The differences between this semester’s revamped music theory laboratory and the one of previous years are pretty easy to point out for seasoned composition majors like Roland James II.

When James walked into the lab Monday, the Elizabeth City State University senior was in for a bit of a surprise.

Everything, from the equipment to the paint on the room’s walls had changed. Eleven new 27-inch iMac computers lined the work

stations, along with ten digital, piano-like MIDI keyboards. An overhead projector hung from the ceiling.

The only things to survive the more than $50,000 makeover were the chairs.

“It is a way bigger improvement,” James said of the lab.

He, like the handful of other students who work in the now popular lab, spent his afternoon trying out the new software and playing around with the virtual mixing board.

As he worked, associate professor Christopher Palestrant walked around the room. He and lecturer Wellington Gordon are responsible for the makeover, which was paid for using Title III federal funding.

The pair worked over the summer to transform the lab, which had become outdated in recent years. “It had gotten really out of date, and the technology had evolved, and I realized that there was a lot more that we could do for the students,” Palestrant said.

The nearly eight-year-old computers that used to line the walls of the music theory lab will now make up the music resource room, where students will be able to do basic internet work.

Thanks to the new technology, students will be able to use ear-training and audio-editing software, among other things.

The influx of technology has caused the number of students using the lab to increase significantly over previous years.

“I’m seeing more students in there. It was getting kind of crippling. It was an uphill fight just to keep everything running last year,” Palestrant said.

But the changes that have taken place aren’t all observed visually.

This year, students and officials may note an audible difference in the lab — its silence.

Unlike the equipment used in previous years, this year’s equipment is headphones-ready. Palestrant said that the older digital pianos were nearly impossible to make completely silent.

That fact was a frustrating one for students who were trying to listen solely to their own work, as the musical stylings of others played nearby.

“It’s a silent lab, and that’s really to their advantage,” Palestrant said.

Randi Moses, a senior, also spent time in the lab Monday. She sat near a small sign, which read “silence is a great peacemaker.”

“We have everything we could possibly need as music students. I’m glad somebody took the time out to do this for us,” Moses said, removing her headphones.

Contact Kristin Pitts at kpitts@dailyadvance.com