St. Paul’s $2.3 million band building has perfect pitch

By Christine Bordelon
Clarion Herald

The dream of having a high-tech building specifically for St. Paul’s music program and award-winning Marching Wolves band became a reality in late November on the school’s Covington campus.

Principal Trevor Watkins said the $2.3 million, 4,918-square-foot, two-story building replaces the old band building on the same site – 11th Street at Jefferson Avenue  in Covington.

Students began using it right after football season ended.

“We outgrew the facility,” Watkins said of the former site. “While it may have been adequate for a band 20 years ago, we were bursting at the seams. More than that, our band program had evolved to be much more than a marching band. We have music theory classes, music appreciation classes and classes specific to instruments such as guitar and percussion and so on.

“Students needed spaces that functioned for them. For example, in our music theory classes, the kids actually do music composition, so they needed the spaces where the technology existed for them to do that. It’s all computer- generated. It’s not just a room, but a music recording facility. The entire building is acoustically treated so from room to room, sound doesn’t carry.”

Special features
Construction began in summer 2020, but much planning and discussion went into the design and function of the new hall. Band director Andrew Moran, who has a bachelor’s degree in music education and performance from Kent State University and a master’s degree in music performance from Southeastern Louisiana University, took the lead.

Moran has taught at St. Paul’s for 13 years, and was instrumental in conceiving a state-of-the-art music complex by consulting band directors he admired for their thoughts.

The resulting building has the latest acoustics, technology (including microphones, recording equipment, etc.) and even appropriate lighting. It is a special place that rivals some college music buildings, Moran said.

“The building itself is acoustically perfect, designed for one thing – making music,” Moran said. “It gives us an opportunity to craft a sound and work on the sound. The technology is professional grade. It’s like a recording studio. With the microphones we have and the technology, I can be at the podium with my iPad, hit a recording program in my office, record the band playing something and then play it for them so they can hear what I hear and know what to work on.”

What’s inside
It has three performance spaces: a large space where the 96-member band can actually march inside; a medium-size classroom for mid-sized ensemble practice and performance; and a smaller room for trios and a single pianist.

“Each of those areas can act as their own recording studio,” Watkins said, all revolving around Moran’s office. Additionally, a large, open mezzanine level has a separate storage closet and a uniform closet with its own dehumidifier, an instrument closet and even student locker space. The old building was the concert hall, storage and locker room all in one.

The whole building has special HVC units that keep an ambient temperature and humidity at the levels that instruments need. All ceilings, floor and walls were acoustically treated since it’s not just a practice space but a performance space. Even the lighting is special. Months were spent  selecting floor and ceiling tiles and even special duct work so sound doesn’t carry outside each space.

“It’s much more than classroom space,” Watkins said. “It’s designed for performance. You can have a performance that looks like a concert hall. It’s designed specifically for music. It’s a beautiful space. Architecturally, it’s stunning, but it is also practically designed for music performance.”

The school hopes that local musicians and groups will use it as a performance space.

Unique to the building are sound panels featuring historic band pictures that were researched by the school.

“As you walk through it, you are walking through the history of the St. Paul band dating back to when the Benedictines opened the school in 1911,” Watkins said.

Expanding the band
The hall will be much used by St. Paul’s multiple bands, Moran said. The Marching Wolves marching band has 96 members, and they perform at various school functions such as football games and march in seven Mardi Gras parades,  including Cleopatra, Olympians, Carrollton, Hermes, Endymion, Bacchus and Rex.

“We’re considered one of the top bands to watch during Mardi Gras,” Moran said. We’re heavily sought after during Mardi Gras.”

There’s the concert band, St. Paul’s Jazz Wolves Band, a voluntary group of approximately 30 members who perform the Big Band sound; a jazz combo of five to six upperclassmen; a New Orleans Second-Line-style brass band and also a new historical music ensemble that focuses on  fifes and rudimental snare and bass drums and recently had the opportunity to perform alongside a college band at a music conference.

One of Moran’s favorite  performances for the band is for special needs students in St. Tammany, usually held at the WalMart in Covington. He hopes it isn’t canceled in 2022.

Moran is proud of the success of band members – one of whom has performed with the Neville Brothers – and 2018 graduate Landon Chambliss, who was named LSU’s drum major this year.

Moran lauds Christian Brother Ray Bulliard, school president, for his vision and for wrangling the funding to make the new hall possible.

“The whole point of the building is for the students to enjoy and make music,” Moran said.

The pandemic has delayed the building’s initial dedication.

“It’s turned into a very special place,” Moran said of the building. “The kids see that.”

cbordelon@clarionherald.org