Kim Seo-hyun lives in Jamsil, about one-and-a-half hours away from Ewha. Everyday she wakes up at 5 a.m., and carries her French horn to school. Kim’s class actually starts at 11 a.m., but she is already on her way to school for only one reason : to reserve a seat at the music practice room.
“I wake up early to use the school practice room,” said Kim, a sophomore majoring in String and Wind Orchestra. “The reservation system is on a first-come, first-served basis. Even if you want to use the practice room at 2 p.m., you have to come to the Music Building by 8 a.m. If not, I can guarantee there will not be any rooms available.”
For many students like Kim who must make the early commute to school just to reserve a practice room, the current system is simply not practical. Although many schools, such as Yonsei University and Sookmyung Women’s University have implemented an online service which students can easily reserve a room, Ewha has maintained an in-person system so far. This has forced many students to look for alternatives.
“For me, I decided to just use a private practice room instead,” said Shin Ye-ji, another student majoring in String and Wind Orchestra. “Even though I live close to school, it is too competitive and difficult to get a reservation.”
In the five-story Music Building, there are 10 or 15 music practice rooms on each of the third, fourth, and fifth floors. In the basement, there are six organ practice rooms.
While this may seem enough to accommodate students, it is still not sufficient for more than 176 students who major in String and Wind Orchestra. Also, since each floor’s practice rooms can only be used by certain instruments, majors that have many students, such as violin, are more competitive.
When all practice rooms are full, students who wish to practice without paying to use a private off-campus room have no choice but to go to the ensemble hall, where students all gather in one place to practice. However, due to the mixed noises from many different instruments, students have difficulty concentrating on their own sound.
Faced with growing criticism over the issue, the administrators stated their opinion on the issue.
“I think students are not complaining because of a general shortage of rooms but because there are no rooms at peak times when everyone wants to practice,” said an administrative official at the College of Music. “It is just like the school library. Even though there are usually many seats available, students all cram during the exam period and then grumble, ‘Why are there not enough seats?’”
One sophomore student responding to this explanation stated, “In our music college, we do not have a separate midterm exam period or finals. Weekly recitals are mandatory for all musicians. This means that there is no specific ‘cram’ period. The lack of rooms is a problem we face all the time.”
With such different opinions on the issue, it seems the two sides will struggle to reach an agreement.
