Fire won't stop the music

May 24--Before the Frank Moody Music Building opened in the late 1980s, the University of Alabama's School of Music spread all over campus, housed in five different buildings, few even adjacent.

"It was a dream to have the School of Music put together in one single unit, a single building," said Charles "Skip" Snead, the school's director.

As far back as the early 1980s, then-director Dennis Monk oversaw planning to gather the various disciplines under one roof. With major funding from Frank Moody and his First National Bank, construction began in '86. Construction progressed until the entire school opened together in the fall of '88. Snead moved to Tuscaloosa that summer, to begin his new faculty position as professor of horn.

"It was a beautiful facility, and it still is," Snead said of the building, which was damaged in a fire last month. "We're very proud of this building. It serves us well, although we are considerably larger."

The total program in '88 included about 150 students, whereas in 2020, there are between 400 and 450 music students, with a faculty also roughly three times as large.

"I remember when we moved into the building," Snead said. "The talk amongst the faculty that had been here already several years: 'My goodness, this is fantastic. What will we do with all this space?' "

The answer quickly resounded: Grow into it, and beyond.

Though UA's School of Music has turned out renowned performers, composers, educators, therapists and more throughout its history, perhaps the most visible musical offshoot, via performances in Bryant-Denny Stadium to live audiences of 100,000 or more, with potential TV audiences several times that, is the Million Dollar Band.

UA's marching unit has been a staple of Crimson Tide football games, and other sports and campus events for 106 years. Yet until 2016, the MDB enjoyed no fixed home, simply meeting out on practice fields, rain or shine.

About six years ago, the School of Music developed an $8 million, 24,000-square-foot addition to the Moody, completed in 2016. It features a marching band rehearsal room with recording capabilities, including space for all 400 MDB members, plus music stands. The newest wing faces south, toward the Bryant Conference Center.

"It has absolutely stunning rehearsal spaces, designed also as multi-media classrooms, and a wonderful common area where students can gather," said Jenny Mann, associate professor of bassoon at UA, and also executive director of the Tuscaloosa Symphony Orchestra, which performs most of its concerts in the Moody.

Rooms are wired for recording, and acoustically tuneable: By moving sound panels or curtains around, adjusting to reflect one hard surface, or on the other side, a more porous one, musicians can dampen or amplify.

"For instance, if you have the entire Million Dollar Band in there, you decrease the acoustic ring, because you don't want to go deaf," Mann said.

"It's a real source of pride, and it also released some of the stress, because we don't fit in the building anymore."

Tragically, it was that new wing hardest hit by a fire in the Moody roof, probably started due to lightning strike about 4:15 p.m. April 19. Tuscaloosa Fire and Rescue crew worked in shifts through the night and into the next morning to quell the blaze. In the process, much of the MDB's instruments, uniforms and other equipment stored in lockers was salvaged. One small mercy of coronavirus conditions, the building was unoccupied, so no one was injured.

"That Sunday afternoon, making my way over here, I was comforted at least to realize that, in this current environment, it was very unlikely anyone would have been inside or even close to the building," Snead said.

Though flames were contained to the third floor, smoke and water also damaged other areas of the new wing. UA administration has been on the ball since before the smoke cleared, Snead said.

"Insurance adjusters were on site within 48 hours, and funding has been released," he said. "I can't say enough positive things about the university in terms of the president's office, logistics and support."

The wing is in what's called demolition phase, though that's not quite as drastic as it sounds.

"Essentially they're stripped it down on the inside, everything down to the metal framing," Snead said, "with wiring and pipes taken out."

That probably has another week or so to go before construction phase, during which the roof and other physically damaged areas will be entirely reappointed.

"We've received reassurances from the university that it will not only be brought back to its original state, but there will be some improvements to make the space even better, more usable, more durable," Snead said.

"So it's not only coming back, but coming back better."

As UA plans to hold summer classes online anyway, due to COVID-19, the demolition-construction crews aren't getting in anyone's way. What fall will look like is still in the air, but assuming physical presence returns to the Moody, the new wing may not be quite ready at the start.

"We're optimistic we might be able to start using parts of the new wing again by maybe October or so," Snead said.

Over decades, the Moody building has been touched up, renovated with new carpet and paint and other touches. Some north wing renovations, the stretch facing University Boulevard, were budgeted for another $2 million, roughly the same time when the new south wing got underway.

In some senses, the School of Music continues to outgrow its bounds. In 2014, the UA Opera Theatre moved into a renovated former chapel on the Bryce Lawn Drive, now known as the Bryant-Jordan Hall. The opera facilities are within walking distance, less than a mile, but clearly not under the same Moody roof.

"We are doing quite well," Snead said, "though if we had more space, we could certainly use it."

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