Low-cost redesign of a music rehearsal space for high school ensembles

Abstract

This presentation describes the redesign of an existing multi-purpose practice room used by high school concert bands, drumlines, and choral groups. Resource and cost restrictions limited the redesign and evaluation process for surface finishes only. The existing space had minimal early reflections and reverberation due to copious amounts of thick acoustic wall panels, resulting in a dead sound for choral and band use. The biggest challenge was to reposition the wall panels by distributing them in a checkerboard pattern, thereby balancing them with the reflective surfaces of the painted cinderblock underneath. In addition, one third of the absorptive suspended ceiling tile was replaced with 5/8” gypsum panels, and one third of the ceiling tile was removed altogether in order to couple the interstitial space above the suspended ceiling and increase the effective volume of the space. Odeon was used to create auralizations of various configurations by convolving anechoic recordings of a snare drum with the c...