A couple of weeks ago, my projector broke down, 20 minutes before class. The projector is an important piece of hardware for me to conduct classes, it flashes syllabus notes for students to refer to. Having no backup plan, I panicked. I was no stranger to equipment breakdown though, but it’s been a while since I had to troubleshoot situations like this. I took a breather, and thought of a solution. Thankfully, I had a stand and an iPad mount, so I simply mounted the iPad onto the stand, and the students can refer to the syllabus notes directly on the iPad. Classes proceeded on smoothly. After lessons the very next day, I immediately printed out 2 sets of all my syllabus notes, and had them book-binded. Now, I have a set of syllabus notes for students, and a teacher’s copy for myself to refer to. I also set up a printer just in case I needed to print loose sheets of song transcriptions.
Now, on to the equipment that broke down, it was a 2nd hand Epson Projector which was at least 10-15 years old, and I bought it second hand for about $150. It worked for about a month until the lightbulb burnt out. Since it was an obsolete model, the bulb replacement cost like 200 euros. I searched high and low for a replacement projector, and ended up purchasing a brand new Yoto Mini Projector for 70 dollars. It works well in my studio, thankfully.
Onto the following week, I felt more ready for class, as I had a contingency plan in case the projector broke down again. Guess what, this time, my iPad failed on me. It’s an old iPad, I used it a little too long for video recordings, and it just went flat and could not be charged. No notes? no problem, just print. Guess what, printer could not process the print order for some reason, I panicked again. It took a good 30 min of messing around with the printer before it started printing.
Lessons learnt:
- When it comes to technology, perhaps it’s best to invest in proper first hand equipment. Don’t be too stingy with capital expenditures.
- Always have physical copies of syllabus notes and song transcriptions.
- Prepare for all lessons for the day at least 1 hour before the first lessons starts, test all equipment.
- Biggest fear – Ekit/ Amp not working. Always have a drumpad in class, maybe even invest in a bass drumpad.
~Teacher Joel~
~Private Drum Teacher from Pasir Ris, Elias Road, Singapore~
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