The acoustics of small rooms for music practice and teaching

Abstract

At best, the small rooms typical for music teaching and practice are unnatural environments for music production. Given the usual constraints of budget and practicality, a small room cannot be made to approximate the acoustics of a fine concert hall. If all normal modes are suppressed completely by sound-absorbing treatment, the room will be unnaturally dead or anechoic, and will be disliked by students and instructors. Yet, if normal modes are not controlled and the small room left “live,” it will not sound like a normal concert hall but be “boxy,” with a very uneven frequency response, and will be equally disliked. Compromise solutions involving fixed treatment on one wall or two adjacent walls, or adjustable treatment, with varying degrees of room irregularity and splaying, which have provided satisfaction in music teaching buildings, will be discussed. Organ practice rooms pose a separate problem, and solutions involving no applied sound-absorbing treatment, but considerable splaying or irregularities in ceiling and wall surfaces appear best. Some discussion of sound isolation will be presented.