Performance spaces for music at year 1–8
The advice on these pages focuses on the arts curriculum and appropriate teaching facilities. But there is obviously a close connection between classroom music and performance. The aim of this section is not to provide advice on developing theatres or auditoriums, but to highlight the particular 'live music' needs of music within the curriculum.
All classes need access to a space suitable for presenting student performances and compositions to other students, parents, and possibly the wider community. Some schools want spaces for worship that can also serve as performance spaces. Many schools have purpose-built theatres or auditoriums adapted from school halls. Some also have smaller theatres, which are really studios set up for public performance.
To best meet the needs of classroom music, any performance space needs the following:
- very good acoustics
- good-quality sound system
- quiet, controllable, and effective heating and ventilation
- capacity to accommodate audiences of varying sizes – either in a range of spaces or by changing audience seating
- adaptable staging arrangements, to accommodate soloists, small, and large groups of performers while maintaining a good connection with the audience.