Nannes and Salik highlight a general scarcity of space, particularly of practice rooms, performance areas and seating. They cite poor acoustics and an absence of an orchestral pit and basic lighting equipment in Buckley Recital Hall, the College's main musical performance venue. Because Arms is not soundproof, according to the report, sound bleeds through the walls, interfering with students' musical activities.
The report catalogs several other problems in its nine-page analysis of Arms. In the pages that follow, Nannes and Salik evaluate the music facilities at seven competing institutions and offer short-term and long-term recommendations for improving Arms. They conclude with a proposal for a complete overhaul and expansion of the College's music facilities.
"The process that goes into building takes years," said Nannes. "I don't expect to hear back about a commitment to any major new construction anytime soon. I will be long gone before we see a new music building on this campus, unfortunately." He added, "My goal was to make people aware of how far behind we are."
Nannes and Salik, both music majors, are engaged in a variety of musical pursuits on campus. Nannes is a cellist in the orchestra, a director of the a cappella group DQ and a member of the Concert Choir. Salik plays piano, cello and is president of the Orchestra. Both have participated in the annual Interterm Musical.
"I appreciate the report, based on a student trip which I sponsored in order to inform our thinking about the future of the music building," commented President Anthony W. Marx. "We are at a moment of again thinking through campus-wide facilities needs, and it is important to have the needs of music in that deliberation."
The two students have been working on this project for approximately nine months. They first began collecting data last March, when they went on a trip, funded by Marx, Associate Dean of Students and Director of Student Life Samuel Haynes, Dean of Students Benson Lieber and the AAS. They traveled to Williams, Middlebury, Dartmouth and Bowdoin Colleges and Brown, Yale and Wesleyan Universities. At each institution, they met with the head of the music department and toured the music facilities.
Following the trip, Nannes and Salik said they were most surprised that each college visited, save for Amherst, has made a recent major investment in its music facilities. They found this especially perturbing since the number of music majors per class is higher at Amherst than at every one of the schools similar in size.
Nannes and Salik also point out in their report that 40 percent of Amherst students are involved in music, a larger percentage than that participating in varsity sports. "We have a lot of work going into dorms and the sciences," said Nannes. "There are so many other buildings on campus that need attention that the music building is not as big of a priority as it really needs to be."
Nannes speculated Arms' low priority status is due to the music department's resourcefulness in face of their grim situation. For productions, students often are forced to convert their limited resources into makeshift stages and scaffolds.
"We put on a good show every year," said Nannes of the musical. "Maybe that's working against us." He added, "We have great choirs, a great orchestra, a great jazz program-the things that come out of that building are so good, that if you're not a musician, it's very easy to believe our building must be great too."
Nannes and Salik presented copies of the report to a number of administrators, including President Marx, and the music department faculty. They also distributed copies in Arms on Monday.
"I think the report gives a good overview of the issues connected to our facilities," said Assistant Professor of Music Eric Sawyer. "With a substantial increase in student participation in music, we are feeling increasingly pressed in supplying the space for everything to happen."
Nannes and Salik have not heard any substantive feedback from the administration yet, but have received some promising news. The music department announced last week that four of the listening rooms will be converted into practice rooms, which was one of the duo's recommendations
"We're not going to take credit for that," said Nannes. "They probably made that decision months ago. But it's nice to see things changing even slowly."