Craig Anderson is the General Manager for Allied Supply in Elkhorn, WI. Allied is the largest supplier of parts, tools and cases to the band instrument repair business and has been a corn...
Bob Scheiwiller taught music for three years before landing a job at a music store; the very first store he would later purchase. Bob bought and opened several music stores over the years...
Ede Kidder was teaching full time when her husband came home from his job at a music store with the idea of owning their own store. Luckily for Jim, Ede jumped in with her many skills to...
Michael Skinner grew up in jazz and cut his teeth as a musician at Berklee College of Music. He was a band director right after college and designed several music programs including some...
Janet Gratsch began working at Willis Music when she was 17 years old in the Choral Department. She remained with the store until she retired and even after her retirement she would be c...
Bobby Dukoff was a big band saxophone player during the swing era when he looked for ways of improving his own sound. While working for the Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Bobby began playing hi...
Wayne Tanabe is a pioneer in the band instrument repair field who has helped create and improve several methods for instrument cleaning using ultrasound and cryogenics. Looking towards wa...
Frank Kilgard worked for Streep Music in Florida before opening his own band instrument repair shop in Georgia. His strong interest in quality repair led to a life time of learning new t...
Chip Owen was the product specialist at Fox Bassoons who helped engineer a series of instruments for Fox over the years including the Fox Model 900 Contrabassoon, which was first introduc...
Ed Strege is known within the band instrument repair world as “fast Eddie” for his speed at repair and short-cut tricks he has taught members of NAPBIRT for several decades. His classes ...
David Straubinger started a small business in 1969 to repair and rebuild woodwind instruments. He determined early on that one area of consistent concern was they way flute pads were repl...
Jane Stanton worked for the war effort during World War II, which was before she met Ken Stanton, who was a band director, wishing to open a music store. Jane played a vital role in the s...
Joe Baldi became active in a rock band at a young age and formed a group that toured much of New England in the 1970s and 80s. When needing gear, he often visited EU Wurlitzer in Boston. ...
Red Dog Weber first encountered a pogo cello at the NAMM Show in the early 1950s and was inspired to create a percussive version for his band. In 1958, he began designing the boom schtick...
Sam Eisenman grew up in New York during the heyday of the Big Bands and BeBop. As an ardent music fan he saw many of the great Big Bands, including Benny Goodman's Orchestra in 1938 at C...
Arnold Tubis has always been interested in the mathematics of music. After receiving his PhD in physics at MIT, Arnold began teaching courses on how music relates to science. When he reti...
Jerry Bongard enjoyed playing music since he was a kid. Along the way he became eloquent in his explanation of the benefits of music making and the passion music can add to your life. Jer...
Florence Sachs was very active in community organizations, especially those with a focus on continuing education. When she heard about the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music she sig...
Velia Villasenor-Telles grew up singing with her sister. Music was always a big part of her life, as she is related to the record producer Johnny Otis and the jazz composer and arranger G...
Curtis Smith grew up loving the music of the 1950s and remembers the first 45 record he ever bought was "Cry" by Johnny Ray. While working in the aerospace industry Curtis continued colle...
Toni Perrine grew up in England where she was a touring actress in several musical productions. When she came to the United States she worked for Pedrini's Music in Southern California fo...
Sue Jones had a warm way about her, which sets visitors at ease when they visited the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, CA. As a volunteer Sue was trained as a docent ...
Gladys Hayes taught choir in school for more than 25 years and was very active in vocal programs throughout her career and after her retirement. Gladys and her husband Morris retired to C...
Wanda Pugh always enjoyed singing. As a child she sang in church and later formed several vocal groups and ran different chapters of the Sweet Adalines. Her love of music led her to the N...
Chip Young was one of the best known recording session guitarists in Nashville. His thumb picking style can be heard on countless recordings and hundreds of hit records made in Nashville ...
Gary Sunda began building guitar amplifiers under the name Sunda in the 1960s before he was hired by Don Randall to create a new line of amplifiers, Randall Amps. Gary began designing pr...
Al Simpkins spent his career selling musical products. One of his former dealers was convinced Al could sell a block of ice to residents of the North Pole. His knowledge of the products a...
Mark Ragin jumped from working at the retail level of a music store into wholesale when he realized there was a real need for a band instrument and accessory distributor geared toward the...
Jerry Proctor worked for the Alvarez Guitar brand, owned by St. Louis Music, almost from the very beginning of that product. St. Louis Music owner, Gene Kornblum, was looking to create a...
