Carl Fischer LLC

Hayden Connor is very proud of his family’s long association with the Carl Fischer music publishing company in New York. His father and late brother were among the strong company leaders that helped establish the large catalog for which they are widely known. However, it was Hayden who masterfully guided the company into the global market and expanded the catalog to keep up with the ever-aggressive competition and technology-savvy customer needs. Hayden has been a strong supporter of RPMDA and other industry associations that provide services to music publishers as well as sheet music dealers. 

John F. Edmunds began arranging music as a high school student, when he found that commercially available arrangements were not suitable for his band of non-standard instrumentation. After college and a stint as a US Navy bandsman, John became a college professor, first as assistant director of bands at the University of Texas and later at LSU in Baton Rouge, while arranging and composing for those schools’ bands. Among his most noted works are “Britannia” and “March of the Longhorns,” the latter composed originally for President Lyndon Johnson’s inaugural ceremony in 1965.

Walter Ehret was the music arrangers’ equivalent to Mel Blanc – the man with a thousand voices. Walter was the man with a thousand pseudonyms. Under his various names, he arranged for most of the major publishers over a career that spanned over 50 years. His work was mostly centered around choral music. He had a strong interest in bringing to light lost works and works of composers who had gone largely unnoticed. He was a pioneer in music publishing and a man with great talent.  His NAMM Oral History was completed on June 9, 2007.  Mr.

Sandy Feldstein played an important role in the publishing of music and method books on percussion. With a sharp understanding of the publishing business and music education, Sandy has been at the forefront of technology and marketing methods, which have had success around the world. As a composer, Sandy is well known in the percussion industry for clever and memorable works. Sandy is also the founder and president of Playin’ Time and has been very active in the growing field of recreational music making. Sandy has also played a vital role in the growth and development of the Percussive Arts Society’s International Convention (PASIC).

William Heese has a reputation like no other in the music-publishing world, a reputation well deserved. Bill has not only been a mainstay in the industry for over 30 years, he has been a tireless promoter of the music publishing history. Bill played a vital role in several publishing associations including RPMDA, MPA, and even this oral history program for NAMM. He has become a mentor and an inspiration for many who witness his example and hope to follow in his footsteps. Bill’s love of the print world may only be equaled by his love of baseball, making it fitting at the NAMM Resource Center created a legacy collection named after Bill that seeks to collect photographs and other materials depicting baseball stars playing a musical instruments.

Maury Rhodes enjoyed a long career in the music industry with a focus on the music publishing side of the business. He oversaw the Chicago operation of the Carl Fischer Company before being hired by the Chicago area music retailer Quinlan &Fabish where he was placed in the customer service department as well as in the sheet music department for which he felt very much at home.  Maury was able to provide the NAMM Oral History Collection great insight into the Chicago music industry. 

Harold Winkler was raised in the music publishing industry.  His father, Max Winkler, worked his way up from stock boy at Carl Fischer to be president of famed Belwin Music Publishing Company in New York.  As a strong support of the emerging school music market following World War II, Harold became a founder of NASMD National Association of School Music Dealers.  In 1951 Winkler and his wife, Luverne, formed Harlu Music, a specialized school music retailer that would later venture out into school music publishing.