The Music Room That Found Its Voice

When De La Salle High School began construction on its Music Building in the early 2000s, the campus was already in motion.

“When I arrived,” former CFO and current capital project manager Marilyn Gardner recalls, “they were already constructing the music building and the renovation of the library. The plans had already been approved by the city. It was by a different architect than we have today.”

The building rose during a transitional era, before a unified campus master plan, before the cohesive brick aesthetic that now defines much of De La Salle’s campus. And from the start, it stood out. The Music Building did not fully follow that theme. Its cinder block exterior and aluminum roof marked a noticeable departure from the red-brick identity of the school.

“The inside I like a lot. I mean, I think it works. I wish it had been tied to the theater. I think that's kind of weird that they didn't do it back then, but they didn't.”

Yet if the outside sparked debate, the inside told a very different story.

From Stage Corners to Sonic Space

Before the new building opened in March 2002, the band program rehearsed in what is now a repurposed production construction room in the back of the theater.

“That was the original band room,” says longtime music director Larry Colon. “At one point, the kids barely fit in there, and then they'd have to go on stage to have rehearsal.”

The space had been designed for music decades earlier, but as the program grew to 30 or 40 students with chairs, stands, percussion equipment, and instruments, it quickly outgrew its walls.

“The need was for more space,” Larry explains. “There was a growing music program, a facility that didn't have the space for the program, and the school wanting to support that program and to grow that program.”

When the new Music Building opened, it was more than a larger room. It was purpose-built.

Vaulted ceilings create what Larry calls “more sonic space.” Carpeted floors and acoustic treatments on the walls soften and diffuse sound. Dedicated practice rooms allow students to rehearse independently. A percussion studio, instrument lockers, uniform storage, and a music library transform the building from a classroom to a creative hub.

“In a normal classroom,” Larry explains, “a small group of musicians would be very loud. It would be so loud that the musicians could not hear themselves or hear the people around them.”

But in this room?

“If a trumpet player is sitting in the back row, he should be able to hear the flute player four rows in front because of the acoustics and how the room is designed.”

Listening, true ensemble listening, is at the heart of music education. The room makes that possible.

A Safe Space, A Social Hub

Beyond acoustics, the Music Room has become something deeper for students.

“It’s kind of a social hub,” Larry says. “It’s a place for the kids to come and hang out at lunch, before school, after school.”

Instruments are stored safely. Students from Berkeley can leave a trumpet on campus instead of carrying it on BART. Tuba players can practice on school-owned instruments without financial burden of buying two instruments, one for home and one for school. No student has ever been turned away for lack of equipment.

“I've never had to turn a kid away because they don't have an instrument,” Larry says. “Because we have this room, we're able to invest in those types of instruments.”

The space serves more than band. Theater productions rehearse vocals there. Students outside the program practice piano in its breakout rooms. During football season, its proximity to the field makes marching band rehearsals seamless.

“It’s not just impacted the music students,” Larry says. “It’s impacted the whole community.”

When Larry arrived in 2004, the walls were bare. Today they are filled with photos, plaques and memories.

“The building’s lived in now,” he says. “It has all the kids’ things that they've accomplished, all their successes, all the places we've been.”

For alumni returning to campus, it is often their first stop.

“It was their safe space,” Larry reflects. “A place they could come and be themselves.”

A Commitment That Echoes Forward

The Music Building was one of the earlier major investments in the arts on campus, preceding later upgrades in athletics and facilities. Its existence signaled something important: De La Salle’s commitment to whole-person education includes the performing arts.

“It solidifies the commitment that the school has to the performing arts,” Larry says. From professional-grade instruments to dedicated rehearsal space, the investment allows students, regardless of financial background, to pursue excellence.

And the story isn’t finished.

Conversations continue about one day connecting the Music Room and the theater into a more cohesive performing arts complex. Emerging technologies could allow live musicians in the Music Room to perform in real time for productions in the theater, with integrated audio and video systems bridging the spaces.

“There’s more to come,” Larry says with a smile. “The building itself lends itself to different priorities at different moments… It can grow with the program.”

Sixty years into De La Salle’s story, the Music Room stands as both an architectural outlier and an acoustic triumph. Its exterior may not match every brick on campus, but inside, it resonates with purpose.

For generations of Spartans, it has been more than a building.

It has been a place to listen.
A place to belong.
And a place to be heard.