4. Facility Management

Standard building open hours are Monday-Friday 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM, except for payroll holidays.  Some buildings may have augmented hours during student holidays, inter-semester periods, and summer months.  Building open hours are extended at select entrances for concerts, recitals, and special events at the determination of the facilities manager.  All faculty and staff have 365/24/7 unlock swipe access to School of Music facilities via their Baylor ID.

Faculty office assignments are determined in consultation with the responsible division director, budget officer, facilities manager, and appropriate deans as offices become available.   Factors to be considered include the needs of potential occupants, upcoming needs in other areas of the School, and university-level space planning information. 

Faculty moving offices should expect the following:

1. The budget office and facilities manager will work with affected faculty to develop and submit move packets for central university services that include:
   • Movement of furniture and boxes
   • Release of surplus furniture
   • Deep cleaning of carpet and other surfaces as needed
   • Movement of computers and technology by IT staff, including reconfiguration of printers and devices
   • Changing of nameplates, keys, etc.
   • Anyone moving offices must be present at the time of move to facilitate IT access and answer any questions during the move process. Baylor Facilities will send a calendar invite detailing the expected move time.
2. At the time an office becomes vacant, it will be assessed by the facilities manager for necessary repairs to paint, surfaces, and building systems prior to new occupancy. 
   • Most offices only require touch-up of existing paint and deep cleaning of flooring.
   • Unless a department chooses to make funding available, repainting to a new color and/or carpet replacement will only be done in cases of significant damage to existing finishes.  All paint colors used in any offices must comply with the university paint standard, found at: Microsoft Word - PAINT STANDARDS_Updated_06.28.22
3. For office furnishings, unless a specific budget request is submitted during the normal budget process prior to a move or other funding is identified, it is expected that individuals will retain all current office furniture.
   • Replacement furniture can also be sourced from the University’s Surplus Warehouse.  Contact your department admin for more information.
   • University policy does not allow for campus moving and hauling services to pick up or deliver personal furniture items to off-campus locations.

The School of Music is currently in a multi-year effort to upgrade and expand our inventory of performance and rehearsal equipment, including musician chairs, student practice chairs, and music stands. 

• When chairs and stands are needed in non-SOM venues, please notify the facilities manager prior to removal of equipment from facilities.
• Return all equipment moved within SOM venues to its original location if borrowed for a particular event.
• Contact the facilities manager for questions regarding available special equipment and performance technology.

With storage space limited across School of Music facilities, regular efforts will be made to review storage spaces and remove excess equipment and furnishings. Surplus furniture in one building may be needed in another or can be sent to the University Surplus Warehouse. Outdated electronics can be arranged to be picked up as e-waste for proper disposal.  Contact your departmental admin or the facilities manager for help processing unused furniture and equipment.

Work orders for general maintenance issues can be submitted by the appropriate staff member for each building.  Staff will track progress and notify the facilities manager as necessary.  General issues include burned out lights, minor plumbing leaks, hot/cold temperature, door handle issues, etc.  Requests related to structural modifications of spaces, replacement of equipment, and major repairs should be directed to the facilities manager for review against other work in progress, upcoming space plans, or prioritization with Baylor Facilities Management staff.

General Schedule

All pianos in teaching studios, classrooms and practice rooms are tuned before the beginning of each regular session (August and January).  Other pianos in offices or labs are tuned on a rotating, bi-annual basis. We try to see that every piano is tuned at least yearly and make note of any additional service that the pianos need at that time, but depend on you to report anything malfunctioning on your piano.

Requesting Piano Service

To request tuning or service of a piano, please email the staff piano technician, (Darren_Roos@baylor.edu) and give the room/ location, date of event and any pertinent information about the piano.  Please give a minimum of one to two weeks (preferred) advanced notice before an event (such as a recital, master class, workshop, etc.) to allow adequate time for scheduling.  The more lead time the technician has, the more likely it can be put into good working order for your use.  Do not assume that because an event is on the schedule that he is aware that the piano is being used and/or needs servicing.  If you are in charge of an event, then it is your responsibility to inform him of your piano service needs.  In the near future, expect to receive notice of a new direct link to a request form on the SOM website for your convenience.

Piano Usage

Please inform and remind your students of the guidelines (listed in the student handbook) for use of the performance pianos in our concert venues.  It is crucial to the well-being of these instruments that usage be limited to actual rehearsal time for a specific performance. Following any concert or recital it is the responsibility of the student and teacher to make sure that the piano is locked, covered and put away and the room locked (where appropriate).  If you have a performance involving non-traditional use of a piano, please allow extra time to meet with the piano technician to discuss/ and review your proposed usage.  (If interested, request “Guidelines for Non-Traditional Piano Use” document.)

