CHAPTER ELEVEN 



THE MUSIC-ROOM 



HE principles of acoustics are so little understood that it is 

 difficult to advance any definite suggestion as to the best 

 size or shape for a music-room. In most houses it is the 

 drawing-room which usually fulfils this function ; and, when 

 crowded with furniture and draperies, the result is not usually 

 satisfactory, as the sound becomes muffled and choked. Amongst other 

 advantages of sparse furnishing and uncarpeted floors may be included the 

 appropriateness of such surroundings in a room which is used for music. A 

 room specially designed for music should have few draperies and rugs and 

 no carpet. Panelling is the best covering for its walls, and the best position 

 for the room is probably one where it is surrounded by other rooms. Thus, 

 if it is on the ground floor it would be improved if placed over a cellar. In 

 a large music-room a stage may be introduced with good effect, and this 

 isolated floor for the piano will often improve the sound. 



In some cases a gallery to a hall may be used for music, and this traditional 

 feature may meet modern requirements in the most satisfactory way. It will 

 be especially appropriate on festive occasions, and the position of the per- 

 formers will help to give a quality of mystery to the music, which may add 

 greatly to its effect. 



CHAPTER TWELVE 



THE BILLIARD-ROOM 



N houses which do not possess a separate billiard-room one 

 may sometimes find the billiard table placed in the hall. 

 This arrangement, unless the hall is of considerable size, can 

 hardly be recommended, because not only is the floor space 

 much restricted where an impression of ample space is much 

 needed, but the central and dominant position of the billiard table in the 

 plan suggests that the practice of the game is the essential domestic function. 

 Such an arrangement would be suitable only for a professional billiard player, 

 and the effect might then be emphasised by the modern Jacobean mantelpiece 

 ingeniously adapted to serve as a billiard marker. 



Much may be urged, on the contrary, in favour of an arrangement of plan 

 which enables a recess in the hall to be treated as a billiard-room. Here a 

 game of billiards may be indulged in by visitors, or members of the family, 

 without sequestration in a separate compartment of the house, and the 

 dislocation of the social circle thus involved. 



The space devoted for the billiard table becomes added to the hall ; and 

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