Larry McWilliams developed the jazz program at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. He joined the faculty in 1970 and soon organized a jazz band that turned into two and three and t...
Jim Swearingen began composing for his students. He soon realized his music was not only helping students learn to play, but was also encouraging them since the music was similar to popu...
Vaughn Wiester recalls the day he played with the Woody Herman band for the first time. The famed leader called out a tune he knew and Larry was ready to jump right in. "They started pl...
Christopher Weait attended Potsdam's music program in the late 1950s, the same time as John O'Reilly and Sandy Feldstein. After teaching music and playing in many orchestras, Christopher...
Robert Gillespie was teaching at Ohio State University in the music department when he developed and hosted a summer workshop for violin teachers. In addition to his regular teaching, pl...
John Trakas was hired by Ziggy Coyle to serve in the store's accounting department. John grew in the company over the years as did the store, which had multiple locations throughout the ...
Russell Hill first met Ziggy Coyle in 1957 when the famed retailer hired Russ to help with the business side of the company. Ziggy and Russ made a wonderful team as Russ minded the numbe...
Phyllis Snedeker worked for Stanton's Sheet Music Service since the 1960s and was still at work several days a week in 2016 when she was interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program. Wh...
John Stavish and his sister took over the music company their parents established in the early 1950s. John recalls the first milestone of the business was when it moved out of the family...
Rick Roth will greet you with a warm smile when you enter Stebal Drum Shop outside of Cleveland, Ohio. As a drummer, Rick loves talking about the gear and has had years of experiences in...
Jim Anastasi served as the trumpet tester for the King Band Instrument factory in Cleveland, Ohio for nearly 40 years. While testing some 200 instruments a day, Jim worked with some noted...
John Stebal owns the Stebal Drum shop outside of Cleveland, Ohio. The store was originally called Stebal Music when his father opened it. When John took over the store he decided to foc...
Richard King is a principal French horn player for the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. He began playing for the orchestra in the 1980s and has enjoyed a long relationship with the nearby C...
Hans Clebsch began playing French Horn for the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra in 1996. Since that time he has worked closely with Conn-Selmer, which has a production factory outside of Cle...
Mark Gifford was a band instrument repairman before he joined the King Band Instrument Company, now known as Conn-Selmer. The factory, located outside of Cleveland, Ohio produces a long ...
Dave Woodruff began working for King Band Instruments right out of college. He began in the personnel department and Human Resources before becoming involved with the production of the i...
Pete Cumming began playing a King trombone as a student, never dreaming he would one day work for the company. Growing up outside of Cleveland, Ohio, not far from the King factory, Pete ...
Theodore Johnson was playing in the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra when he began to think of ideas that would improve his clarinet's mouthpiece. Over time, he designed his own mouthpiece a...
Wallace Coleman played blues harmonica with the legendary Robert Lockwood Jr. as well as forming his own groups during his long career. His creative style can be heard on live and studio...
Mike Wuellner opened Online Marketing in the early 1990s with the idea of providing a quality product line with products that help serve their customer base. He built up his dealer base ...
John Kay was an original member of the rock band Steppenwolf, whose hit song “Born to be Wild” helped redefine hard rock in the 1960s. The band enjoyed several other hits including “Magi...
Emma Lou Diemer had a long and successful career as a composer, writing classical, choral, and hymn-based organ music. Her work has been published by over 40 different music publishers, i...
Barry De Vorzon began writing songs as a teenager and had several hits during his long career. Among his top charters were two hit instrumental songs, the theme for the television show S...
Bruce Johnston has been a member of the Beach Boys since the mid-1960s, first singing with the group on the hit "California Girls." He appeared on most of the groups albums, including th...
Denis Labrecque formed DeLab Consulting in 2015 after a series of positions in the synthesizer, computer music and digital signal processing fields. It all began with learning analog modu...
Roman Zajicek was born in Kolin in the Czech Republic, where for several decades the government made it difficult to do business as an independent luthier. In 2003, when he had the oppor...
Paul Hostetter’s career as a luthier dates back to 1963, although his passion for music may have been born when he was. He started by giving guitar lessons before he began building instru...
Don Edwards was raised on cowboy music despite being born in New Jersey, a fact he has joked about even in song. His easygoing style led to a successful career as a traveling singer with...
Catfish Keith was proud to take part in the 40th anniversary of Santa Cruz Guitar Company in the fall of 2016. He not only performed on his favorite SCGC model on stage at the Rio Theate...
Darren Webb has played a key role at Santa Cruz Guitar Company since joining the team in the 1990s. With a focus on the service and repair of older Santa Cruz instruments, most important...
