Peggy Dahl-Bartunek grew up with four siblings who all took piano lessons – they even had two pianos in their house! Since the fifth grade, Peggy knew that she wanted to be a teacher and ...

Travis Christopherson’s roots in music can be traced back to when his grandfather played country music records for him as a child. As he learned to play the guitar, Travis saw his passion...

Rob Meads recalls his father purchasing a Lowrey Organ and how he could think of nothing he would rather do than have a career making music! As a teenager, Rob was hired by legendary musi...

Barbara Gensmer established herself as one of the top church organ dealers in the United States, having sold and installed over 1,200 units since the 1970s. She focused on Minnesota and W...

Elliott Wessel likes to point out the fact that he has had five different positions at Schmitt Music at five different times during his career. He also conveys, as many others have, that ...

Jerry Wenger was just a kid when he recalls his father asking him and his sister to help him out with building some products he has invented, in the basement, for his school use as a musi...

Julie Jurgenson is among the pioneering women in the band instrument repair side of the music industry.  She was trained at Red Wing and worked for a couple of shops before opening her ow...

Gene Monnig is the owner of Cadenza Music in St. Paul, Minnesota.  The store is an important place for music teachers in and around the Twin Cities as Cadenza keeps close tabs on the meth...

Nancy Vernon and her husband, Gene Monnig, own and operate Cadenza Music in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Nancy is very active with the music teachers in and around the area and works hard to bui...

Ted Berquist had a touch with fame in the 1960s with the group, the Novas. Their song, “The Crusher” was picked up by the national billboard charts and shot the group to stardom. After th...

Wally Pikal may have been the only music retailers who played on the Johnny Carson Show!  Wally opened his store, Wally Pikal Music, in Hutchinson, Minnesota in 1964.  Up to that time he ...

Herb Holt has thoroughly enjoyed his life in music, both as a musician and as a sales rep!  In 1968 he formed the Music Marketing Company to represent the Ovation Guitar line in Minnesota...

Lou Witt grew up on a small farm in Iowa and one day asked his band director in school for an instrument.  He was given a trombone and has played the instrument ever since.  He enjoyed pl...

Jerry Olson purchased a small music store in the early 1950s after teaching along-side his wife in their home town.  Soon the store grew and other locations throughout Minnesota were esta...

Tom Schmitt is the CEO and Chairman of Schmitt Music Company, which was founded by his great-grandfather in 1896.  The company, which now has several locations throughout the Midwest, has...

Jerry Trestman grew up in a musical home, in fact his older brother played saxophone for several of the big bands during the swing era.  Jerry served in the Korean War and was stationed i...

Jerry Grote grew up in Minnesota and began playing guitar after seeing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964.  As a high school student, Jerry began visiting local music st...

Wayne Reinhardt began his musical retail career in 1971, with the same company he was working for at the time of his 2013 interview, Schmitt Music in Minnesota.  Wayne is proud of the opp...

Jerry Hovey grew up in a musical home as his father was a professional drummer.  Jerry’s own love for music began at an early age but it wasn’t until he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan...

Charlie Ollmann is the co-founder (with his wife) of the retail shop Music Connection in Minnesota.  They both taught music and had an opportunity to open their own store, with lesson roo...

Todd (TJ) Johnson serves as a manager of the Groth Music Store in Bloomington, Minnesota. As a singer and entertainer, TJ has offered his understanding of the needs of professionals who c...

Nancy Groth-Kersten is the owner of the Groth Music store in Bloomington, Minnesota. The store is home to a full line of musical instruments, outstanding customer service and one of the m...

Darrell Kersten served in the National Guard for over 20 years. After his time in the service, he joined the team at Groth Music in Bloomington, Minnesota. After working on the road and c...

Al Hager is the store manager for the Bloomington, Minnesota based Groth Music. As a professional bandleader and bass player, Al came to the store with a great understanding of musical i...

Paul Calvin feels that his experience as a music retailer, including several years with Schmitt Music in Minnesota, has been helpful in his role as Vice President and General Manager of t...

Jim Hughart was born into a family of professional musicians and is proud of the many musical experiences he had growing up in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Right after graduation from the Univ...

Tony Lalonde comes from a family of inventors. His father, who held several patents for musical accessories, enjoyed a long career as a retailer in Minnesota. Tony and his brother started...

Crane Bodine’s father, Elmer, was a piano man who formed a retail store in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1933. When Crane was 17 years old, he began working in the store. In 1962, he took ove...

Kevin Bowe, a native of Minnesota, began playing guitar and writing songs for the rock and punk talent coming out of the Midwest in the 1980s and 90s. Kevin wrote several songs for the te...

Richard Loberg worked for the Schmitt Music store for nearly his entire working career. The company was formed in 1896 in Minneapolis, largely as a piano store. Over the years the company...

Lloyd Meyer was the president of Renner US, the world-renowned provider of piano keyboard actions. His long and productive career began with retail experience in Minnesota at the large Da...