- USC Thornton students say finding practice space on campus is difficult.
- Pianists especially have a hard time finding adequate rooms.
- School officials say new facilities will be built although there is no definite timeline.
There are more than 1,000 music majors at the USC Thornton School of Music. But many students complain about the lack of available practice space, saying there are always long waits and a shortage of empty rooms.
"There is not enough for students during the day, and we're only allowed to reserve up to two hours a day," said Ta Panyawuthikrai, a Thornton student majoring in guitar performance.
The only building that is set aside for students to use is the Practice and Instructional Center, which has less than 40 practice rooms.
Reservation Difficulties
The Thornton school has an online reservation system, Let Me Practice at USC, which helps students find places to practice. But some musicians say the system doesn't always help because students don't always know their schedules early enough to reserve a slot in advance.
"The only room you end up finding are the rooms that people reserved and then don't come to," said Theo Meneau, a Thornton student who plays the trumpet. "So a lot of times you'll have a room for like half an hour or something and you'll get kicked out by someone who comes later [for their reservation]."Hear more Thornton students' opinions HERE.
Meneau said he does not always have to have a practice space because he plays a brass instrument and can therefore practice anywhere. Other musicians, however, are not so flexible.
Pianist Problems
Piano players not only need to find a practice room, but they need one with performance grand pianos. But sometimes the only rooms that are available are those with upright pianos.
"What [pianists] train for is to play the performance skill that we can actually use on the stage," said Lisa Lee, a piano performance major at USC. "Obviously on the stage we have to perform on the grand piano, not the small upright piano."
Hear more Thornton pianists' opinions HERE.
The Official Word
But Thornton officials say help is on the way. Some of the older music buildings will be torn down to make room for a new cinema building, but Thornton will be receiving new space on campus to build more music buildings, including more practice space, school officials said.
"We will be doing some exchange of facilities between what we have now and what cinema is leaving behind, if you will," says Jeffrey de Caen, assistant dean of the Thornton School. "That's how we will recapture our square footage."
Thornton officials said they do not yet know when the new rooms will be ready for students.
Current practice room rules:
- Peak hours are from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Students can reserve times up to seven days in advance and for two hours each day.
- For more information, visit Practicing at USC.
