<p>Are there any dorms that have music practice rooms? Also, where are the music buildings for Thornton School of Music in relation to the big cluster of dorms (Marks, Trojan, Pardee, Birnkrant) etc?</p>
<p>basically, where would a music major most preferably want to live at lol</p>
<p>Hi, I'm a freshman, class of 2012. I live in Parkside IRC.</p>
<p>Parkside Arts & Humanities (PAHRC) has a music floor, but I'm not sure if it has music practice rooms. However, IRC has 3, and if you live in PAHRC your USCard can unlock IRC. You have to ask the front desk for the key, and in exchange for your USCard they will unlock it for you, and then when you're done you give them the key back and you get your USCard back. </p>
<p>Birnkrant has a music practice room. I think your USCard unlocks it but I'm not positive. New and North have a piano their lobbies, so if you don't mind people hearing you practicing piano, then there you go. Marks Tower also has a piano in their lobby. I'm not sure about the other dorms.</p>
<p>There is also a building called PIC (Practice & Instruction Center). It consists of probably 50 or so practice rooms equipped with heavy doors and pretty well insulated walls. Also a nifty feature is the rooms have a system which can make it sound like you're in a cathedral, music hall, etc. That building is open until 1am. It locks up at 7:30pm I think, but if you're a music major, minor, or even just taking a music class you can get your USCard programmed to unlock it between 7:30pm and 1am. You can stay after 1am, but you can't unlock it at 1am. So like, you can get there at 12:59am and it's fine.</p>
<p>PIC is down the street from IRC and PAHRC, and across the street from Fluor. It's on the opposite side of campus of Birnkrant, N/N, Pardee, Marks Hall, etc. </p>
<p>So if you are a music major I think PAHRC is the best place especially the music floor. It's probably a 3 - 5 minute walk to PIC and also it's right next to IRC where the practice rooms are. It's a 10 - 20 minute walk from the big cluster (Birnkrant/Newnorth/Pardee/DXM/DMT).</p>
<p>Overall, downsides of PAHRC and IRC are that dining options are a bit limited as the Lot (which is where the places like Baja Fresh and Red Mango are) closes at 10pm M-S and 5pm on Sunday, whereas the Birnkrant side of campus has Trojan Grounds (TroGro) which is open 24/7. </p>
<p>Upsides of PAHRC and IRC are that you have the Parkside Restaurant dining hall open until 10pm every day, which is far superior to the Birnkrant side dining hall (EVK) as far as food options. If you live in IRC, Parkside Restaurant is pretty much downstairs, and PAHRC it's barely even leaving your building.</p>
<p>People stereotype Birnkrant and New/North as being social and IRC & PAHRC as being anti-social, which is false. YES, Birnkrant and N/N are louder and have lots of drinking and partying, but IRC and PAHRC are also really social, but in a more chill way, stuff like lots of people watching a movie in the lounge, or even just chillaxing and talking in the suites and hallways -- perhaps occasionally throwing a few back but not in excess. ;). Plus if you wanna party, you just walk on over to B-krant or N/N, trash their dorm, and come back to your nice clean, air-conditioned dorm. (IRC & PAHRC are much much much nicer and cleaner than the others and they are also air-conditioned unlike the others. IRC and PAHRC are identical as far as rooms go.)</p>
<p>Dorm parties are really lame and crappy anyway. The Row is where the good parties are.</p>
<p>ANYWAY, that was more than I meant to type. Hope that was helpful -- just post if you have more questions.</p>