Oral History Interviews

Becki Barabas has a real heart for helping others, so it should come as no surprise that each of her professional job descriptions throughout her career have always been expanded as soon as she detected an area of need. This spirit extends into her personal life as Becki has been a volunteer for several charities, including helping children with special needs learn to surf. Becki was on the team at Harman in 2012 that formed a volunteer group in which the company supports its employees to work together once a month to assist a local charity.

Sean Olive received a Bachelors in Music from the University of Toronto, and his Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Sound Recording from McGill University in Montreal. He was hired as a research scientist at the National Research Council of Canada where his research focused on the perception and measurement of loudspeakers, designing listening rooms, and improving microphones. It was during this time that he worked with Floyd Toole who would go on to Harman where he hired Sean to join his research team. Sean, a longtime member of the Audio Engineer Society, served as that organization's

Alex Voishvillo is the mastermind behind many of the innovative products at Harman, mostly based on his passion and knowledge for all things related to transducers. Born and educated in Russia, Alex was brought to the United States by Gene Czerwinski to work on the loudspeaker products for Cerwin-Vega.  While exploring and discovering new uses for transducers within sound, Alex created a respected reputation for thinking outside of the box and solving problems related to improving performances of high frequency transducers.

Damien Curry had been working for Guitar Center as the Product Marketing Manager for a few years when he began a night and weekend gig composing and recording music for television. Since 2007 his Diamond Mine Productions has created music for a long list of your favorite programs including Entertainment Tonight, Ellen, The Wayne Brady Show and MAD TV.  Damien remained at Guitar Center for a decade before accepting a job offer at Harman working as Global Products Line Manager for their Recording and Broadcast products. The position fits perfectly with his background in pro audio as

Bill Klein began his career at Harman on September 17, 1987 and has played a key role in the creation and logistics of the company’s distribution centers around the world. Bill started off in order entry before becoming a manger, director, and then Vice President of Sales working with the JBL brand. While serving as Director of Global Supply, Bill was able to call on all he had learned from his previous roles within the company and his knowledge not only of the product line but of the needs of each department as it related to parts and products. As a result he helped establish the

David Brock is a gifted violin and banjo teacher who provides private lessons at the Folk Music Center in Claremont, California. His long association with the musical instrument store goes back to the days when its co-founder, Dorothy Chase, provided instruction to David’s mother. David caught the music bug at an early age and played in local bands before touring professionally after high school and throughout his college years. He earned a PhD in musicology and sought the opportunity to teach music. Over the years he has created his own unique approach to teaching students (of al

Ellen Harper Verdries grew up in a music store! Her parents, Dorothy and Charles Chase, formed their first store in Massachusetts before moving to Southern California in 1958. The Folk Music Center of Claremont has served the community for over 50 years providing an amazing variety of unique and unusual instruments, lessons and repairs. Ellen remembers the early days of the store as well as the coffee shop her parents established, the Golden Ring, which they started in order to provide a venue for musicians to perform. Ellen provided her own unique skills of customer service and m

David Millard was a teenager when he first walked into Folk Music Center, his local musical instrument store in Claremont, California. The now iconic retailer was a true mom-and-pop operation established by Charles and Dorothy Chase. David got to know the couple when he was hired in 1966, and he worked for 11 years as a repairman. David took a short 40-year break from the store to become a biology teacher at a local middle school, however he returned to the very same work bench after he retired as an educator.

Henry Barnes is a wonderful example of the type of luthier and repair technician you want working on your musical instruments. With a background in building guitars for Charvel, Grover Jackson and working on the team that built the first 10 Randy Rhoads signature model guitars, Henry has a deep knowledge and passion for ensuring each instrument is properly prepared for making music.

Philip Springer utilized his classical piano training to pen hit songs during a long and celebrated career making music. As a result his tunes often incorporated elements of sophistication as well as whimsy. Both of his parents were musical and encouraged young Philip to play the piano. By the age of six he was playing Bach by ear. While serving in the US Army during World War II, Philip became Mickey Rooney’s Musical Director and began writing music to entertain the troops. His songwriting career began to take off when singer Connie Haines recorded “Teasin’” which Philip wrote wi

Sylvia Tyson wrote songs that a generation sang, and she also recorded songs by other songwriters which helped define the Folk Music revival of the 1960s. In 1962 she wrote “You Were On My Mind” and recorded the song with her husband as Ian & Sylvia. The duo recorded 13 albums together with such hits as “Someday Soon," “Early Morning Rain,” “Four Strong Winds” and Bob Dylan’s “Tomorrow Is a Long Time.” After the couple separated in the 1970s, Sylvia launched a successful solo career which included the release of the 1976 album Cool Wind From the North.

