New arts and tech center becomes hands-on project for students

Before a single music student picked up an instrument to play a single note, the new arts and technology center at Whitefish High School became a space of learning.

Four physics students, joined teacher Todd Spangler and community professionals early Monday morning to take acoustical measurements of the band room.

“We want to get the baseline and once the music department has moved in, then we’ll re-test to see if we notice a difference in sound,” Spangler explained.

The Center for Applied Media, Arts & Sciences opened this week after months of renovation.

The $2.8 million facility was constructed to accommodate classes in music, media arts and technology and theater. All totaled the new area encompasses about 12,000 square feet in the wing just off the gymnasium.

Before music teachers and students moved in, however, the physics class took the opportunity to perform sound testing on the empty space.

Physics students will work with professionals in the design of the acoustic treatments with the goal of also having industrial technology students assist in construction of the panels.

Students were tasked with creating four equal points in the room to gather sound data. They recorded notes played on a keyboard from those different locations. Testing will be performed again once the classes have moved into the rooms.

Brett Allen, owner of SnowGhost Music, brought his own equipment along to show students how he would analyze a room for sound as part of his job as a sound engineer. He explained how he “shoots” a room to measure reverberation and what frequencies are problematic.

Allen explained that materials, such as carpet or curtains, could affect the sound. Even the design of the room can impact the way sound travels, he noted, pointing to the band room and adjacent choir room as an example.

“There’s a double wall in this room to stop sound from going to the next room,” he said. “There’s space between the two walls that traps the sound.”

He noted that the walls are slightly tilted and already installed acoustical panels hang down from the ceiling, to return the sounds back to the center of the room.

In explaining his background, he told students he began playing music in a band before working as a sound engineer.

“It was a round about way that I got into physics,” he said. “I love the science behind the music we record.”

Two students from the media arts class took the opportunity at hands-on learning by observing the testing. The students were filming and taking notes about the project to eventually put on the school’s website.

Principal Kerry Drown praised Monday’s lesson as a cooperative endeavor between students, teachers and community professionals. He said the vision is to continue seeking out student projects that are meaningful and work toward solving a need.

“This in an incredible moment,” Drown said. “We’re utilizing students and local expertise in applied learning for our school with this project. This is the direction that innovative and progressive high schools are moving.”

After the school day officially began, music students moved into the room and got a glimpse of the sound testing. Allen took a few minutes to explain the process of analyzing the room.

“You guys are going to learn what this room gives back to you from a musical perspective,” he told the students. “At some point we’d like to talk about what happens from a science and physics perspective about what happens when you play.”

Orchestra director Jenanne Solberg said rehearsing in the space will be interesting while the room is being analyzed.

“We have a team of experts looking at this,” she explained. “We will wait until we read the room for a while, and the autistic panels will be designed specifically for this room.”

Temporary acoustic treatments on the walls, such as coffee bags and blankets, will be installed. That doesn’t mean the space is unfinished, but the plan all along has been to have students assist in the next step of selecting the permanent treatments, school administrators note.

Superintendent Kate Orozco said having students work with community professionals on this project has always been part of a plan to use the classroom itself as a learning tool.

“There needs to be a level of complexity in hands-on learning,” she said. “If it’s problem-based learning, where you’re asking kids to tackle a real-world problem, then there is more rigor and relevance.”

She said the physics projects, and similar lessons, have become a reality because of the opportunity in the new learning space that is the new high school. Teachers are collaborating and so are students because the new building has created that opportunity, she noted.

School board trustee Shawn Watts said the opening of the arts and technology center means abstract ideas are becoming reality and opening up more opportunities.

“We’re at the future now,” Watts said. “These types of projects have been happening since day one in the new high school — the center is an extension of those same type of possibilities. What we could only have imagined, we’re now doing.”