From Tuesday 9 January 2024, all practice room bookings at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and the Seymour Centre will require a verification before the booking is confirmed. This comes after a change last month to shift booking periods to 30 minute intervals instead of hour intervals, for a total of two 2 hour-long bookings a day.
This was conveyed to students by Justin Ankus, the Conservatorium Operations Manager, via a Canvas announcement at 9:44 on 9 January 2024. When asked about the reasoning for this change, Mr Ankus responded, “this decision was made to help maximise the availability of practice rooms for all current Conservatorium students.”
The Canvas announcement is as follows:
Once you have submitted your booking, you will be sent an e-mail to the address used in the booking to verify your booking. To verify the booking simply click on the link in the e-mail. You will then receive a booking confirmation e-mail. This is similar to many two-factor authentication systems.
IMPORTANT: If the booking is not confirmed within 15 minutes, the booking will be [automatically] released. You will receive an e-mail advising you that the booking has been cancelled.
If you have incorrectly typed your e-mail address, you can cancel the booking directly in the libcal system and resubmit it or wait for 15 minutes for the booking to expire.
Executive of the Association have noted that there has been a general trend of students booking practice rooms without the intention of using them, which has then blocked other students from being able to use them, or having to use a practice room without certainty that they will be asked to leave or not.
There are 56 practice rooms at the Greenway Site of the Conservatorium (off Macquarie Street), which are only available for use by current students of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and its Open Academy. Other students from the University of Sydney may not use them. The Room Booking Policy (January 2023) can be found here:
Bookings can be made here: