It sits at the back of the lobby, overlooking the exercise bicycles and stairmasters, its notes soaring over the hum of the elliptical machines. Behind it stand the thirsty customers and the hustle and bustle of Quenchers. In the middle of Wilson Recreation Center sits this gleaming, black baby grand piano.
Perhaps the oddest location for an instrument, the gym actually holds the most frequently played piano on West Campus. As some may be surprised to find out, six other venues boast pianos. Their inconvenient locations, however, such as the Freeman Center for Jewish Life, the Mary Lou Williams Center for Black Culture and the Arts Dorm in Edens, mean that many music students find practicing difficult. Instead, many have to make the sometimes half-hour trek to the outskirts of East Campus to reach practice rooms.
"It is kind of hard to get over here [to Biddle Music Building], but now that I have a class over here, it's so much more convenient," said junior Anna Coghill. "I don't even know where the pianos on West are."
Because she doesn't consider going to East as out of the way anymore, Coghill tries to practice an hour and a half three times a week.
Coghill is one of many students who prefer the practice rooms on East Campus to other areas with pianos on West, which also include the Medical Center, the Divinity School's York Chapel and the Chapel basement. Most of these locations are as distant as Biddle, but without providing some of the benefits of Biddle's practice rooms.
"I don't really practice anywhere else," wrote junior Will Horn in an email about practicing at Biddle. "Getting to the Arts Dorm is as hard as getting to Biddle since I live on Central. And the piano there is not as nice as some of the ones in Biddle."
Traveling to Biddle has forced Horn into a routine that has even affected his health.
"It is a pain that all the practice rooms are on East," he said. "Since I have to travel to practice, I usually can only practice a few days a week and end up practicing for long periods of time at once. It has actually led to some back problems that I had to see the physical therapist about."
There are certainly those who feel comfortable with practicing the piano in the gym, but for others like Horn, there are proposed plans currently underway to carve out a private space for practice a little closer to home. Associate Professor of the practice of music Randall Love, who gives piano lessons, has spearheaded the music department's efforts to put pianos in West Campus dorms. He has also advocated for the future expanded Bryan Center to include two or three practice rooms.
"People are always saying I wish there was a place to practice on West," said Love. "The problem is for upperclassmen who practice a lot to schlep over here [to East]. What we're trying to do is create spaces for them to use."
Harry Davidson, professor of the practice of music and director of the Duke Symphony Orchestra, supports additions of West Campus practice facilities. He believes, though, that only a very specific group of students will benefit.
"Even within the context of orchestra, it becomes that much more difficult after the students are finished with freshman year to return here [to East] for rehearsals," said Davidson. "I think the dedicated ones will always find a way to do this, but those students who are just playing in orchestra because they want to keep playing and aren't as musically involved as others are the ones that might find places to practice on West Campus [helpful]."
He added that the current lack of rehearsal space on West Campus has not necessarily inhibited his students' level of performance.
Still, the popularity of the gym piano and the long trek to East commonly taken is a testament to the need for centrally-located practice rooms on West. Love's proposal for the Bryan Center to host pianos not only solves this lack of facilities on West, but will also remedy Duke's past mistake of placing pianos in open, unprotected areas--which is how the piano in the gym got there in the first place.
Five years ago, the Kawai piano company began a loaner program with Duke--they would provide pianos at designated places and replace them yearly. They would then sell these pianos, which fetched a higher price because of their University affiliation. Kawai, however, made it clear from the beginning that their pianos would not be located at places as unprotected as the Bryan Center, which housed a piano from 1982 to 1992. Instead, they wanted more protected venues such as Wilson Recreation Center to assure the pianos would remain in relatively good resale conditions.
"Kawai didn't want its pianos to be in such a public area, so they searched for other locations on West," recalled Love. "There was just no room at all, and some of the oddest places were chosen because they were semi-protective."
Although the current location of the gym piano is accessible, while still providing protection, it doesn't provide a suitable venue for serious practice. Until music students can walk into enclosed practice rooms in the new Bryan Center or other West Campus locations, however, it seems that the only options will still have to be making the long journey to East Campus--or settling for serenading elliptical machine users and Quenchers customers.
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