Thanks to the extra academic space created by the Music Instruction Building, a portion of the Hargreaves Music Building has been used to create the Center for Excellence in Music Education.

The center, on the fourth floor of Hargreaves, centralizes classrooms and resources that were once scattered around the building. The center also will encourage increased interaction between professors and students who have helped set the course for many music programs around the country, says Don Ester, area coordinator of music education.

"We made the designation to acknowledge our accomplishments, such as the fact that our graduates work in schools from the Bronx to California, more than 50 percent of the music teachers in Indiana are Ball State graduates and our curriculum has been cited in journals as a national model," he said.

"We're recognized nationally in terms of accomplishments, awards and leadership we provide to the National Association of Music Educators (MENC) and for being its largest chapter. Establishing the center helps solidify our reputation."

Recently student Nicholas Mason was admiring one of the center's bulletin boards displaying a collection of elementary students' comments on what makes music an important part of their lives.

"It's amazing to see this wall and to see that the students really care about music. We want to show administrators and legislators that music is important to students and learning," Mason said. "This is proof that music works, and it affects children's lives and is needed in public education."

Hanging out in the hallways or interacting with faculty members in the high-tech classrooms — replete with access to the university's high-speed wireless network and digital recording equipment — affords the students and professors proximity and space, which are powerful tools, said Ester, who will serve as the MENC's national chair of the Society for Music Teacher Education.

Mason, however, sums it up in simpler terms: "This is our music education home."