T. Bruce Wittet is the widely read drum journalist who began his musical passion playing harmonica. His love for all things music led him to an exciting career playing in the school’s jazz ensemble, gigging in coffee houses and working as a studio musician for over 12 years. These experiences provided the background to write articles for Modern Drummer magazine, which Bruce has done since 1980. Among his articles still talked about today were the two he wrote about John Bonham and those that covered the makers of instruments such as William F.

Denny Coiro spent over 40 years of his career in the piano industry. As a salesman, Denny worked for several stores over the years and had some wonderful experiences bringing a new instrument into the lives of countless customers. He studied clarinet in school and earned a degree in music education. He enjoyed providing private lessons and performing in the folk rock band Joy Unlimited. In 1974, a friend suggested he sell pianos since he had such a love for music, and to his surprise he took to selling right away. Over the years Denny worked with a number of stores, managing some

Dennis Coffey was a member of the studio musicians at Motown known as the Funk Brothers. Dennis recorded a string of hits with the group in the 1960s and 70s. He later joined the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland when they formed the record company Hot Wax. Dennis’ guitar skills can be heard on such classics as “Cloud Nine” and “Ball of Confusion” (The Temptations), “War” (Edwin Starr) and “Band of Gold” (Freda Payne). Using innovative effects pedals such as the Wah-Wah, Dennis carved a niche for himself with his unique style, which led to work in the movies (Black Belt J

Bob Carbone is the co-founder of the Piano & Organ Center in Syracuse, New York. The store has a reputation for their quality products as well as creative lesson programs, which are offered to all of their customers. Bob entered the music industry with a letter he wrote while in the US Army to music retailer Bob Popyk, who not only hired the soon to be discharged soldier but met him at the airport upon his return to New York. The two worked together for 11 years before Bob Popyk sold his store to take his own musical career in a new direction.

David Durben grew up in Fargo, North Dakota where he forged a career as a piano technician. After forming Durben Piano Services, David worked with area schools and churches as well as the local Baldwin dealer to repair and tune their pianos. His passion for the craft led to his involvement with the Piano Technicians Guild (PTG) for which he served on the board and as president. The guild was expanding their scope when he was president (1998), especially regarding their training and certification programs, which were very important to David as they helped elevate the role of the pi

Jonathan Tunick’s impressive career began with taking piano lessons as a kid and later learning the clarinet and saxophone. Attending LaGuardia Performing Arts High School and working with his teacher and theater director Joseph Adler helped propel his talents into a career. While working on Broadway he was introduced to Stephen Sondheim and began working with him on the production of Company which lead to many collaborations over the years. Jonathan has fond memories of working with Mel Brooks on several of his movies including Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles. With his ext

Harold Wheeler remembers standing in front of the large orchestra about to raise his hands to conduct when it hit him - "I am at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics!" That epic moment was one of many highlights in a diverse career that included being a studio musician (he was a member of the band Meco which had a big disco hit with their version of "Star Wars"), orchestrator on Broadway (he won the 2003 Drama Desk Award for his work on Hairspray) and served as musical director on many works (including Nina Simone’s 1971 album Here Comes the Sun).

Peter Schwartz is a pianist, composer, and synthesist who has worked for KORG on such projects as the M1, Wavestation, Prophecy and OASYS. After a wonderful experience with his classical music education and growing up alongside the explosion of synthesizer technology, Peter landed his first job in the music industry at Sam Ash in New York. While working for the retail store as a salesman he met Jack Hotop of KORG USA. Jack became a mentor to Peter (and several other key contributors to the industry) and encouraged him to consult for KORG. Peter’s first project was to program sound

Dave Pearlman grew up listening to his father play horn and his mother playing acoustic guitar. His father actually had a recording studio in Plainview, TX! Dave started his musical journey playing the violin, but switched to the guitar after hearing the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. In 1968, Dave started playing pedal steel and got the chance to play with some great musicians such as Dan Fogelberg, Bobby Womack, Phil Everly, and Merle Haggard to name a few. After his fair share of touring and playing shows, Dave decided to open his own recording studio in the 1970s and

Seymour Bernstein shared great insight into his career and life in music during his NAMM Oral History interview. He proudly spoke of the first moment he put his hands on the white keys of his aunt’s piano and how he felt the direction of his life was set in stone. Seymour had some wonderful teachers including Clifford Curzon, Nadia Boulanger and Alexander Brailowsky. He pursued a life as a classical pianist and dedicated himself to the craft. At the age of 50, he gave what he said was a very freeing final concert to focus on composing and teaching.

