Three of the five 4' x 8' x 2' risers that Bob Hadju and I built.
They combined to give me a 20' x 8' additional proscenium stage for my musicals.
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Flats attached to the back wall of the stage to create wings and ways to cross from left stage to right stage.
Stage entrances and wing space created with hinged 4' x 8' x 3/4" plywood panels.
One of three freestanding spot light poles. Not the best looking, but they did the job.
One of three six-foot high mic stands that could stand on the floor (so as not to pick up foot noises) in the front of the proscenium stages for area micing. Created with scrap black pipe and old cymbal stands.
The flood lights in the ceiling of the stage are controlled by a switch backstage where there is no way to see what is happening on stage. To solve this, for every show I would connect a wireless on/off switch up on the lights so my lighting team could be out front and control the stage lights. (After each show I would unwire the sensor - to eliminate the need to explain what is was if it was discovered,)
Home made foam rubber sound insulators so the microphones that would sit on the stage would not pick up sound from the actors' feet.
My "Winter Singers" choir would often have well over 100 junior students. To cut down on attendance taking time, each student would take their name tag off of the cork board and drop it in a coffee can as they entered the room. The name tags that were left were absent kids. Afterwards, there was always a kid who loved to put them back on the nails.
Blew the horn in my old Traynor PA. Had a couple of piezos collecting dust - voila. Ugly but it works.
An old 10-speed handlebar became a hanger for extension cords.
An old snare stand, a tennis ball and a plastic foot off of a stereo receiver became a trumpet stand (and saved me $20).
Glockenspiel mallets cost $30 for a pair and I have 5 glocks! I got tired of breakage and loss, so I bought a giant bag of tinkertoys on eBay for $9 and I have had an inexhaustible supply of mallets for years.
When I moved into my new music room, I complained about the lighting being insufficient at one end of the room. They sent someone with a light meter and I was told that the reading was within tolerances. I said that regardless of what the meter said, the students sitting there had insufficient light to see their music. In the "summary" that I was sent it was suggested that auxiliary lighting could be used. So, off to Canadian Tire to get a shop light. It ain't purdy, but it works and it was on sale.
Shelves for music folders are expensive, however, magazine racks at the dollar store and a few screws...
When the bass players get too loud during warmup (damned Rock and Rollers!) I had to get their attention and tell them to turn down, blah, blah, blah. So to cure the problem, I ran an extension cord from the power bar on my desk to the back of the room and plugged all the amps into it. When I need to, I just hit the switch. Easy-breezy.
Djembi and hand drums are very, very expensive. In order to give everyone the opportunity to hit something, I called an acquaintance who owned a bottled water company and got a bunch of "leakers". I cut a hole in the top, the students turn them upside down to play the bottom and... instant conga drums - for free!
Whenever the heat comes on in my room, it would blow right at my mouthpiece sterilization station and the kids would complain. Rather than ask for a replacement (which would require a work order and 27 years waiting) I just taped up the side that was the culprit.
When moving equipment or chairs or any stuff into the gym, the doors close and bang into the kids and their equipment. I made wooden wedges to hold the doors open, but they were forever going missing. A simple length of rope, looped to a nearby door handle solved the problem.
When my students were rehearsing in the hall outside my room, if the bell to change classes went off, it was deafening. Duct tape to the rescue.
I needed risers for my choirs, so I made six 8 foot x 12" x 12" ones. They are stored in the garage, look the worse for wear, but have been used innumerable times.
A class set of xylophones (technically, they'd be glockenspiels) slowly acrued @ $1 apiece at garage sales.
Because my room is attached to the gym wing, they could not hook me up to the air conditioning for the rest of the school (our gym is not air conditioned). My room therefore has its own unit on the roof. A few years ago it was decided that the Board Office would control all of the heating and cooling in all of the schools. Which means if the temperature is wacko in a school room, the teacher calls the office, the secretary calls the board office, and an adjustment is made (theoretically at least). Because my unit is self contained they decided that a locked plastic case would be put over my thermostat. A flute tuning rod just so happens to be able to fit through a hole in the case. Funny that.
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