Dr. Charles Menghini is President Emeritus of VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, who has served music students his entire career.  His journey started as a band director in Kansas an...

Melissa Mandeville and her husband, Scott, own Tim’s Music, which is located in Carmichael, California, near Sacramento. The couple are strong advocates for music education and work to se...

Greg Phillips is a strong supporter of music education and music making all throughout Australia, lending his skills and talents as a promoter, producer, writer and advocate. His passion ...

Beth Chouinard Mitchell, with a Doctorate from USC in tuba, musicology, conducting, and arts leadership, may be diminutive in stature, but her instrument of choice is anything but small. ...

Wendy Parr has been singing for as long as she can remember, yet there was a time when she wasn’t sure she unlocked the key to her own voice. When she did, Wendy was greatly motivated to ...

Benjamin Dudley is the executive director of the non-profit organization Free Guitars 4 Kids. Growing up with a passion for music and the guitar, Benjamin sang and played in his church an...

John Mlynczak soared as a student on his trumpet. He engaged other students and teachers alike to gain the most out of their experiences together while in practice or performing for conte...

Daniel Neves is the founder of Música & Mercado (Music & Market), a Brazil-based magazine that focuses on promoting music-making and musical products. His passion for the industry...

Joyce Moore has been encouraged by many friends and family members for years to write a book. After her NAMM interview, we concluded the same thing. Joyce was there when Jackie Wilson rec...

Karla Redding-Andrew’s father, Otis Redding, committed himself early on in his short career to philanthropy. The soul legend started a camp inviting 600 school students to learn about mus...

Jim LaDiana has developed his love of music in a variety of ways that have touched many people over his career. As an author he has written articles and a book about studio musicians, tit...

Dr. David Karp grew up with music all around him and with the encouragement of his parents to pursue his passion for music. As a composer, pianist, professor and author of published teach...

Linda Oberg grew up in a very musical family and was always surrounded by music at a young age. She took piano lessons and studied music in school, which ultimately prepared her to be a p...

Julie Lewis has been surrounded by music her entire life, and knows first-hand the power it has on those who experience it. As a child she sang in choirs and played the cello, and can rec...

Lynda Smith started on the piano early in her life and was always fascinated by the instruments at her local record shop. Her love for classical music led her down the path of studying mu...

Ed Polcer grew up in a world filled with music and the older people around him were supportive and encouraging. As a result, all throughout his career, Ed sought to do the same for younge...

Jamal Batiste grew up in a very musical family and when he saw his brother’s drum kit at 3 years old, he fell in love. Raised in New Orleans he was surrounded by what he calls the gumbo o...

Lana Negrete grew up in her father’s music store and always had a passion for music and the arts, but she wasn’t sure if music retail was for her. Everything changed when she became a mom...

András Simonyi grew up listening to traditional Yiddish and Hungarian folk music, but his true love was rock and roll music. This became a lifeline for him growing up behind the iron curt...

Michael Feinstein is a student of the American Songbook as well as its cheerleader and Pied Piper! Throughout his career he has specialized in promoting the songs and songwriters from the...

Juan Grecos is the president of Amigos de la Guitarra de Valencia and has served in that position since 2004. The organization is dedicated to showcasing the Spanish classical guitar and ...

Johnny Smith played drums professionally with the Oak Ridge Boys and Travis Tritt, among others, before a group of investors approached him to help create the Songbirds Guitar Museum. Joh...

Aaron Friedman was composing in his New York City apartment when he was distracted by the constant sound of car alarms. He took action and helped create a city ordinance, which led to his...

Dr. Merryl Goldberg grew up inspired by music. Her parents wanted her to learn guitar, but she always had a soft spot in her heart for the saxophone and would sneak in lessons whenever po...

David Schommer was playing in the Mississippi Community Symphonic Band when he approached the conductor, David Miller, and inquired about forming a swing band. David had the vision of a s...

Leo Adelman spent much of his life playing the jazz trumpet. In retirement, he spends a great deal of time playing and promoting jazz throughout San Diego County. When the NAMM Oral Histo...

Brian Shepard provided a meaningful review on the history of the Music Teachers National Association (MTNA) during his NAMM Oral History interview. Brian outlined the early years of the o...

Marshall Hawkins founded the Idyllwild Arts Jazz Program with the intention of giving young musicians the same kind of individual mentoring that he received while growing up in Washington...

Nat Kusano has always been compelled to create and market ideas and products that inspire and encourage people to pick up an instrument and play. Having had piano lessons when he was a ch...

Emily Achieng Akuno became the first music professor from Kenya to be elected president of the International Music Council (IMC). This took place in 2018. The position allowed her the opp...

Tracy Leenman remembers hearing her father play the saxophone and wanting to play the same instrument. She played several instruments throughout school including the sax, flute, and basso...

Linda (Wert) Young asked her parents, when she was twenty, to assist her in the upstart of a music store after realizing her passion for helping children identify their interest and abili...