These guidelines are to help staff and students understand how the University community COVID-19 advice applies to our teaching and study spaces, and what they can do to keep themselves and others safe.
COVID-19 has been a worrying and stressful time for many of us. Some of the effects of this virus will not be fully understood for several years. It is so important to reach out for support if you are feeling sad, worried, overwhelmed by this situation. Support options for the UQ community are provided here.
People who are from vulnerable groups (such as the elderly and those with pre-existing medical conditions) should continue to work and study online wherever possible. To help make this possible, we have made as many as possible of our courses available online in external mode.
Some of our courses have teaching activities take place on campus in face-to-face classes for students who enrol in on campus mode and attend classes in person. Our practice rooms are also available for students who cannot practice at home. When using any of our rooms, the following principles apply:
- Stay home if you feel unwell, get tested and wait for results before returning to campus.
- Carry masks at all times and wear them whenever physical distancing isn't possible.
- Keep a safe distance from other people in classes (usually 1.5 metres) whenever possible.
- Practice healthy hygiene, use hand sanitiser at the start and end of classes and wipe down surfaces (including pianos, percussion, music stands, computer keyboards and mouses) before and after use. If your room is out of hand sanitiser or wipes, please let the office team know so they can restock the room.
All of our teaching rooms and the student common room have returned to their normal capacity, and group music making can take place in School rooms. All room users are to physically distance to the extent possible: for example, choirs are not to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, and students should not sit in adjacent chairs when there is space to sit in non-adjacent chairs during tutorials.
When used for spoken word activities such as tutorials and seminars, the revised seating capacity of our teaching rooms are:
- 16 students in 51-413
- 16 students in 51-414
- 40 students in 51-460
- 80 students in 51-434 (the Nickson Room)
- 40 students in 51-510 (the Nickson Room balcony)
- 10 students in 51-511 (the Nickson Room studio)
Teaching rooms have a unique scannable code for each seat. Please scan in once seated and enter your student number to be ticketed to that seat.
One-on-one lessons can take place at the School under the following conditions:
- Physical distancing must be observed throughout lessons, with no physical contact or sharing of equipment and a maximum of one teacher and one student at all times.
- Lessons must be 55 minutes long to allow a 5 minute break between lessons.
- Wind and brass students must bring their own receptacle to capture condensation produced through blowing into the instrument or across the embouchure, and take it away with them at the end of the lesson. Do not release condensation onto the floor.
- Lessons for piano students must be in a room with two pianos (51-423 or 51-424). Students must wipe down their piano at the start and the end of their lesson. Teachers must use a separate piano to their student, and must wipe down their piano at the start and the end of their teaching.
- Lessons for percussion students must be in room 51-458. Students must bring their own mallets and wipe down the percussion instruments at the start and the end of their lesson.
- Lessons for other students may be in staff offices or teaching rooms.
Students can use practice rooms (51-430 to 51-433, 51-452 to 51-455) under the following conditions:
- A maximum of two people may be in the practice room at a time.
- You must leave the room 5 minutes before the end of your booking.
- You must wipe down all shared equipment you touch (such as the piano or a music stand) at the start and the end of your practice session.
When using shared spaces (including the foyer outside the glass doors, the foyer outside the Nickson Room, the locker room, and the student and staff common rooms) you must physically distance at all times. Please obey all signage and do not get in the way of people who need to move through the shared spaces.
Please use the student and staff kitchens as little as possible, and bring your own crockery if you can. If you do use either kitchen, you must clean all crockery and shared equipment before and after use (including the inside of the microwave) and clean and dry all crockery you use using paper towels (not a cloth towel).