August 16th, 2017 - Here are some pictures of our new facility. Construction is nearly complete. Many of the new instruments have been delivered. Cleaning is happening soon.
In-room storage with lockable cage. Hopefully, most of the instruments will fit. A lot of shelving adjustment is in the cards.
We have nice, tall ceilings with some sound absorbing materials on the walls and ceilings. White boards mean no more chalk dust, and discussions of black and white don't have to be reversed (talking about black and white notes on the piano is sometimes difficult on a blackboard). The laundry sink is deep enough for cleaning most instruments at the end of each semester. The door in the picture leads to the practice room, which is still under construction.
All of the instruments on these shelves are new. They are labelled and engraved. Instrument storage is going to be interesting (flutes can fit in the shelf above the bass clarinet, but clarinets are too tall). The black floor is ideal since we are attached to the stage.
The alto saxes stick out a bit farther than I would like. Have to look into an alternative that doesn't take too much space on the shelves. The 12 new trumpets only stick out a little. It is nice to be able to fit 5 on a shelf. The level that they sit on is not adjustable, all of the other shelves can move.
Whatever doesn't fit on the shelves in the room can go into the room at the bottom of the stairs (you have to pass it to get up into the room. There are two sides like this one, and a single shelf on the end. A lot of boxes from the old school are living on these shelves right now. Movers came after the picture was taken. This room is likely going to be the music library, as well as instrument storage.
I was really impressed with the purchases that they let us have. Here is our new set of chimes.
36 inch bass drum with tilting stand.You can see the door to the elevator/lift in the background behind the podium. It is not for freight (by that, I'm sure they mean we should use it to move percussion up and down safely). Hopefully I get a key.
More to come soon.