I have never had more trouble finding a practice room in the Conservatory, and it’s not because Oberlin musicians are so studious that there is music pouring out from under every Robertson Hall room door at every hour. It’s because practice room etiquette has gone down the drain. 

This is my fourth year, and I can confidently say this is the worst I’ve ever seen the Robertson practice rooms. There is a growing problem of people reserving rooms by leaving their bags or a graveyard of Sky Bar wrappers strewn about the room; people using the practice rooms as doomscroll stations or library carrels to do homework that doesn’t require a practice room — and I’m not talking about theory and aural skills assignments — and people holding social hour around the piano. If you’re someone who uses the practice rooms, I know you’ve seen this. We’re all annoyed, yet nothing changes.

I am begging everyone who is misusing the practice rooms to consider our community. We all need those rooms. They are supposed to be used on a first-come, first-served basis. If everyone comes in, practices, and leaves, then rooms will be available. 

There are countless acceptable places to do your homework and socialize. There is only one in which it’s acceptable to make the amount of noise required to get any better at your instrument. Practicing is a cornerstone of the Conservatory student’s experience here — every single one of us knows how frustrating it is to walk laps around Robertson when your studio class is in 30 minutes and you desperately need to warm up, but a million rooms seem to be claimed by a coffee cup left on the piano or someone hunched over a chair on their phone. 

Perhaps the most frustrating thing about this is that it’s impossible to police this behavior. Plenty of people need to leave their bag in a practice room for five minutes to fill a water bottle, or take a scrolling break between repertoire. It’s no one’s job to watch just how long anyone’s been gone or how long you’ve been talking to your buddies in a room. Of course those things are acceptable in small amounts, but when they take over the intended use of a practice room, it’s disrespectful. 

It doesn’t matter what major or year you are — no one has a greater claim to a Robertson practice room than anybody else, and saving yourself a practice room because you don’t want to have to look for one when you get out of class is not okay. You don’t own the practice rooms, and by keeping other people from using them, you’re defeating their purpose. If you’re saving them, using them to write a paper, or gossipping there, you are making the Conservatory less effective, enjoyable, and accessible.