The Indiana University Marching Hundred will soon have a massive change in scenery with a new 20,000-square-foot facility. Recently the university’s school of music development office gained enough support for a new building, so that the board of trustees voted on a tentative plan.
“For the last 40 or 50 years, we really haven’t had an indoor space where the marching band could rehearse,” says Dave Woodley, director of athletic bands. “We’ve had architects visit other schools’ marching band buildings, and we’ve asked other band directors what they’ve liked or disliked, so we can plan ours.”
The tentative plans for the new building consist of three separate rehearsal rooms: a 6,000-square-foot main room and two smaller 2,500-square-foot rooms. With this new layout, the band will have sufficient space for full band rehearsals as well as separate spaces for the drumline and the dance team. Other university groups will also be able to make use of the available space for conferences and other events.
“We’ve never been able to have an indoor music rehearsal,” Woodley says. “This will be a huge improvement for the band. Everybody is incredibly excited, especially our alumni.”—SS
