Modeling of venues for music practice and instruction

Abstract

Music practice rooms for large groups are spaces with conflicting requirements, especially those that are part of schools. The need for an environment that is similar to the ones where the musicians will be performing (appropriate reverberation for music performance), and on the other hand, the need for music instruction (speech intelligibility for teacher/student and student/student communication) are usually opposing. As part of a renovation of band rooms in two schools, we were called to advise on the room acoustics. The rooms were having floor replacement, from carpet to tile and needed to have the room acoustics reviewed and adjusted for the new floor material with added wall or ceiling absorption to replace what was lost from the floor.