Sound Lab
The Jewett Arts Center Sound Lab, housed on the first floor of the Music Library in Jewett Arts Center, serves as both classroom and computer lab. It provides 12 state-of-the-art workstations and one instructor station, each with digital audio capability for computer music composition, keyboard harmony, and theory instruction.
Jewett Auditorium
Music performances, theater events, lectures, and symposia are held in the 320-seat Jewett Auditorium. The theater contains a full complement of sound, lighting, recording, and playback equipment.
Charles B. Fisk Organ in Houghton Chapel
The organ built by the late Charles Brenton Fisk (1925-1983) for Houghton Chapel at Wellesley College is one of the most extraordinary instruments in America. This is an organ designed specifically for the performance of north German organ music of the 17th century—a huge repertory of remarkable artistic quality.
Early Instruments
There is an extensive early music instrument collection, which is available for student use.
Keyboards: a clavichord, a virginal, two harpsichords, a fortepiano, and a Clementi piano
Strings: a lute, 8 violas da gamba, a Baroque violin, and an 18th-century Venetian viola
Winds: a sackbut, krummhorns, shawms, recorders, a Renaissance flute, 2 Baroque flutes, a dulcian, and a Baroque oboe.
Instrument Collection
The Music Department owns 39 pianos (which include 28 Steinway grands, two Mason and Hamlin grands, and five Steinway uprights), a harp, a marimba, a wide assortment of modern orchestral instruments, and a guzheng.
Of particular interest in Houghton Chapel is the Fisk Organ, and a three-manual Aeolian-Skinner pipe organ. Galen Stone Tower atop Green Hall contains a 32-bell carillon.
Jewett Arts Center
The Jewett Arts Center is an important early work by the distinguished American architect Paul Rudolf. The Center consists of the Mary Cooper Jewett Art Wing and the Margaret Weyerhaeuser Jewett Music Wing located in the east section of the building.
Music Library
The Music Library, housed in the Jewett Arts Center, contains a rich and diverse collection of Western classical music, jazz, world music, musical theater, and popular music, for both academic study of music and for performance studies. The Library has over 10,000 CDs of every kind of music, from Bach to bhangra to bebop and beyond, and collections of music online, available 24/7 to the Wellesley College community.
Practice Rooms
The Music Department has 22 available practice rooms, most of which contain Steinway grand pianos. All students currently taking lessons and/or participating in ensembles have access to the practice rooms, on a sign-up basis.
Pendleton West, Sargent Music Salon
The Sargent Music Salon was designed specifically for Music performances. It is an intimate space and often used for classes and student recitals.