Jim Petercsak grew up in New York and recalls the days he visited the Henry Adler Music Shop, and how he became so passionate about drumming and music that he made it his career. Jim has ...
Gordon B. Peters spent decades performing, teaching, and composing for the percussive arts. He worked to provide meaningful tools to students and teachers alike while keeping his techniqu...
Menzie Pittman is the founder and owner of Contemporary Music Center located in Virginia. Menzie was inspired to to pursue music after he saw The Beatles perform live on Ed Sullivan. Afte...
Summer Pittman began taking piano and voice lessons at Contemporary Music Center when she was seven years old. After studying with many teachers, Summer also started playing guitar. She h...
Jim Progris attended the Berklee College of Music back in 1956 and witnessed firsthand the development of the school’s courses and programs over the years. He returned to the school to te...
Daniel Puccio grew up in the music store his mom and dad ran in Corning, New York. As you might guess, the passion for music was passed along to Daniel at a young age. He played and lat...
Manel Punti is the Managing Director of Music Distribution, a wholesale business in Spain that his father established in the 1960s. Manel grew up in the music industry as well as a musica...
Fred Rast is the founder of Fred Rast Mouthpieces and a music lesson instructor for Music Village. The store is located in San Jose, California and is his musical haven with students and...
Ron Raup was among the first commercial members to serve on the NAMM Board. His long career in the industry has been highlighted by his incredible vision and marketing skills for the Make...
Les Ray was a well spoken advocate for music education. As the founder of ASM Music Schools in Florida, he created a respected educational program that includes some 2,500 students each w...
Brian Reardon, owner of Monster Music in Levittown, New York, got his start manufacturing record racks to house albums and songbooks in record stores. One of his customers was Monster Mus...
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...
Donna Reed wanted to continue to provide music lessons even after retiring from teaching in a traditional school setting. After 30 years as a music education teacher in the public schools...
Bennett Reimer’s name is familiar to millions of music college students who have read his books, A Philosophy of Music Education and the Silver Burdett Music book that he co-authored. The...
Delores Rhoads began teaching music in 1939. Seventy years later when she was interviewed by NAMM, she was still teaching. After World War II Delores and her husband opened a small teachi...
Tom Rhodes was a Texas bandmaster who felt strongly about the need for sheet music dealers to work closely with school band directors. Along with two partners, Tom established the RBC Mus...
Herlin Riley is a native of New Orleans and a continuing link in the chain of great jazz drummers. Herlin was raised in a musical household by his grandparents and originally played the t...
Richard Riley served as Secretary of Education under Bill Clinton and was a two term Governor of South Carolina. His love of music goes back to his parents and his piano lessons as a boy...
Bud Roberds was two months shy of his 103rd birthday when he was interviewed for the NAMM Oral History program about his life in music. His father was an avid musician, always bringing in...
Mike Rosen is a professor of percussion at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Oberlin, Ohio. Over the years Mike has been very active with the Percussive Arts Society and has contribute...
Steve Rucker is the Director of Drumset Studies at the University of Miami. His long and interesting career began in Charlotte, where his father fell in love with big band music and ofte...
Patrice Rushen has forged many in roads in the music industry. While Patrice got her start recording as an accomplished jazz pianist, she soon branched out into many other genres includin...
Yukio Sakurai studied photography and art at the university in Tokyo before his uncle asked if Yukio would come to work for him. His uncle was the founder of the Japan Music Trade Magazin...
Antonio Sanchez began playing drums at the age of five in his native Mexico and by the time he was a teenager he was playing professionally. After graduating from Berklee College of Music...
Rey Sanchez is a professor and the Associate Dean for the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami - one of the leading schools for music business programs. This special focus has...
Rick Santos enjoyed music from a very young age, played guitar, and after college he went into the banking world where a chance encounter with a local music retailer led him to buy a musi...
Benjamin Scheuer is a musician and songwriter who specializes in combining his passions for all style of music and musical theater to express himself. He began songwriting at a young age ...
Stephen Schmidt is a lover of music. His background in engineering, experiences with technology, and customer service lead him to his position as Vice President of Casio’s Electronic Musi...
Leonard Schmitt opened a small guitar shop to provide lessons in the St. Louis area back in 1932. At the time we wrote a method for teaching music called the Schmitt Music Training Approa...
Glen Schneider teaches band, technique, and percussion classes at Metea Valley High School in Aurora, Illinois. He received his education at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvani...
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...