On the Music Building's second floor, a melange of sounds leaks out of the practice rooms lining the hall. Toward the end of the hallway, a single door is propped open. Inside, the small office holds an upright piano, two desks, a computer and bookshelves piled with Manila folders full of music.

In a swivel chair by the narrow window, assistant music professor Douglas Meyer, 51, pores over a computer fixing a score for Penn State's Vienna Orchestra.

He created this chamber orchestra when he came to the University five years ago. In 1991, Meyer founded another chamber orchestra, State College's Pennsylvania Centre Chamber Orchestra (PCCO). He conducts both of these orchestras, plus the well-established Penn State Philharmonic and the Music at Penn's Woods summer festival.

But Meyer will leave the University when the semester ends, having resigned after failing to get tenure.

School of Music Dean Lyle Merriman said he believes the music department owes Meyer a great deal for expanding repertory and initiating the Vienna Orchestra's European performances.

Assistant music professor Daryl Durran, who also works with Meyer in the PCCO, agreed.

"The development of the orchestra has been a quantum leap in size and quality," Durran said. "He's really made a lot of progress here, especially in the quality of the strings' sound."

But from watching Meyer in a regular Tuesday afternoon rehearsal with the Philharmonic in 110 Music, his laid-back approach seems undemanding. But he uses his dry humor effectively to get his point across to the players.

Violinist Greg Woodbridge (sophomore-music education) remembered when the trumpeters failed to get into a modern piece's swing style, and Meyer just looked over at them and said, "Yes, gentlemen, it swingeth."

"It's strange crossing those lines in an orchestra," Woodbridge said. "They were surprised at what they saw, I guess."

But Meyer wasn't. He has trained with illustrious conductors like Robert Whitney, Pierre Boulez and Erich Kunzel to learn many genres --including those within the sometimes complex and difficult modern repertory.

"His knowledge of the score is magnificent," Woodbridge said.

Yet he said that Meyer is not strict enough with the Philharmonic, which has "so much potential it's scary."

"He's such a cool guy, I couldn't ask for anyone cooler," said cellist Matt Capobianco (junior-music performance), but he feels Meyer can't sink to the students' level to help them learn to play together. Woodbridge, who also performs with PCCO, agrees that he works best with professional groups.

"I'll be sad to see him go," Capobianco said.

Leaving the University is a mixed blessing from Meyer's point of view, too.

"Change happens in conductors' and musicians' lives," he said. "I'm not particularly thrilled to be leaving, but I'm excited about the search."

Change and travel are nothing new to Meyer, who has conducted all over the United States. His roots are in the Midwest -- he grew up in a tiny town called Ridgeville Corners in northwestern Ohio.

From there he went to Capital College in Columbus for undergraduate work in music education, got his master's degree in music theory from Chicago Musical College at Roosevelt University and finished with a doctorate in conducting from the University of Cincinnati.

When he received his Ph.D. in 1972, he left to conduct the Southwest Symphony, a regional orchestra performing in southwest Arizona and southeast California. Then he went to Luther College in Iowa, where he remained on the faculty for 14 years; he also took two years off to conduct the Salisbury Symphony Orchestra in North Carolina.

At Penn State, Meyer hasn't slowed down since founding the two new orchestras here -- he was invited to conduct the Kammerorchester Mannheim in Germany and the Zlin Orchestra in Zlin, Czech Republic.

"They both had the same thing in mind -- to have an American conductor come and do American music," he said. He has been asked back for the 1994-95 season.

But guest conducting in Europe is only part of his plans. Although his future is unclear, he does know he wants a position with an orchestra in either an educational or professional setting.

"My goal is always to make good music with an orchestra," he said. "It's what I do, and what I love, and the music I can relate to."