McKinley Jackson’s impressive discography includes his studio work as a trombonist as well as his songwriting and arranging for Motown, Hot Wax and other labels. His band, The Politicians, not only performed live and cut a now famous self-titled album and can be heard on “She’s Not Just Another Women” by 100 Proof.  McKinley began arranging while at Motown in the 1960s, where as a trombonist he can be heard on countless hits (his first was “Ooo Baby Baby”). When the songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown to form Hot Wax Records, McKinley was asked to join them as a

Les Deutsch is a Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) scientist in the aerospace industry who holds several patents for electronic musical instruments. His father, Ralph Deutsch, invited the sound generator technology for the first digital organ. That instrument, produced by Allen Organ and first shown at the NAMM Show in the early 1970s, opened the door to personal keyboards and synthesizers which use the same principals. While in graduate school, Les was issued several patents, many of which were used by the Kawai company. His work with Kawai includes creating controlled harmonics fo

Sylvester Rivers has applied his musical talents to thousands of hit recordings over the years as well as music for television and motion pictures. His list of credits includes several categories as pianist, arranger, and musical director. The list of iconic performers he has worked with is just as impressive and yet at the very center of these accomplishments is a gentle and giving soul who loves making music. His friendly personality and talents as a musician may explain why so many people want to work with him. He is dedicated to his craft and works hard to provide programs tha

Ron McMaster grew up in the Sacremento area and joined a rock band while still in school. The band went through a few name changes before settling on Public Nuisance. They released a single and later recorded a full album (Gotta Survive), which was not released at that time. Years later the album was released on CD and gained the attention of Jack White who at first covered some of their songs and later signed the band to his label, Third Man Records. While still in school Ron also taught drums at Andy Penn’s Drum Shop before moving to Los Angeles where he started a new career as

David Sancious always had records playing in his home growing up and his dad would take him to jazz clubs when he was just a child to sit by the stage so he could see the piano player. As an early member of the E Street Band, David toured with Bruce Springsteen as synthesizers and MIDI were introduced, which led to innovative ways to include these instruments in his playing. He formed his own band Tone in the mid-1970s and has played with several other iconic artists including Sting, Stanley Clarke and Eric Clapton.

Andrea Young is the daughter of jazz trombonist James “Trummy” Young. As a child, she rode in the band bus with her father who at the time was a member of Louie Armstrong’s All Stars. As the group toured, Andrea met many musical icons and referred to many of the legendary performers that she knew as her uncles. In the 1970s she began singing with her father, who was also a noted songwriter who penned “Tain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)” and “Trav’lin’ Light” which he co-wrote with Johnny Mercer and Jimmy Mundy.

Mike Vaccaro is a true piano salesman veteran! Having worked in the piano business for over 40 years, selling for several retail stores and running his own dealership for over 20 years, Mike has sold his share of instruments! He played guitar in the US Navy Band during the Vietnam War era and among many performances played for the opening of Disney World in Florida. In 1971, with the encouragement of his pal Joe Di Fio, Mike began selling pianos. He worked in Syracuse, New York at Clark’s Music before moving out of the snow to Nelson’s Music in Kansas. It was there that Mike built

John Maier had parents that were both singers and would often hang out at the theater where his parents would perform. He used to get in trouble for tapping his pencil during tests and would have to take his test outside of the classroom – early signs of a promising drummer! After developing a love for the drums, John started working at Jeff’s Drum Shop in Illinois where he would teach and sell drum kits. He was intrigued by the music products industry and pursued that interest in Chicago, where he worked for Gand Music & Sound and eventually took a job as a road rep.

Tony Newton was nicknamed “Baby Funk Brother” by the original studio musicians at Motown Records where he began working in 1964. His first session with the Funk Brothers was the song “Baby Love” by the Supremes, which was released on the album Where Did Our Love Go. Tony’s long career in music took off when he played bass for iconic blues performers such as T-Bone Walker and John Lee Hooker. Those gigs gained the attention of Motown and soon Tony found himself working with such artists as Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and young Michael Jackson. He toured with many of the label’s