Hiring a Room for Choir Practice

A community choir should ask about the way in before it asks about the acoustics. The room is only usable if every singer can reach it, and the access route is the part of the hire that cannot be changed on the night. Ask for the measurements in writing, visit in person, and treat the threshold, the stairs and the lift as the first items on the checklist.

What should a group ask about a hired room?

Start with the route from the street to the chair. A room advertised as first floor may sit above a shop with a narrow staircase and no lift, which rules out anyone who cannot manage steps. Ask the hirer for the door clear width, the corridor width, the number of steps and whether a lift serves the floor. Under Approved Document M, a door leaf in a public building is commonly 900 mm clear, and a corridor should allow a wheelchair user to pass. Ask whether the room has a hearing loop, and whether the lighting can be raised for anyone who lip reads.

Ask about the floor. Singers stand for long periods, and a hard floor reflects sound while carpet absorbs it. Ask what the ceiling height is, because a low ceiling flattens a choir. Ask whether the room is shared with a drum kit or a dance class next door, and at what hours. Ask about heating, because a cold room tightens the voice, and about ventilation, because a warm closed room after ninety minutes of singing is a risk that choirs learned to take seriously.

Ask about the terms. Who holds the insurance, the hirer or the group? What is the cancellation period? Is there a caretaker on site, and until what time? Is there a piano, and is it tuned? Where are the toilets, and is one of them accessible? Groups that rehearse weekly in borrowed rooms, such as the adult jazz and choral ensembles documented at Capital City Voices, work through this list once and then keep the answers on file.

How does a choir rehearse when a singer cannot use stairs?

It moves the rehearsal, or it moves the singer, and the decision is made before the season starts. If the hired room is upstairs and no lift serves it, the group has three options: find a ground floor room, hold the rehearsal in a different space for that singer, or rehearse in two rooms linked by a video call. The third option works for sectionals but not for blend, because a delayed audio feed prevents the choir from hearing itself as one body.

The practical answer is to ask the hirer for a ground floor room at the point of booking. Many venues have one and do not advertise it. If the only accessible room is smaller, the choir can split: full rehearsals in the large upstairs room, sectional rehearsals and warm ups downstairs. A singer who cannot use stairs can also arrive early and leave late, which reduces the crowd on a narrow staircase, but this is a workaround and not a solution.

Where a lift exists, check its dimensions and its door clear width before the first night. A lift that takes two people standing is not a lift that takes a wheelchair. Check the route from the lift to the room for steps, lips and heavy fire doors, and check whether the fire doors can be held open legally during rehearsal. Ask the hirer for the evacuation plan, and ask who assists a singer who cannot use stairs in an emergency. Under the Equality Act 2010, a venue providing a service has a duty to make reasonable adjustments, and a choir that asks in writing makes that duty easier to meet.

What does a performance venue owe a community group?

A performance venue owes a community group the same access it owes any other audience, and the group should ask for it in the contract. That means a level route from the street to the stage door, a dressing room that is not up a flight of stairs, and a stage that can be reached without a step. Where a stage has a step, a portable ramp at 1 in 12 is the usual answer, and the venue should be able to produce one. Ask for the stage dimensions, the wing space and the height of the risers before the programme is printed.

Ask about the front of house as well. A community choir sells tickets to its own audience, and that audience includes people who use wheelchairs, people with pushchairs and people who cannot manage a stepped auditorium. Ask how many wheelchair spaces the venue has, where they are, and whether they are sold at the same price as other seats. Ask whether the venue has an accessible toilet, and whether it is on the same level as the auditorium. Changing Places guidance sets out the dimensions for a fully accessible toilet with a hoist and a changing bench, and larger venues are expected to provide one.

Ask about the technical support. A community group usually brings its own musical director and may bring its own piano accompanist, but it relies on the venue for lighting, sound and a piano that holds its tuning. Ask what is included in the hire fee and what is charged extra. Ask about the get in and the get out times, because a choir that finishes at 22:00 and must clear the stage by 22:30 will lose singers who depend on the last bus.

The questions to settle before the first rehearsal

The first rehearsal is too late to discover that the room is upstairs. Settle the access, the floor, the terms and the emergency plan in writing at the point of booking, and keep the answers with the music library. A choir that knows the clear width of its own rehearsal room door, the number of steps to the street and the location of the accessible toilet can invite any singer without a caveat. That is the difference between a borrowed room and a room the choir can actually use.