No description available.

The upgrading of facilities for the Music Department of the University of Pretoria has long been overdue. The Department is constantly growing in terms of enrolment numbers and academic expertise, however, the facilities for the Department are limited and obsolete. This dissertation will thus explore the possibilities of extending and converting the existing Music Department's facilities in an effort to provide sufficient venues for performances and tuition, as well as portray the Department's contemporary image and dynamics through its new facilities on Campus in an effort to revitalise the music precinct and provide more exposeure to a public audience for the Department. Copyright / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted

In 2011, the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM) took an official position to recognize the importance of hearing health and injury prevention as a standard for all member-accredited institutions. This is the largest national acknowledgement promoting hearing health and safety within the music discipline and among students seeking a music degree in the United States. The purpose of the study is to describe what conductors (i.e., instructors) of college-based ensembles know about hearing health and the generation of sound intensity levels. The study aimed to describe the 1) current state of conductors’ awareness and knowledge of sound intensity levels, 2) current attitudes of conductors toward learning and sharing knowledge of sound intensity levels, and 3) current teaching practices of conductors in regard to equipment usage (e.g. sound level meter, noise dosimeter, hearing protection devices) relating to sound measurement and exposure. Findings indicate 80.2% of conductors (N = 162, 66% employed by NASM-accredited institutions) agree that sounds generated during ensemble-based instructional activities (EBIAs) in college-level schools of music are capable of harming human hearing, but 24.1% “do not know” if EBIAs they conduct ever exceed sound intensity levels capable of harming human hearing, 54.9% do not know “what services or resources” their home institutions offer/refer to students, 93% are never using a noise dosimeter, 40% have never had an audiology exam, and 70% have never used hearing protection during an EBIA. Conductors have a strong openness to change current teaching practices and inform themselves about hearing health, but few are personally informing and educating their students during the EBIA. The study serves to assist conductors and foster a new dialogue among their students, colleagues, staff, and administrators to revise current curriculum, explore sound measurement technologies, and evaluate current hearing health and safety issues inherent in the practice, performance, and teaching of sound intensity levels generated during EBIAs in college-level schools of music.