecture hall, conference center and theater.
"[Cohen is] not a space made for music," Clarke said. "It's a shame to put the ensembles that put in a great amount of work and energy... into a space that does not allow the music to communicate what it should. It's frustrating; it's deflating."
"A concert in Cohen is not a rewarding experience for players or audience members," TSO Co-President and sophomore Kristen McCabe said.
Improvements to Cohen itself could improve the sound quality, but neither are these included in the plans for revamping the music facilities. "It would be valuable to fix Cohen and make it a reasonable music hall again by removing the corrugated wood and thick curtains," McCabe said.
Clarke agreed, saying that an improvement of the acoustics in Cohen would allow the musical groups to "have our cake and eat it, too."
Music Department Chair Janet Schmalfeldt declined to comment on the size of the hall, saying that she, too, wished to see Cohen renovated but did not want to be seen as "asking for the moon."
Because of Cohen's problematic acoustics, the TSO performs the majority of its concerts at Faneuil Hall in Boston. This requires the transportation of all music stands, instruments and performers, and it presents an inconvenience for audiences coming from Tufts.
The effort involved in moving the TSO off campus is costly and difficult, "a huge amount of work," McCabe said.
On Feb. 18, the TSO and Tufts Chorale used Cohen Auditorium to stage Leonard Bernstein's "Chichester Psalms," a large work that requires choral singing of psalms to a full orchestral accompaniment.
Works like this will not be possible in the new music hall.
According to Clarke, given the new music hall's reduced seating capacity - about half of what is offered in Cohen - multiple performances may now be necessary. In addition, without a restoration of Cohen, large performances will continue to either suffer from poor sound quality or be held off campus.
Schmalfeldt told the Tufts Journal that "we see this new music building as an outstanding opportunity for the music program to reach its full potential."
Though Clarke urged students to celebrate and take advantage of the tremendous opportunities that the hall will offer, others see it as having the potential to be a very expensive mistake.
Sophomore Joshua Benjamin, a violist in the TSO, said that the current facilities are "inadequate given Tufts' aspirations to embrace its performing arts program" - and that the new facilities will also be inadequate.
McCabe concurred. "The hall should have been built with the orchestra size and the acoustic capacity in mind," she said. "I don't know how somebody can go about building a music hall without taking the size of the two largest performance ensembles into account."
"It makes me wonder why they built a hall in the first place," she added. "Did they build a hall just to say they have a hall?"
Sophomore Kellie MacDonald, the other TSO Co-President, agreed that the situation on campus is not optimal.
"I feel like the purpose of the new music building is to improve the music department and make music more visible and important on campus, and it would be really sad if one of the biggest performing groups [TSO] can't take full advantage of that," she said.
