Salesmen-Sales Reps

My name is Scott Erlandson and my grandfather served on the NAMM Board and as President in the 1950s.  My grandpa's entire life was dedicated to business and education. He was in the music sales business as vice president of Wurlitzer. He owned a chain of music stores in Ohio, which is what led him to NAMM as a board member. He was also the first assistant secretary of the N.E.A. Later in life he was involved with the American Institute for Character Education, for the implementation of teaching young children the values of good and kind behavior.  My grandfather always stressed the importance of music as part every education and character development.
 

Edna Adams has been a mentor to many within the music publishing and music retail business since first entering the industry in the early 1970s. She joined Charlie Hansen Music Publishing and Warner Brothers Publishing for which she traveled to dealers around the country. Her extra attention to details provided suggestions on product placement in the stores and ideas on bringing more customers to the store through special programs and promotions. Edna approached her customers with the theory that if they succeeded, she would be successful. After leaving Warner Brothers she worked for FKH Publishing before joining World Wide Music Publishing in 2010. 

Dennis Awe is passionate about the organ! As a recording artist he has performed on many products, endorsing the Lowrey Organ for many decades. As a keen salesman, Dennis has written books on the process of marketing and selling to encourage others. As a music maker, Dennis has brought the sounds of his talents to millions, with a smile and a friendly handshake. His love of the industry is only equaled by his desire to see growth in the sales of musical products, a goal he is always willing to share with others. 

Tom Beckman opened a music store with his band director while still in college in 1958. The relationships he created in the store lead to a road salesman job with C. Bruno. He traveled the country for nearly a decade before establishing his own distribution company, Beckman Musical. He later began a long association with Roland Corporation. Tom’s interview included a review of the changes he has witnessed in the industry over the past 50 years, including the growth of the NAMM show.
 

Dick Bell was surprised by the impact he had on the music industry, a fact that became clear to him at the NAMM Show 2009, when the Roland Corp gave him a retirement party and NAMM requested an interview for the Oral History program. He began his career in the music industry, as Dick said, “with no training at all.” He worked in the supply department at Kaman before the aerospace company branched out into the guitar business in the 1960s. A decade later Tom Beckman hired Dick for work at the newly formed American branch of the Roland Corporation, where he stayed until his retirement.  

John Beltrandi served as a road rep for Kaman Music on the east coast for over 40 years. He traveled mostly in Massachusetts and Connecticut and helped pioneer the Ovation guitar, which was not well accepted when it was first introduced, but built up a strong audience in the early years. The Ovation guitar was introduced in 1966 and by the time John came to the company a few years later, singer Glen Campbell had used the instrument on his TV program. As a result, the guitar became a popular item making it difficult for John to keep up with the requests from his many retail customers. Among the favorite elements of his career were the friends he made along the way.

Lou Berger is an energetic piano salesman in the style of the old piano traveler of a by-gone era. In fact, what Lou knows about selling pianos he learned from some of the old timers when he was a young man starting out in the business. Lou is a walking encyclopedia of the piano business and is well versed in the player piano boom of the 1890s all the way to the electronic piano disc boom of the 1990s. In fact he has provided training classes for the Museum of Making Music’s docent program on the subject of player pianos.

Ed Boyer began working for Yamaha Corporation of America in 1983 with a focus on the band and orchestral products. With a strong background in retail, Ed has developed long-lasting partnerships with dealers while working with them to gain relationships with area school directors. Yamaha has designed several important music education programs for which Ed has proudly introduced to his dealers, most of which were designed to improve business by increasing the number of music makers. 

Robert Bromberg has had a long career in the music products industry, as did his father. In fact, his father designed the mirror piano, which helped keep the industry alive during World War II by addeing mirrors to used pianos to make them more sellable as all-new pianos were not being made during the war. Robert’s long career includes working with his father in retail as well as creating the manufacturing process for the Guild Guitars in the 1950s into the 1970s. In more recent years Robert has been working with Hap Kuffner and Rob Turner at EMG Pick Ups, adding his insight to the company. 

Sal Cardello has had a colorful career in music. As a musician he has played in dance bands, orchestras, and for years, in the Theater in the Round pit band. At the theater, he supplied music for all the acts that came to the venue, including everyone from Bob Hope to Sammy Davis Jr. As a sales representative, Sal gained great respect among his dealers, first working for King Musical Instruments, then Leblanc, and most recently for Besson. He was asked to join the business team at Leblanc where he served in many positions including as the head of international sales.