Practice Room Hallway - Alana Sardellitti

The life of a music student. A music student's home at Queen's University is Harrison-LeCaine Hall (HLH). A large portion of their time is spent in this building whether they are in class, practicing, talking to a professor, or sitting in the lobby. As you step into the shoes of a music student and take this journey through the basement of HLH, listen for the iconic sounds of the practice room hallway in the basement of HLH and experience the space as Queen’s music students would.

These piece is the soundscape of the hallway in the basement of HLH where a majority of the practice rooms are located. I decided to structure the piece as a sound-walk of sorts of a music student who is going to practice. It begins with the sound of opening one of the doors to the stairwell and footsteps walking downstairs. Then you hear the opening of a locker followed by many different snippets of people practicing. The movement of these sounds from right to left and front to back is representative of walking by an occupied practice room, with the sounds getting louder as you are closer to the room and quieter as you move away. As the piece progresses, you hear many unique sounds to this space. For example, you can hear lockers opening and closing, people walking by, the shuffling of jackets and backpacks, chatter amongst students, instruments and instrument cases, as well as the ‘hum’ of the building/heating system. The piece ends with the sounds of entering a practice room. The noise from the hallway and sounds of others practicing disappear as you enter the practice room and are prepared to focus on practicing your instrument and repertoire.