WALKING around the Royal Irish Academy of Music is akin to following a labyrinth of sound. Threads of music weave elusively through the air. They emanate from behind the closed doors of dozens of practice rooms honeycombed through the building. If all the staircases don't make you dizzy, the sound will.

The RIAM is located on Westland Row, Dublin, in three interconnecting eighteenth century houses. It has three performance halls which are in regular use for concerts and recitals. Some of the rooms are open to the public at certain times of the day.

In 1998, the academy will be celebrating its 150th anniversary. "We've all been learning how to pronounce sesquicentenary," jokes the academy's director, internationally renowned pianist, Dr John O'Conor.

John O'Conor has been at the helm of the RIAM since 1994, having taught piano there since 1976. One of the best known personalities in Irish classical music, O'Conor is passionate about his chosen art - particularly when talking about its teaching. His role as director and professor of piano at the academy may not be as public as his role as performer, but it is one to which he dedicates a good proportion of his time and energy.

O'Conor is not the only well known name in the RIAM. The teaching staff includes the likes of Hugh Tinney, Reamonn Keary, Audrey Chisholm and Therese Fahy (piano); Geraldine O'Grady, Michael d'Arcy and Deirdre Ward (violin); Aisling Drury Byrne, William Butt and Annette Cleary (cello); William Dowdall (flute); John Finucane (clarinet); Sean Cahill (trombone); Veronica Dunne and Irene Sandford (singing).

With such a roll call, the various courses on offer in the academy are bound to be of a very high standard. The B Mus Ed degree is a four year course designed for those who wish to teach music at second level. The degree is studied in conjunction with the College of Music, and validated by Trinity College, Dublin.

The BA (Performance) and the M Mus (Performance) degrees - both validated by Dublin City University - have a much heavier practical element and are specifically aimed at those who want to perform at the highest levels.

The BA (Performance) degree is "very much concentrated on performance", says O'Conor. All the theoretical courses are covered in one day each week and each student gets three hours of individual tuition. This leaves the students with plenty of time to themselves to practice.

Other courses run at the academy include the Associate of the Royal Irish Academy of Music (ARIAM) diploma, which is aimed at potential private tutors/ performing accompanists. There is also an access course for students who are uncertain if they want to go on to study for a full time music degree, or for those who haven't yet reached the standard required to enter the other courses.

There are about 800 students using the academy each week, although only a small minority of these are enrolled in the degree courses. Most of the rest are second level students getting tuition.

Fiaghin Collins is one of six students in the first year of the BA (Performance) Degree. At the age of 18, he has already excelled in a number of piano competitions. He won the Musician of the Future competition in 1994 and has been awarded a scholarship by the Yamaha Music Foundation in Europe and he has given concerts in Germany.

While he was still at school, Collins had attended the RIAM for lessons for six years. His decision to stay on, he says, was based on his belief that "the academy is so well geared towards performance. The emphasis is completely on the practical side."

O'Conor would eventually like to see the academy achieving full conservatoire status, on a par with some of its European counterparts. "I don't see why not," he says. "We have the talent and we have the teachers. What we don't have is the infrastructure and the backing to give this to our students."

The lack of adequate funding - for music education is one of the issues stressed in the recent PIANO Report, of which O'Connor was a prime mover. "There is no third level academy of music north of a line stretching from Dublin to Ennis," he points out.

In the case of the RIAM, O'Conor believes that funds are needed, not only to do some of the essential refurbishments to the building itself, but also to provide more instruments and better facilities for the students. "These days people with talent may not have the money to buy their own instruments," he says. Despite the negative messages, however, O'Conor is positive about some of the changes of recent years. "I think that one of the great advantages is that, while students used to go away to study, now they all want to come back," he says.

The RIAM is branching out into other areas of the performing arts. It now offers classes in speech, drama and mime. John O'Conor would like to see it reach not only the level of conservatoire, but also to expand into a school for the performing arts.