Royal College of Music

For starters this has nothing to do with the College itself. It is about the «museum» inside, the lay out and the staff.
The college is located in the outside of the city of London. It is more like the suburbs of the city. It is in a very traditional looking part of town and is directly across from the Royal Albert Hall, which is very fitting.
However, when you enter the college you are immediately in the college you are in the Lobby where there is a desk manager in attendance to keep the students of the campus safe from strangers (Stranger Danger!!!). However the guy who was working when I was there was very weird. He kept ignoring us and our questions. He mumbled so we couldn’t really hear what he was saying.
The directions located on the building to point us to the museum where they house very old instruments like pianos violins, and a wait for it… harp guitar. Yes that’s right citizens harp guitar. It was very interesting. The directions led us in circles and we accidentally ended up at the studios where the students go to re-​string their instruments or practice. The museum was very small and very cold in order to preserve the instruments. The lady working there didn’t really say much. She just sat there.
My mom was really tired from walking around all day so we decided to take the elevator back up to the main floor to leave. So when we got in the elevator we assumed when we hit 1 it would take us back to the main floor in the lobby. No. It took us INSIDE a students studio room. As we were in the elevator were thinking «Oh wow this is some really nice elevator music. Very cool» when the doors opened all I saw was a bow moving back and forth, back and forth. I almost wanted to click the close door button and run away. The girl who was practicing turned around and gave us a very weird look but she never stopped playing. So good for her! But seriously who puts an elevator in a studio room?! I mean really? really?! that’s just ridiculous. But if you’re the girl whose room we accidentally burst into, SORRY! But again so weird your studio has an elevator in it.
There are also free shows to watch the students perform but we didn’t get a chance to see it because it’s not every day that is available. Maybe if I saw this it would have heightened my experience here.

Founded in 1882 by Edward, Prince of Wales (later Kind Edward VII), the RCM is one of the great educational institutions of the UK. A world-​leading conservatoire of music, the list of former students reads as a ‘Who’s Who’ in the world of British Classical music, including Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Benjamin Britten, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, the conductor Leopold Stokowski, Dame Joan Sutherland and Sir James Galway.
Designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield, the main building was completed in 1894. Its red-​brick façade rather freely mixes Classical, Romanesque and Gothic elements, all framed by two large towers in the French Baronial style. It provides an imposing prospect from the steps of the Royal Albert Hall opposite. The interior includes two major performance spaces in the Concert Hall (added in 1901 to the designs of the architect Sidney J Smith) and the more intimate Britten Theatre, alongside practice rooms and a smaller recital hall.
The Library has an important collection of original scores and manuscripts from late mediaeval times to the present, and an impressive museum of instruments, which includes 800 items from 1480 to the present.
The college provides academic courses for 600 students from undergraduate to postgraduate level, and the libraries and museum can be accessed by those undertaking research contact them ahead of your visit to discuss your requirements.
The building is open to the public for performances, which focus on major classical works, opera and chamber music, and the museum is open to the public (free entrance) from Tuesday to Friday from 14h until 16.30h. Recitals are also held in nearby churches and other public buildings. The studios can be hired by musicians, and the halls can be booked for conferences and other major events.