MUNCIE, Ind. -- A "tunable" performance hall and up-to-date teaching studios for the music engineering technology program will be features of Ball State University’s new Music Instruction Building.

The capital project was recently approved by the state Legislature. Construction is scheduled to begin in late fall.

"The School of Music is striving to create a functional, acoustically perfect building that will be nationally recognized by music educators and performers," said Robert Kvam, interim dean of the College of Fine Arts.

The $21 million, 73,000-square-foot facility will sit on the southeast corner of McKinley and Riverside avenues. Construction will be complete in summer 2003.

One of the building’s most notable features will be a performance hall with special sound chambers in the walls and ceiling that can be opened or closed to adjust the acoustics for different types of performances.

Sliding doors on the chambers can be opened to provide greater sound volume for larger, louder groups such as bands and jazz ensembles, or closed for soloists and small ensembles.

"When those are open, they will double the volume of the hall," Kvam said. "You get much more volume of space where the sound can interact. Almost everything aside from the very largest productions could be done there."

The hall will seat 400 people downstairs and 200 in the balcony.

The performance hall also will include other panels to further refine the acoustics, absorbing or reflecting sound, plus a built-in shell above the stage for orchestra concerts. Those features and more are lacking in Ball State’s Pruis Hall, which accommodates most School of Music performances.

A choral and opera rehearsal room in the proposed building will double as a second performance venue to be used for recitals with seating for 75 to 100 people.

The second floor will provide a new home for the Music Engineering Technology (MET) Studios. Ball State is one of only a handful of universities in the nation that offer a music engineering technology program.

The program currently occupies a small residential structure along Bethel Avenue near the football stadium. The building does not meet the technical specifications for the ongoing work by music students and faculty members, Kvam said.

The highly selective and rigorous MET program requires a student to excel as a musician and a scientist, incorporating a minor in applied physics and several higher-level math courses.

The demand for MET graduates is increasing throughout the music business as nearly 80 percent of the music heard today is digitally mastered, Kvam said.

"The MET program complements what we’ve done in teacher education and performance," Kvam said. "Graduates of that program are highly sought-after. The job market is very strong for that area."

The building also will house rehearsal, office, library, storage and teaching areas for studio, orchestra, band and choral activities for music performance students and faculty.

The Music Instruction Building will complement the existing Hargreaves Music Building, which will still be used for music education, music history and music theory and composition.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Robert Kvam by e-mail at rkvam@bsu.edu or by phone at (765) 285-5402.)