SSU Alive With Music

Piano music and a chorus of voices filtered Friday through the halls of Sonoma State University's new music education building, a sprawling facility where classes began this week.

"It's amazing," said Becky Soler of Santa Rosa, a junior music student playing a Beethoven sonata on a Steinway in one of the individual studios. "You can hear the sound . . . I didn't realize the difference. It's a treat to play here."

The facility, part of the Green Music Center complex, has classrooms, faculty offices and rehearsal halls. Wall panels and special flooring enhance the acoustics, and broad windows allow sunlight to flood in.

It is a major expansion to the music program facilities at Ives Hall, which are below ground and have windowless concrete walls.

"The overall atmosphere is positive, and that has an effect that is difficult to measure," said John Palmer, an assistant music professor. The facility is "an attraction; it will lend a vibrancy to the campus," he said.

The music education building is the first facility to open at the $110 million Green Music Center, a complex that also includes a large concert hall that will be home to the Santa Rosa Symphony.

The Green Music Center includes Schroeder's Recital Hall, attached to the classroom building, and a separate hospitality center that will have a kitchen and banquet facilities.

The hospitality center is slated to open in spring 2009 and the concert hall and recital hall in 2010.

The impact "is going to be huge," said Jeff Langley, the music program's artistic director. "We won't feel it right away. It is a phased occupation, but already word is traveling to Los Angeles that we are building the center, families are visiting the campus because they know we are building this hall."

The ground around the building is still bare dirt and some of the walkways are gravel, and workers Friday were moving equipment in and dealing with small problems, like the need for an extension cord for an electronic piano in a faculty office.

Some students are already saying the new facilities played roles in their choice of Sonoma State.

"This was part of my decision, a small part, to come here," said Daniel Corpus of Gilroy, who also considered Arizona State. "I'm a vocal major, and this is pretty impressive."

"It would be very cool to be one of the first to play a concert in the concert hall," said freshman Paul Coker, an upright bass player from Woodland.

The center is named after telecommunications pioneer Don Green and his wife, Maureen, who were members of the university's Bach chorus and launched the project with a $10 million donation.

A total of $47 million in private donations has been raised and an additional $18 million is needed to complete the concert and recital halls.

You can reach Staff Writer Bob Norberg at 521-5206 or bob.norberg@pressdemocrat.com.