A freshman violinist leans against the door of the music room. Another student sets down his cello to check the time. The sound of the piano drifting from inside the room comes to a halt, and the high-pitched voices of young children fade.

The musicians back away from the room, as the door swings open. Lower-school music teacher Elena Bennett hurriedly shoves xylophones and marimbas against the wall, making room for the high-school students to set up.

Bennett herds the line of pre-kindergarteners back to their classroom as high-school orchestra members file in, hastily cramming chairs into the half-circle rehearsal formation and tuning violins. It’s 10 minutes into elective and the high-school orchestra still isn’t set up.

But this year the lower-school music program will no longer have to share a room with the upper grades.

“We can now leave the room set up without having to waste time at the beginning of class,” band director Bob Ratcliff said.

“It will be really nice to be able to rehearse right up to the end of the period without having the kids be late to their next class because they were putting equipment away.”

Bennett will also be able to leave her new room set up for her music classes without orchestra instruments and music stands crowding the room.

The new lower school music room has taken the spot of the old Georgia Rust Library.

The rectangular shape of the room allows for more space for movement, which, according to Bennett, is a major part of the lower-school music program. There is more room for acting, dancing and music games.

The shelves along the walls are stocked with costumes, instruments and other materials that previously cluttered the old room. And the walls are decorated with music-related posters.

With all lower-school music materials in the new room, the freshly painted and refurbished high-school music room looks bare and empty in comparison.

According to Dan Ahlstrom, orchestra director, high-school orchestra students will decide how to decorate the room.

“It will be great for us to have a place to call our own that we won’t have to share. ” he said.

Now apart from holding the music electives, Ahlstrom envisions the room as evolving into an “experimental lab” for musicians.

“I’m hoping the room will be a place for students to practice during their free periods, work on composing, create electronic music. Maybe it will become a new hang-out spot during lunch and free time,” he said.

The room will also be available for beginners and non-musicians to try out instruments during free time without committing to music electives.

Previously, students had to haul recording equipment and instruments into Ahlstrom’s office when recording for auditions. But now equipment can stay set up in the music room, which according to Ahlstrom, will serve as a recording studio as well.

New equipment includes a recording board (which will allow students to record straight to their iPods), a camera, and a large flat-screen tv.

Previously, any students who wished to form a chamber ensemble were forced to rehearse at 7:30 a.m. Now the room will be open for more small group rehearsals during lunch and free periods.

The space also allows for the addition of two music classes. Middle- school beginning band and high sch-ool jazz band will rehearse in the music room during elective periods. Previously, jazz band rehearsed in the MP room before school.

In addition to giving the high school its own music room, the creation of the new lower school added an outdoor performance area for concerts. The staircase on the back of the new building stretches into a proscenium.

The music groups can perform on stage while parents, faculty, and students sit in the new quad (between the M.P. room and the new building).