Robin Galison is the founder and president of Music Gift located in Boca Raton, Florida. The company began as a division of the Edwin F. Kalmus Music Publishers, which her husband’s famil...
Lauri Knapton is the founder of Knapton Musik Knotes in Janesville, Wisconsin. The store, which was established in 2000, provides musical instruments, lessons, and a long list of communit...
Alex Ordonez was eight years old when he began playing the piano. He was the first in his family to play music and was encouraged by his parents. Although he later focused his time on spo...
Chris Scialfa developed his great love and passion for music at a very young age. By the time he was five years old Chris was taking classical piano lessons, which thanks to his understan...
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...
Stephen Pearl was inspired while working with Irv Kratka at Music Minus One to create a series of recordings of Broadway musicals that would provide background music for singers. In 1997,...
Eric Strouse's NAMM Oral History interview had several special moments, such as his reflection on the mentorship his father provided him during his own career running the family sheet mus...
Michael Sagun, while attending the University of Portland, began working for a couple of local music stores. He worked as a part time shipping clerk at Barker Lynns Sheet Music Service ...
Marcia Stearns is a regular attendee at the annual RPMDA conventions and can often be found volunteering to introduce a speaker or tallying the session surveys. Her passion for the busin...
Reiff Lorenz grew up in the music publishing business and, like his father and grandfather, Reiff is happy and proud to carry on the family tradition. The company was established back in...
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 ...
Martin Marris and his wife run Note Craft, a music engraving company that has played a vital role in the access of musical works of every type. Working for publishing companies, Note Cra...
Tristann Rieck’s first instrument was the song flute, which was an introduction to the band program in grade school, which she joined the very next year. She later took up the alto horn ...
Don Langlie had a wonderful experience for ten years as a band director, mostly in North Dakota, which he enjoyed very much. When he applied for a job at Popplers Music in Grand Forks, D...
Chaim Rubinov played the piano in his home as a child and when school age he began playing the trumpet , thanks to the encouragement of his band director. He grew up in Montreal, where t...
Bret Rhoades began his career in the music industry by working for Ken Stanton Music in Georgia. Bret learned band instrument repairs while attending college, and after a short time as a...
Ron Manus is as passionate and focused as anyone in our industry. His interest in developing new music makers has much more to do with sharing what he personally knows as the benefits th...
David Jahnke's smile can be spotted at nearly every NAMM Show and RPMDA convention! The man loves what he does and often goes out of his way to help those he wants to serve. His many cu...
Doug Lady is one of those guys who will give you the shirt off his back. As the Senior Vice President of Sales for Hal Leonard, he has created a team that echoes his strong and sincere f...
Richard Rejino has spent much of his career in print music. Along with Charles Ashley, he owned and operated the print music department within Brook Mays Music stores in and around the D...
Carol Wilbur worked closely with Richard Rejino during her career in the print music side of the music industry. She worked at Brook Mays Print Music before being hired by Richard Gore at...
Marilyn Brown grew up in a home full of music, thanks in large part to her father’s career as a band director. She was hired by the Yenny Music store for 25 years, which was in fact the ...
DeAnn Diller grew up in a small Kansas town, picking up piano at the age of 5 years old. In the small town she found she was able to be involved with many aspects of music including band...
Bob Dingley felt lucky that he fell into the industry, which became his passion and his life-long career. On his way to a trumpet lesson he stopped by the local music store to pick up som...
Stephen Shorney grew up in the music publishing business that his great-grandfather established with a partner--Hope Publishing, which focused on church music. The family has continued t...
Annekathrin Mascus serves as the Head of Sales for Breitkopf & Härtel, the oldest currently operating music publishing house. The company began in 1719 by Bernhard Breitkopf in Leipzi...
Bonnie Fitch has always considered herself a music teacher. After her time in the classroom, she formed her own music store in Las Vegas and tried to make every customer experience a lea...
Bob Kohl was hired by Music & Arts in Maryland just before turning sixteen years old and has been in the industry ever since that time. The store was located in the local mall and he...
Rick Valentine is the founder and president of Valentine’s House of Music, a retail store dedicated to piano sheet music and method books. Over his career, Rick developed not only a true...
Betsy Bullis began singing in church at an early age and fell in love with music and music making. After college she taught choir where her husband, Russ, was the band director. After R...
Barbara Meeks fell in love with music at an early age and played flute all though school and into college where she majored in music education. While working at Buddy Roger’s Music in Oh...
Russ Bullis took up the trumpet as a child and played throughout high school. During his college years he gave trumpet lessons at the local music store and took a strong interest in teac...