Reserved Tuning Time

As all but the most uninitiated are aware, finding and scheduling time in our performance halls is a most challenging task. Everyone in the School of Music uses pianos and wants them to sound and play properly.  That expectation requires time to allow the technician to tune and make necessary adjustments to them.  The time slots for tuning that you will find on the Astra calendar are absolute minimum requirements to get the job done properly.  Please don’t ask the technician “if you need all of your tuning time” unless you are prepared to offer a reasonable alternative block of time that will fit into his/ her calendar.

It is important that all events, rehearsals, and other activities are scheduled via the ASTRA calendar per instructions below, as this system provides data used in planning space maintenance and upgrades, and in the review of requests for space upgrades/enhancements and new space allocations.

Timeline for Room Requests in the ASTRA Calendar

• Ensemble concerts, Distinguished Artist Series, major events, and student travel will be entered through the Concert and Promotions Specialist after consultation with representatives from the Ensemble Division and the division chairs.
• Students and Faculty should make room requests for any activities outside of the published class schedule through the ASTRA Room Request form found in ASTRA. Look for an approval email to confirm that your request has been approved.
  • Faculty may utilize your assigned admin. for assistance
• Requests for changes to concerts, recitals, or major events must be approved through the Concert and Promotions Specialist and Associate Dean for Operations.
• The development of the class schedule is the responsibility of the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in conjunction with the Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and the division chairs.

ASTRA Scheduling (General Tutorial):  https://baylor.box.com/shared/static/ax4e10ku4llz4z5tdf25czgpmja1trnx.pdf

Room Scheduling in ASTRA Instructions: https://baylor.box.com/shared/static/9ab0tyv9520jvi6faboeutng02mkw7e5.pdf

ASTRA Single-Event Submissions (Tutorial Video): https://baylor.box.com/s/mii10nrqxv7udltwlr1fkac4wbugxzza

ASTRA Recurring-Multiple Event Submission (Tutorial Video): https://baylor.box.com/s/5vhorec46h6r1ftsh4dt02bxwsw7ic0t

The first time you use the Astra calendar you will need to configure it to display music facilities. Once this is done and properly saved, it will load automatically from your account login.  It is also possible to have multiple displays that show specific rooms (such as only concert and recital halls) you can toggle between when perusing the calendar. There are How To videos available on the Music Website Faculty/Staff page on submitting event requests using Astra.

General guidelines to remember when scheduling faculty or guest recitals and other events:

• Avoid holidays recognized by Baylor University.
• Avoid Finals Week and Dead Day.
• Avoid major university events including commencements, football games, Homecoming, etc. These events greatly impact parking and road access, campus services, building access, and the availability of support personnel.
• Scheduling against DAS events is prohibited.  Scheduling against other events is discouraged but not prohibited, please avoid this when possible.
• Schedule faculty and guest programs to take place no later than Friday, April 4, 2025, for the current academic year. The last few weeks of the spring term are reserved for student degree recitals.

Policies for scheduling rehearsals, masterclasses and similar events:

• Requests are due by noon on Fridays for the following week.
• Students cannot make reservations more than 7 days in advance.
• You are limited to 9 hours total per week.  
• Over 9 hours per week or 3 consecutive hours (per day), requires approval from Dr. Jacobson.
• Individual requests for Jones Concert Hall are limited to organ and percussion students without approval.

Fill out the following fields on the Astra Music Room Request Form:

• Event Title – use a descriptive title (Rehearsal, Recording Session, etc.). Examples:
  • “Bobby Baylor’s Sr. Kazoo Recital Rehearsal”
  • “Kazoo Studio Spring Recital”
  • “BUMEA Guest Lecture with Dr. Baylor”
• Event Description – list all known participants and extra setup time (if needed).
• The start time for your request should be the actual start time of your event. Concerts and recitals will have 30 minutes of setup time automatically added. If you need additional setup time, please include that in the Additional Information field.

A/V Needs – Provide a general description of any AV needs and follow up with email to Music_Halls@baylor.edu.

While School of Music faculty are allowed to schedule rooms for events outside of School-sponsored and/or instructional activities, in addition to the risk management requirements listed above, certain types of personal events may require reimbursement to the School for support labor and housekeeping charges if needed. Email Music_Halls@baylor.edu for more info.