Dear Anna,
I have three things you might (not) want to consider.
1. The first is a sort of a pre-emptive piece of advice about what you do not have to worry about, and that is vibrations.
There are a number of conservation professionals who claim music causes vibrations which can damage works of art. This is unfortunately based on the misconception that the air pressure waves of music, that is, acoustic vibrations, can cause objects, in particular, painting canvasses, to vibrate so hard that cumulative damage will eventually occur. What could, in fact, cause damage, is prolonged exposure to mechanical vibrations, and those would be caused by the loudspeakers (and not the music per se) from the amplification systems you are avoiding. The loudspeakers transmit mechanical vibrations into the floor/walls. For the technical explanation, if I may unabashedly self-promote, please see my recently published book "Art Conservation - Vibrations and Shock", Jenny Stanford Publishing (2026), sections 3.4.6 Decibels, and 5.2.5 Music.
However, what it sounds like (pardon the pun), is that your museum will be allowing classical music to be played in the gallery, and that without amplification. I think of salon music by string quartets, woodwind ensembles and the like. The frequencies they produce are very low risk for objects, especially without amplification. But even with some amplification, classical music in a gallery would be low risk for objects. (The problems start if your museum were to allow rock music which is played at much higher sound levels, with amplification, and a low frequency beat.)
2. As a (former) musician, you are rightfully concerned about keeping the musicians away from the works of art in order to avoid bow accidents, especially with the more emotional players. Droplets coming out of a woodwind instrument should not be a problem; if they even come out, there will be very little and it will land on the floor and evaporate.
Which (evaporation) brings me to one concern you might want to consider, and that is the audience. Unlike having a lot of visitors milling through a gallery during a busy museum day, you will have a (sizable) group of people sitting or standing around in the gallery for an hour or two (or more). So you might want to make sure that your climate control system can handle that.
3. You might also want to consider not only space for the musicians, but for the audience. You should keep a wide, uncomplicated pathway between works of art, chairs and tables, musicians, a stage, and entrances/exits tot he gallery. And of course you would want to limit or avoid drinks and food in the galleries. Anecdotal stories of accidents where someone trips with a drink or plate of food against an object are not unknown.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
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Dr. W. (Bill) Wei
Senior conservation scientist (retired)
Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands
now:
vibmech.nl / Wilbar Holding B.V.
Mr. P.N. Arntzeniusweg 108-1
NL-1098GT Amsterdam
The Netherlands
+31 6 2246 3135
info@vibmech.nl------------------------------