Continued...

A "Hard-Hat Concert," sort of...
Reber and JaffeHolden's Jerome Smith and Russ Cooper, project principal, spent four days (Nov. 29 – Dec. 2) turning Emeny Hall for acoustic music. The first three days were spent in rehearsals with various groups of musicians, leading up to a "hard-hat" concert. Systems designer, Howard Rose, returned to Amarillo in mid-January before the opening gala program (January 20-22, 2006) and again in mid-February to complete tuning of the hall for amplified music.

A hard-hat concert gives the acoustic designers an opportunity to hear the hall, and make adjustments, when the seats are full. Typically, anyone who has been involved in the project, and their families, is invited to fill these seats. It's an informal event where the acoustical team runs the tests that to this point they have only been able to run in an empty hall, before proceeding with a musical program, during which they can repeat their tests.

In this instance, the house was full, offering the JaffeHolden team an unusual advantage for testing and measuring the hall's acoustic performance. Unusual also was that this hard-hat concert was opened to donors, with a reception afterwards—a sort of "hard-hat gala" opening. "It was a bit more formal than we were used to," says Reber, "but Russ Cooper programmed the event so we knew what was happening when, and he narrated the proceedings from on-stage." The line-up included: a jazz combo, a rock-n'-roll band, the Amarillo Civic Chorus, soloists from the Amarillo Opera, a piano soloist, the Harrington String Quartet, and the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra.

"We had all the adjustable settings that we thought were right for each performing group," says Reber, "and when they finished playing, we did some tests." This process was repeated for each musical grouping.

Typical of most complex construction projects, Emeny Hall was not quite finished at the appointed hour. During the Nov. 29 – Dec. 2 acoustic tuning and hard-hat concert, the systems were installed but not yet completely operational. The sound reinforcement system was not functional, so amplified groups—jazz combo and rock ‘n roll group—were tested using on-stage rental systems. The architectural lighting was in-place, but it was not adjustable in any way; the entire event played out under full house lighting. Stage lighting for the orchestral shell was not complete; the orchestra played using stand lights. And the major adjustable acoustical elements in the hall were operational, but at this point in time, only manually.

"Despite all these limitations," says Cooper, "the staff of the center ran a great event that served our purposes well, allowed the performers to become familiar with the hall and its sound, showcased the talent for the upcoming gala, and provided a first glimpse at the hall for all of the donors, workers, and their families."

Most importantly, the JaffeHolden team was able to get the measurements they needed. "We are extremely pleased with the natural sound of the hall," says Reber. "Very warm and intimate, yet a nice reverberant sound as well."  

The tuning week and the hard-hat event had a strong educational element, with Cooper giving a lecture on acoustics to over 500 regional high school and under graduate science and physic s students, explaining the technical issues of acoustics in interesting and understandable terms to the appreciative and up- and- coming audience. W hen they were informed that they were the first people to actually sit in the hall and participate in an event, t he student audience roared with pride.

The hard-hat event, attended by major donors , was free of charge and provided one more public relations and fund raising opportunity for the Globe- News executives. Bill Gilliland, president of the Globe- News Performing Arts Center Board, addressed the crowd and tactfully let everyone know that the building wasn 't quite finished yet and that perhaps with a few more generous donations, they could insure the hall would be ready for the opening gala at the end of January. When the 30-ton orchestra shell moved into place, Cooper announced that it was the only one of its kind in the world and that it was manufactured completely by a Texas- based firm, the crowd erupted into sustained applause.

Community support for this project has been overwhelming. More than 90% of the $32 million total project cost for the Globe-News Center came from private donors. With w orld-class acoustics , great flexibility in its programming ability, and stunning architecture with a regional flare, the Globe-News Center's Emeny Hall is well on its way to being a destination for the world 's best talent. "We are just really starting to understand just what we've got here," says Gilliland. "It truly is unbelievable for little ol' Amarillo."