Sunday
July 7, 2019

Welcome to the 67th annual Band Camp at West Texas A&M University.

Let's take a campus tour first. Sit back. Enjoy the ride.

Saturday, July 6. Dear Diary, Let's start and the Fine Arts Complex. (It's the "F" building for campers.) The School of Music is on the second floor, on the north side (where the Sybil B. Harrington Fine Arts Complex sign is located). When the university is in session, the music offices, faculty offices (voice, part-time instructors, music business, and piano), plus the choir room, piano lab, a classroom, and practice rooms.

Panning west, we'll begin to see Northen Recital Hall. The building is named for Mary Moody Northen, a philanthropist. It's a triangular-shaped building. This is the north side. Music is on the south side, both floors.

Turning some more. The gate is where the kilns are located for glass blowing, etc. The art department is on this north side.

To the left of the big tree is the entrance to NRH. (It's the "N" building for campers.) That's where people will enter from the parking lot for registration. The doors to the right of the tree lead to the west addition to NRH. That's where the percussion studio area is located, the large band rehearsal room, and then at the very south end--we're at the north end right--is an instrument storage room (N-1021), Tarpley's Music (N-1020, and two smaller rehearsal rooms (N-1022 and N-1023). They will be blocked off during registration.

NRH entrance on the left; NRH-blocked-for-registration on the right.

Stafford Hall from the south side. It will be closed this year and all the years after that (as I understand it). Rumors are that it will be torn down and replaced by a new building or it might become a parking lot. Start your own rumor. This one is mine.

Stafford Hall from the east side.

A closer look.

A closer look at the FAC entrance from the parking lot. What is this building called during band camp? Time's up. It's the "F" building. What's NRH called during band camp? It's the "N" building. Don't get them confused.

There are practice rooms on the second floor, F-253.

There are 18 of them.

A peek inside.

The School of Music is an "All-Steinway School." There are Bostons in most of the rooms and Steinways in the piano studios and the two recital halls.

I'm exiting the south side of the FAC. To the south of that is the Classroom Center.

If I turn to the right (looking west), I see the southeast side of Northen.

If I turn to the left, I'll see the passageway to the east side of campus (the residence halls, the cafeteria, and the activities center.

But I'm going right, to the southeast entrance to Northen.

And now I turn my head to the south and see more of the Classroom Center.

I just stepped inside Northen.

To my left is the hallway (on the south side) leading out of the building or to the addition.

If I veer right, I going into the atrium. I'm going to walk straight forward.

Campers and their parents will gather in the atrium, on this side of the table. They'll get their packet of information then head off to the left to go into the recital hall so we can make a nametag. Those who have a zero or negative balance will go in the doors closet to you; those who owe will enter in the second set of doors. By the way, the student events office is there in corner

We're still at the table. Turn right, and that's where the camp secretary will be located for elective changes or other registration questions.

Here's another view of going into the recital hall. Closest to the wall zero/negative balance; the next lane is for payment, and that last door will be the student events office, which will open Monday morning.

Northen on the left; the addition on the right.

We're inside the addiiton. First stop is the percussion area.

The hallway looking south.

The large band rehearsal room. They're setting up for the meeting with the RAs (residential assistants), who will be assigned to different units in the halls. Many of these are music majors at the WTAMU, many of whom are former band campers.

Two rehearsal areas on the left, the instrument storage room and Tarpley's Music on the right.

Exiting the south side is the Classroom Center.

Looking back at the southern entrance to the addition and Northen.

The inside of Northen Recital Hall. It has been renovated in these last several months. It has been acoustically treated. Those are the sound deflectors/absorbers on the walls. (There's probably a much better description than what I have provided, but I have a limited vocabulary.)

I'm in the hallway, ground floor, south side. Campers will have access to an instrument locker, but they have to have their own lock. First come, first serve.

When campers finish registration, they can go to the Gold Card Office if they want to put spending money on their card. They'll exit Northen and proceed to the Classroom Center. Go inside the building and turn left.

We use all kinds of spaces for rehearsals during band camp. Here is a music classroom set up for Monday's audition. You can't see him, but Forky is going to try out (if we can drag him from the trash can).

More lockers on the second floor, south side (the music side). The door to the left leads to more practice rooms.

Six rooms here. The ones at the end are for piano majors at the university.

Single reed players who forgot to bring reeds might want to pick through this box. I think this box has been here for a while. Do you suppose there's another Forky in there?

A view from the second floor, looking west.

On Saturday afternoon, Mr. Lefevre holds a meeting for all the RAs (resident assistants). At the front table are Mr. Gonzalez and Ms. Lewis (student events), Dr. Teweleit (assistant camp director), Ms. Munoz (band camp secretary), Mr. Lefevre (camp director), Mr. Wosely (director of student services), Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Prieto, Ms. Baument, Ms. Kreutzer (dorm supervisors).

A fuzzy picture. (Get used to it.)

Remember the new agriculture building that opened last year. Mr. Paul Engler and his wife Virginia made a large gift to the university, so their names are attached to the Paul Engler college of Agricfultre and Natural Sciences and the Paul and Virginia Engler College of Business.

Since then, and to the east, Texas A&M University, College Station, is building a veternary medial diagnostic laboratory and...

...an education, research, and outreach building. I don't know when the completion date is. Texas Tech University is planning a veternary school up in the hospital district that has a lot of support from the Amarillo area.

To the east of Jarrett Hall is the new football stadium set to open September 7.

Across the street is the Vergil Henson Activities Center. (There's also a sewer project going on.)

Straight ahead is Jones Hall where all the boy campers will stay. Cross Hall, where the girls will reside, is just behind. It is barely visible in this picture.

Shirley Hall is the red brick building just beyond the white pickup. That's also a unit for the girls.

This is the back of the cafeteria.

Jarrett Hall has undergone renovations for the last two years. It was used during the new student orientations this summer and will go into full use this fall. It's now air conditioned. The restroom areas are still common, but they have a door, toilet, and shower for privacy, unlike yesteryear.

Across from Jarrett is Buff Hall, where the directors will stay.

The front entrance of the cafeteria looking north.

Buff Hall.

Shirley Hall, with Jones Hall in the background on the left and the top of Cross hall on the right.

The front entrance to Shirley Hall.

I'm looking west. Campers will take this trail to get to Northen and the Fine Arts Complex.

Shirley on the left; Cross directly ahead.

There is a road that goes to the clock tower, so I'm looking east. The steam plant is on the left, Cornette Library is on the right and back. This is the path that the student will take to get to rehearsals and back to their residence.

I'm in the same place but pointing west. The Fine Arts Complex is on the right and Northen is straight ahead.

My foot is still on the ground (no travelling violation on me!) and this is the east side of the Fine Arts Complex. This is called the F-Grand Lobby. ("F" is the Fine Arts Complex). This is where the Branding Iron Theatre (BIT) is located if you are coming to the camp concerts.

Clock tower.

Pedestrian mall.

The buffalo fountain. WT's mascot is the buffalo.

A picture of the JBK student center. There is a food court inside. Chick-fil-A and Which Which and Starbucks and a convenience store are there. (Chick-fil-A is open for band camp (except Sunday), but is closed during the summer. That's how special we are.)