Paul Baronnat started singing in choirs beginning at the age of eight. As a singer of the permanent choir of the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra, he was approached by RCA to work for its cla...
Thomas Schreiber, grandson of Wenzel Schreiber, today runs his own repair shop and takes care of the woodwind instruments of several music schools in the region of Frankfurt. After an app...
Shane Henker has always been drawn to musical instruments, first as a player and later as a repair technician. While serving in the US Marine Corps, Shane played in the Army Reserve Band ...
Chris Barker’s grandfather played the piano and made sure each of his grandchildren had a piano in their homes as well as the opportunity to take lessons. Chris was inspired by Elvis Pres...
Nigel Clark began taking oboe lessons when he was seven years old. By the age of 17 Nigel started working in the music industry for an oboe reed making company Harry Baker ( oboe reeds) l...
John Rogers provided an in-depth overview of the Paxman Company during his NAMM Oral History interview, which happened to have taken place as the company was celebrating 100 years in busi...
Jochen Keilwerth’s grandfather founded the Julius Keilwerth Saxophones company in 1925 in Grasnitz. Once one of the largest saxophone producers in Europe, Keilwerth also produced trumpet...
Martin Elneff is owner of i.K. Gottfried, a music store specializing in sales, production and repair of woodwind instruments since 1796. As a teenager Martin started in retail at Marno Sø...
Poul Marno Sørensen inherited Marno Sørensen Music store from his father located for many years in the heart of Copenhagen. Poul remembers how his father worked as a musician in a circus ...
Kenji Chiwaki followed in the footsteps of Toru Hora as the president of Buffet Crampon Japan. Hora-san opened the branch in Tokyo in 1967 and helped establish the brand within the Asian...
Nobunari Yanagisawa is the president of the company his father established just before World War II. The company began as a repair shop, which focused on the saxophone. The factory was ...
Hirokazu Kato took part in the innovative engineering team at Yamaha in Japan who utilized FM Synthesis to create an electronic musical instrument, first the TRX prototype and then the re...
Gary Chen is the owner of Stein On Vine, the historic horn and string shop in Hollywood, California whose customer list reads like a who's who of jazz and film music. Gary was hired by t...
William Cordier remembered piling in the family car for a road trip to their favorite lake northwest of their home in Ohio. Each and every trip included a detour into Elkhart, Indiana wh...
Alex Hsieh is the CEO of P.Mauriat Paris, a brass instrument maker in Taiwan that specializes in saxophones, trumpets and accessories. Their saxophone line of instruments are inspired by...
Vincent Marinelli is the founder of Expert Woodwind Service, a music store specializing in hand-selected and expertly fine-tuned professional clarinets and saxophones. A musician himself,...
Paul Laubin followed in his father's footsteps both as a symphonic oboist and as an instrument maker. Alfred Laubin made his first oboe in 1931. He steadily improved his design, and wen...
Bill Price was active in the band instrument business after being involved with other industries and as a result has a very unique and positive perspective on the music industry. Bill wa...
Giorgio Clerici is the son-in-law of Cosimo Pomarico, the classically trained clarinetist who in 1960 began making his own unique mouthpieces. Mr. Pomarico developed a crystal mouthpiece...
Riccardo Clerici is the grandson of Cosimo Pomarico, the classically trained clarinetist who in 1960 began making his own unique mouthpieces. Mr. Pomarico developed a crystal mouthpiece,...
Mark Thomas was a noted flute player who toured the world and recorded several albums during his long career. As a product endorser, Mark appeared in several printed ads over the years a...
Karl Leong participated in the International Coalition during the NAMM Show beginning in 2012 to discuss collaborative efforts in creating more active music makers. As CEO of KHS, Karl h...
Ace Cannon grew up in Mississippi singing with his father on street corners and in church, and he knew even as a small child that he wanted to have a life in music. When he was ten years...
Robert Fleming has been a long time member of NAPBIRT, missing only a few annual meetings during his long career as a repairman. He worked with Pete Valentino on how plastics could be us...
Eric Satterlee founded Meridian Winds in 1984, in Lansing, Michigan. The store specializes in wind instruments and has a very innovative repair shop. In fact, the repair shop is the bir...
Denny Lawson began learning and playing instrumental music while in college. He soon found he had a great interest in playing music and switched his major to music education. While he w...
Dave Surber’s father was a United States Navy musician who worked for the Leblanc Company after he retired from the navy. When Dave was looking for a job his father found one for him in ...
Mari Mach spent nearly 40 years in the music industry in and around Elkhart, Indiana. She began her career in the sales department working for C. G. Conn for four years before being offer...
Joe Cook began working in the music products industry with Selmer in 1966 with a focus on the saxophone products. He joined the Gemeinhart Flute Company in 1986 and remained with the fam...
John Crise began his career in the music industry with Selmer in 1975. He has focused his work on the oboe, clarinet and bassoon in the years before the CNC machines came to the company....
Kenneth Glore began working for Bach in the saxophone department before working for Linton on oboes and then off to Armstrong flutes that was later bought by Selmer. He has been with Con...
Gary Shanholt began working on the bench at Selmer in Elkhart on Main Street back in the 1970s. He continued to work for the company after it merged with Conn, becoming Conn-Selmer. Gar...
