New residence music room set to open in October
Looking back at the Roy Ivor residence Music Room with a new one on the horizon.
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Roy Ivor Hall is one of the University of Toronto Mississauga’s (UTM) residence buildings, holding roughly 180 single-occupancy rooms allotted for first-year students. Its most notable feature is the music room, intended for student residents—on a first-come first-serve basis—to practice using the available piano or bring in their own instruments for use. However, the opening of the New Residence Building comes with the promise of a new and improved music room to be available for use early next month.
How necessary is the new room? I’ve personally visited the Roy Ivor music room myself over four years ago and also reached out to students currently in residence who have made use of the facilities to find out for certain.
In the winter of 2022, I was one of many first-year students who looked for a place to play music on campus. The question about a piano or general practice room on campus usually came up casually in music circles and on the UTM Reddit page, and the response was always roughly the same: there is a music room in Roy Ivor, but you need to be a resident student to borrow the key from the Residence Services Desk. While this is inconvenient for commuters like myself, who also make up almost 90% of the student body, I was fortunate enough to know a residence student who could accompany me to use the room.
At that time there was no music club on campus, so I used this opportunity to ascertain its usefulness for gatherings and events. I used to jot down what I saw when I entered: 13 chairs, two music stands, a carpet, a coffee table, chalkboard, a kitchen counter, and a piano. The room resembled a high school classroom. The piano, meanwhile, was out of tune, had no sustain, and could not hold sheet music. Still, the room could be used to practice piano if you had no other options.
Marcus, a third-year resident who plays piano and drums, says that he used to practice piano in the room on a weekly basis in his first year. He appreciated the convenience of having a piano for free on residence and its usefulness for groups. “I remember one time there was, like, a saxophone and a guitar, like a little mini drum kit set up,” Marcus recounted. “There was like a little jazz quartet or something playing in there. Sometimes someone goes in there to practice violin as well.” He also listed drawbacks such as having to book the room in advance to secure a spot as well as the condition of the piano: “it’s usable, but it was quite out of tune and it would have a few sticky keys.”
The New Residence Building music room is expected to be open for booking on October 5th according to Jen Skinner, the Assistant Director, Residence Administration & Operations for Student Housing & Residence Life (SHRL). Skinner shares that “the space features a neon wall sign highlighting the purpose of the room—play with passion—and includes a piano, chairs, and additional lighting that will support residents’ use and residence life programs.” The room will be bookable via the SHRL front desk, and the staff will be gathering feedback on space programming opportunities in the months ahead.
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