INDIANA, Pa. -- Dressed mostly in black, a group of eight musicians led the processional with a jazzy rendition of the hymn, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee."

They were headed to a funeral, but it was hard to tell. The swing of the tuba, clarinet, trumpet, trombone and snare drum on the hymn had a bounce to it.

The remembrance was for a 45-year-old that has for decades been the center of Indiana University of Pennsylvania's music community.

In recent years, there has been a decline -- not sounding as good as in the past; certainly not looking as good. But with the ceremony Friday, a crowd of about 100 music faculty and students laid the old Cogswell Hall to rest and celebrated its imminent rebirth.

The large brick building that has played host to aspiring musicians and music teachers is undergoing a massive, $8.9 million renovation that will bring it to the grandeur that it's never quite achieved.

When Cogswell was built, back when IUP's mission was that of a teacher's college, it was designed to hold no more than 200 students and 20 faculty members, said Michael Hood, dean of the college of fine arts. Now, IUP's nationally recognized music program hosts 370 students and 33 professors.

Hood compared the building's facilities with that of a junior high band room.

"It had little real consideration for acoustics," he said. "It's completely outlived its usefulness."

Among the building's failings: not enough practice rooms, a small music library and cracking walls.

John Kuehn, a clarinetist and professor of secondary methods in the music department, told his favorite story about the building's cracks. He was administering an exam to his class in Room 201, when one of his students stuck the eight-page test into a crack in the wall. The student let the exam go, and it slid down inside the wall. Kuehn said for some time after, the exam, which remained stuck inside the wall, was visible from another crack in the music office.

Olive Fornier, a retired music-education professor and 1933 graduate of IUP, was another speaker at Friday's events.

Though she taught in several buildings at IUP, she moved into Cogswell in the mid-1960s. She remembers the building fondly but added that she wasn't sad to see it change.

"I think the holiday of two years will be worthwhile," said Fornier, who attends every one of the music department concerts.

Until renovations are completed, music classes and rehearsals are spread out across 11 different buildings on campus, and dorm rooms in Gordon Hall have become faculty offices.

The new facility will have a three-story classroom tower; four rehearsal pavilions; and a 200-seat large ensemble rehearsal space. It will also feature an expanded music library and a music-theater rehearsal hall.

Though faculty and students are excited about the prospects of a new, modern music building, they remember fondly the old Cogswell, with shag carpeting and bubbly linoleum.

"Try not to think of the walls crumbling down," said fifth-year senior Alyssa Baughman, who plays saxophone in several ensembles. "Think about how much fun we had and how much music we made."