It should be a music teacher's dream: building a performance space – or a new music school – to your very own specification.
But that dream could very quickly turn into a nightmare if building basics have been ignored. There may be insufficient seating and a performance space that is aesthetically pleasing, but acoustically is a disaster. That could potentially cost a great deal for music budgets that are already stretched, as retrofitting is as expensive as it is unnecessary.
Common problems experienced by many education professionals include a teaching room with poor acoustics, a music space sited right next to a learning area that needs a quiet environment or, even worse, a room used for examinations. Then there are elements such as poor design, which could include an inadequate amount of storage space or massively cramped corridors where human traffic gets tangled up and tempers quickly fray, never mind the damage that could so easily be done to musical instruments.
But all these potential nightmares can easily be avoided, provided a little forethought is given to the planning process.
‘An overview should offer basic guidelines for reverberation time,’ says Mathew Moule, managing director of Folkestone-based Acoustic GRG Products. ‘These are important for larger spaces with speech intelligibility – reverberation times lie at the core of regulations. However, performance spaces, studios, live rooms and other such spaces should be treated differently in order to provide the best acoustic environment that will give teachers and students the best experience.’
A Black Cat Music rehearsal room © CHRIS AMBRIDGE
The basic pattern for design, then, appears to be the care that needs to be taken around ensuring that the environment is exactly right for the music production, recording, reproduction and performance.
This idea is reinforced by Alice Dagger, managing director of Black Cat Music and Acoustics, based in Tunbridge Wells.
‘Always think about acoustics,’ she says. ‘That is a very high priority and anybody wanting to build from scratch or start a new project should speak to an acoustician from the outset. And you must also think about location. What are the adjoining buildings used for? What about other rooms? If your location is next to an exam room, that'll create an issue.
‘I also have a list of tips for those designing music schools and performance spaces. Avoid locating practice pods next to a rehearsal room or concert hall. Think about flows of people, whether for a performance or a lesson. Students can move from room to room at high speed and there is a need to get instruments in and out of a room. Think, too, about building design. There are some beautiful buildings around, but they often don't have enough storage. And that is important, since instruments are fragile and expensive pieces of equipment.’
Room layout, then, is vitally important. ‘Rooms need to be treated for their intended use,’ says Moule. ‘The basic guidelines of BB93 – Building Bulletin 93, a government-issued document explaining the minimum performance standards for the acoustics of school buildings – will dictate the basic reverberation time requirements but some rooms would benefit from proper acoustic design, incorporation diffusion, absorption and bass control.
‘A good balance of materials will give the room user a much better space to work in. Small rooms would benefit from broadband absorbers and bass control while larger spaces could be improved with diffusion as well as absorption.’
Studio spaces would need to be designed around tried and tested methodologies such as LEDE (live end, dead end) or RFZ (reflection-free zone) while halls and performance spaces would need to be designed to meet reverberation times based on the size of the space and its use.
‘Small practice rooms should be designed to have good bass control and minimal unwanted reflections that could negatively impact the sound of the room,’ adds Moule.
Dagger's advice is similar. ‘Lay out your classroom to make as much use of the space as possible,’ she says, ‘and it really is worth investing in high-quality equipment. Think flexibility, too. Both in the UK and overseas, curriculums change and tastes change so there needs to be room for readjustment.
‘Quality and longevity of products is also important. This goes for music stands, seating, decoration. Think how much seating you need and install it sensibly.’
Materials used in performance spaces need to be flame-treated to an appropriate standard. Soft materials such as fabrics and padded materials will introduce absorption to a space while woods, plaster and irregular surfaces will offer scattering and diffusion. Specialist low-frequency absorbers can also be built.
With education budgets under constant strain, all the planning for the best possible space could become a daunting chore. But that needn't be so.
‘It is possible to provide acoustic treatments on a very tight budget and use cheaper methods to construct devices, but they should all be properly designed to perform their specific task,’ says Moule. ‘Sometimes a budget product will not work well. For example, cheap foam products have poor fire performance and only high-frequency absorption which leaves mid- and low-frequency problems highlighted and untreated. Engaging a company that has a lot of options available can save money in the long term as the treatments will be right first time, rather than finding the provided treatments don't work and will need to be changed.
‘Materials and construction techniques can be used to enhance the spaces and allow for treatment solutions that give the rooms a more pleasing aesthetic and better performance in a more effective way than having to retrofit products.’
Planning, then, is the operative word in the whole process. Getting it right at the design stage can mean that rooms are produced that have acoustic architectural features built in. For example, practice rooms can be built with walls which are designed to minimise any low-frequency issues. Studio suites can be constructed to make the best use of the space available by being designed to work on the existing interior spaces. If done correctly, the difference to your students will be immense – being able to hear and record their music in a high quality will give them the feedback they need to know where they can improve.
