SCCC’s new music building welcomed students at the start of the fall semester with expanded offerings and new areas for students to practice or just lounge. Photo by John Purcell.
SCHENECTADY — Schenectady County Community College now has a building that reflects the caliber of the music program it hopes to present, and it is striking a chord with faculty members.
Students are already sitting in the lounge area with laptops open and coffee in hand in the college’s new music building, which is a $3.9 million, 12,600-square-foot addition to the current facility. The addition connects to the current music wing, which has also received several updates in the project.
Construction started in the spring of 2011 and was nearly completed before the start of this semester. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York and Schenectady County provided equal funding for the project, with the college shouldering the cost to outfit the modern facility.
As SCCC School of Music Chair William Meckley showed off the new space on Tuesday, Sept. 11, he was brimming with happiness and a smile rarely left his face. He called the project “The Great Leap Forward.”
“It has changed actually the whole mood of the place, just having a facility like this,” Meckley said. “It also makes the faculty feel good because it makes them feel like people have confidence in what they are doing. To step up like this is quite a big deal.”
College Board of Trustees Chairwoman Denise Murphy McGraw said the project has been a “10-year labor of love” for college administrators and faculty.
The first floor of the new building has teaching studios, an industry-standard live recording studio, two specialized music classrooms, faculty offices and a student lounge. The second floor includes a recording studio with a separate control room, recital space, teaching studios and faculty offices. The addition is rounded off with eight additional practice rooms and a new façade with towering windows.
Construction and outfitting of the recording studio and control room were still ongoing, with workers installing the bamboo floor in the studio on Sept. 11. The new combination space will offer students a place not only in the studio performing, but also wielding the mixing board.
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SCCC School of Music Open House by jpurcell 9 months ago
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