From the Viking Age, Icelanders have been known for being pioneers. This is a true story about an unassuming pioneer who had a significant impact on the digitalization of Icelandic music schools. He left a lasting impression, which we will proudly strive to fill.
Sveinn Eythorsson is a person that everyone should know. He has put invaluable effort into bringing Icelandic music schools into the digital age by developing SchoolArchive according to the needs and requirements of Icelandic music schools.
It all started when Sveinn acquired his first computer, a Commodore 64 gaming computer, in the early 1990s. At the time, it was possible to buy computer game magazines that showed how to create programs on such computers. Sveinn became interested in programming, and his passion grew from there.
After completing his guitar studies in Spain, Sveinn started teaching at the Music School of Gardabaer. At that time, Sveinn and his father had purchased a Macintosh computer, where they worked on writing music notations. He continued to develop a system for music schools, where reports could also be printed. It turned out to be more convenient than the system used by the Gardabaer Music School at that time, and in 1988-89, the school started using only Sveinn's system. It spread to other schools, and it was seen as a significant time saver.
Sveinn later added a side program designed for teachers, which meant that teachers had access to a computer in the teachers' room, where they could fill out reports directly, reducing the need for printing.
This "hobby" made Sveinn want to learn more, so he went to Sweden for further studies in computer science. After completing his studies, he developed a new system in Microsoft Access, intended for PCs, where a database could be created. The system was much more powerful and included built-in reports. Sveinn's most time-consuming work was in implementing SchoolArchive in schools. He often had to travel long distances to set up SchoolArchive and train people on how to use it. When SchoolArchive went online in 2008, that work was somewhat reduced, as he no longer needed to be on site to set up the system, but he continued to visit and train people on the system.
Sveinn has always tried to meet the needs of SchoolArchive users. If someone came to him with a problem, he would simply start working on a solution. He created a solution to the problem and continued to develop it with the school and other schools to improve the solution. His main goal was to work with the schools and solve the problems that arose.
Examples of requests that have come from music schools:
Despite all this work, SchoolArchive was always an extra job for Sveinn. This was a job he worked on in the evenings, on weekends and in his free time. After completing his studies in Sweden, he worked at the banks' data center and later at an engineering firm. Today, Sveinn works at the Central Bank of Iceland. In recent years, the number of schools using SchoolArchive has increased from 15 to 44. At one point, Sveinn faced the difficult decision of either having to quit his job at the bank and devote himself fully to SchoolArchive or to quit SchoolArchive. The conclusion was to quit SchoolArchive, but not before he had someone take over the business, and eventually he sold SchoolArchive to SpeedAdmin/Let's Learn to Play. He did so only after he knew that SpeedAdmin had the same passion for music education as he did.
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Now many may wonder what Sveinn does in his spare time now that he no longer has to run the music schools of the country. Sveinn finally has time for his house, his dog, his cat and his grandchildren! He looks forward to taking a break and visiting his family without having to bring work along. So enjoy, Sveinn!
On behalf of Let's Learn to Play, we want to say a big THANK YOU! Thank you for your contribution, thank you for all this invaluable work. We find that Icelandic music schools are great customers and we will use what we have learned from SchoolArchive to build an even better SpeedAdmin.