The original plans for the School were prepared in the 1960s when the Department of the Interior recognized the need to establish centres for art and music study in the national capital, with the vision of providing high-level performance and practice.

It was first located in the Canberra suburb of Manuka and in 1976 moved to its current site on Childers Street between the Australian National University and the city centre, becoming the first purpose-built music school facility in Australia.

[citation needed] Responsibility for the Canberra School of Music passed from the Department of the Interior to the Minister for Education and Science, John Gorton.

[5][6] The Head of School at the time, Walter resigned shortly after in June 2012 to take up the Headship of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

[7] Separately, the Commonwealth authority responsible for managing worker's compensation claims, Comcare, launched an investigation into a series of complaints relating to untenable workloads and a toxic work culture.

The demountable buildings, which are joined, were installed in the 1990s and house some of the graduate facilities as well as some administration and technical capacity of the Music area and are colloquially known as "The Shed".

The main School of Music building was designed for the National Capital Development Commission in 1970 by architects Daryl Jackson and Evan Walker.

Daryl Jackson described the design in the following way "The School's boldness of form is due to these factors as well as a desire to produce an assertive cubist arrangement whose parts explore landscape and figurative metaphors, to create architectural presence."

The heavily sculptured forms of this building come from the phase in Daryl Jackson's work when he pursued ideas of rendering large mass in a way he called "cubist", using common materials, particularly off-form concrete and masonry.

Llewellyn's plans, drawn with renowned architect Daryl Jackson, provided for a large "lecture hall" (with seating for 1,300 people and full audio and lighting facilities), smaller rehearsal spaces, teaching studios and offices.

The building, named after former ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Karmel, was designed and project managed by Guida Mosely Brown Architects in conjunction with commissioned artist Marie Hagerty.