Aftermath of the Collapse : New Sites for Classes, Concerts Must Be Found After Loss of Music Hall

The collapse of a recital hall roof at Cal State Long Beach could touch off a scramble for rehearsal and lecture rooms for music students, and for off-campus locations to host scores of performances held annually at the facility, a college official said.

The popular 8-year-old hall, known for its superb acoustics and intimate setting, was the centerpiece of the university’s complex of music buildings on the north end of campus.

“The big place it will hurt us is our orchestra recitals, and rehearsals,” said Donald Para, chairman of the 325-student music department. “We have about 200 events a year, between September and May, and now we will have to find ways to relocate. I’m sure we will have to move some to off-campus locations.”

Some music classes also may have to be dropped if officials can’t find enough spare room for music students on campus, Para said.

It is still not clear whether the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall must be demolished and rebuilt, or whether it can be rebuilt from the four walls that still stand, he said. But “whatever happens, it will be at least a year” before the hall can be used again, he added.

The roof of the recital hall suddenly gave way Monday morning, sending 120 tons of concrete and steel crashing down on the seats and two grand pianos inside. The previous evening, a group of high school students had gathered for a rehearsal, but were ushered out when a sound engineer observed cracks in the plaster and heard strange creaks coming from the walls.

No one was hurt when the roof collapsed, and officials closed other major buildings in the three-acre music complex. Campus officials said they were particularly worried about the structural integrity of two adjacent buildings constructed in the same “tilt-up” style as the recital hall, where the concrete walls are poured then hoisted into standing position.

Para said that until the recital hall is reopened some classes will have to be moved to other parts of the campus or off-campus. A couple of classes may be canceled “because we will have no place to put the students,” he said.

Some Long Beach faculty members said in interviews that they had been concerned about the quality of construction at the recital hall and other buildings in the complex. Faculty members said the roof leaked, even during the slightest rain, damaging musical equipment on several occasions.

But the music practiced, perfected and performed at the recital hall made it a jewel among music lovers, and the showpiece of the university’s eight-building music complex. The hall played host to hundreds of performances, ranging from jazz ensembles to string quartets.

University President Curtis McCray said the stage was wider than it was long, so that everyone in the audience had a perfect view. The seating area, which could hold as many as 210 people, offered a more intimate setting because there were no aisles dividing the auditorium into sections.

Music aficionados, on and off campus, lamented the loss.

“I’m very saddened. The entire community will suffer from the loss,” said Mary Newkirk, the general manager of the Long Beach Symphony.

“We will miss it,” said Sandra Gibson, executive director of Public Corporation for the Arts, Long Beach’s regional arts council. “The sound was quite exceptional and it was a beautiful building. It really was a wonderful place to hold an event.

The Public Corporation for the Arts was the last organization to use the building, holding a recital and fund-raiser on June 23. The regular school year ended in mid-May.

Lee Vail, a Cal State Long Beach graduate who has been teaching music at the school for 16 years, said the collapsed roof brings back memories of days before the recital hall was built, when music students were fighting with dance and theater students for time and space in which to practice.

Students at the time were forced to give their dissertation recitals in Room 127, a lecture room with nowhere near the acoustical quality of the hall, Vail said.

“Once the hall opened, it solved all of our problems for us,” Vail said. “It gave us a home on campus. That’s the tragedy of this. We have no place to go.”

The hall has been a major fixture in the University Music Center, which has offered just about everything a music major could desire on a campus: eight major buildings that include three rehearsal halls, a recording studio, an electronic music studio, practice rooms, a lecture hall and an instrument technician shop.

The complex of red brick, wood, glass and exposed concrete buildings was dedicated in 1982, culminating more than a decade of lobbying. Then-Gov. Jerry Brown finally agreed in 1978 to free up $7 million to build the complex.

Then-music department chairman Gerald Daniel, for whom the recital hall is named, and campus planning director Jon Regnier hurried to get the plans approved and the money for construction in hand.

“Gerald and Jon worked hard to bring the plans into fruition,” Vail said. “They were afraid some senator would say ‘no’ and the center would never be built.”

But there were no further delays, and construction soon began, according to university records. The center opened on April 25, 1982.

“It will have a quality about it that is conducive to the study of music,” Daniel once said. “It is aesthetically so wonderful, I do not see how it can miss.”

When it was completed, the complex was trumpeted as a “milestone in the history of the arts, not only in Long Beach, but throughout the state of California.”

Campus officials at the time said they hoped that the University Music Center also would provide an important link between the community and the campus. In that it also succeeded, McCray said. “There was always a mix of campus and community people at the recitals,” he said.

University officials are now planning a $29-million performing arts center near the University Music Center, but Para said the performing arts building will not have a recital hall. There will be a 1,200 seat auditorium, but he said that will be used for many purposes, including dance, opera, and community events.

“It is not at all a replacement to the recital hall,” he said. “The recital hall was a venue for chamber and solo performances. It was intimate.”

Vital statistics on the Gerald R. Daniel Recital Hall.

Age: 8 years. It was dedicated April 25, 1982.

Price: Part of a $6.3-million complex of music buildings on the university campus.

Use: Concerts, recitals, rehearsals, lectures.

Capacity: 210 permanent seats.

Design: Concrete “tilt-up” walls, in which concrete walls are poured, then hoisted to standing position.

Architect: Hugh Gibbs & Donald Gibbs, Long Beach.

Contractor: Shirley Brothers Inc., Pasadena.

Chronology of Collapse

Saturday--Daytime. A faculty member and a student hear the walls creaking during practice, decide to leave the building.

Sunday--Evening. Sound engineer Martin Brenner and five students notice cracks in the walls and chunks of fallen plaster, notify campus security. At 10:30 p.m., campus police order building locked for the night.

Monday--7 a.m. Plant operations superintendent inspects building, leaves after observing cracks and hears creaking sounds on the roof.

Monday--10:30 a.m. Roof collapses, pouring tons of concrete and steel onto seating area below.

Source: Cal State Long Beach officials.