Music Research

Marsha Berman grew up in a home filled with music. Her mother sang and her father played, so she was encouraged to play piano. She took lessons until college, at which point she studied music at UCLA not knowing just what she wanted to do with her degree. She wrote a paper on music library studies and found herself attending UC Berkeley soon after on her way to earning her masters in library science. The degree was not rare in the 1940s, but most certainly not common in the west, which presented Marsha with many opportunities.

Paul Bierley is the leading expert and author on the life and music of John Philip Sousa. A passionate fan of band music, Paul noticed several elements of Sousa’s career that were not documented. With his own publishing company, he penned several books on the March King’s life, including unearthed volumes of Sousa’s own photographs and manuscripts that otherwise may have been forever lost.

Q David Bowers contributed greatly to the archiving of the music products industry. As an author, he researched and published several books on the early era of mechanical instruments. His 1972 publication, The Encyclopedia of Automatic Musical Instruments, has become the definitive reference source on the topic. Along the way he also saved an enormous and invaluable collection of vintage trade magazines dating back to the 1880s from being lost. Those materials have since been scanned by the NAMM Resource Center, thanks to Mr.

John Boylan is best known as a hit-making record producer working with Charlie Daniels, Linda Ronstadt, Boston and the Little River Band. In addition to his successful career, John has a passion for the history of electronic and recording equipment. He has studied the roots of recording gear and its development over the last one hundred years. In recent years John has worked on several movie projects including “Born on the Fourth of July” and the TV program, Elmopalooza. 

Monica Burdex grew up enjoying music of many styles and having a real interest in research and library science. She combined her passions becoming the music librarian for California State University at Northridge. During her long career she also worked tirelessly to help re-establish the Southern California Chapter of the Music Library Association, which she did with the help of Steven Fry and other long time members. Her work both with MLA and at the University has played an important role in the preservation of musical documents. 

 Richard Collins had a colorful career as a jazz trumpeter in the evening while he studied for his maters degree by day.  Two topics always fascinated Dick, music and research, so he sought to study both.  He earned his maters in Library Science and spent most of his career in southern California lib