Special Programs and Facilities
The Music Department was able to purchase several new pianos to complement our newly renovated facility. Music professor Nancy Redfern has two new Boston grand pianos in her studio.
A new Boston grand also resides in the chamber ensemble rehearsal room and two new Boston uprights are located in various music classrooms. The Boston piano is a Steinway design built by the Kawai Corporation. We also provide pianos for our piano major practice rooms. A Steinway concert grand is at the Reynolds Recital Hall.
The department also provides many top quality instruments from makers such as Selmer and Yamaha, to students who do not own their own instruments.
The Computer Aided Music Instruction Laboratory (CAMIL) is an invaluable resource for students and faculty. Students use the 24 fully integrated MIDI workstations with their own laptop computers to complete assignments and master skills in ear training, theory, MIDI sequencing and digital audio production, music scanning and engraving and composition. The lab facility also has projection capability for presentations and lectures as well as a 600 dpi printer. Each workstation has an Edirol SD-90 interface as well as a Roland RA 30 rhythm arranger for generating MIDI voices. All workstations have network access. All students and faculty have access to the following software packages: Sonar (Cakewalk Pro Audio), Finale, Band in a Box, Smartmusic, SmartScore and MacGamut.
Electronic Practice Suites - The Music Department has 28 electronic practice suites that enable students to practice interactively with their laptop computers in classical, pop and jazz. All practice suites include dual loud speakers, a powered notebook computer docking station that allows for Internet access.
Musicians are always challenged when practicing to prepare for the acoustical environment we may encounter in the actual performance venue. Practice by nature means preparing for the unknown. We are in a profession that presents a product almost entirely in isolation. Hours are spent honing the technical acumen, shaping of the phrases, rhythmic accuracy and the development of the psychological mind set necessary to emotionally move an audience at a live performance.
Different parameters must be addressed in practice, one of which is dealing with the attack and decay of sound. Technology and acoustical science has now provided us with a unique solution. This is a practice room with an adjustable acoustical environment. In our new practice room area, we now have two designated rooms that allow us to modify the decay of sound more like what we might encounter in the actual performance venue.
Our new Wenger V-Room practice suites incorporate practice environments that use LARES technology to recreate the acoustics of world class venues. The V-Room establishes a new paradigm for acquiring and mastering techniques for musicians. It frees us from the acoustical confines of a small sterile practice room, allowing us to experience the warmth and support that good musical acoustics provide. But that is just the beginning - V-Room technology enables students to switch the acoustics of a musical space like changing channels on a television set. Push a button, and you are transported to center stage. Press another, and you're seated in a gothic cathedral. You can immediately sense how to adapt your playing/singing for differing environments. Our new V-Room practice suite provides impeccable acoustical simulations of world renown venues and can be programmed to provide the acoustics of practically any environment.
The V-Room is virtual reality for the musician and it is now available to all music majors at NMU. We are the only state university in Michigan to offer this remarkable and exciting innovation for the "practicing musician" interested in preparing for future venues.
