California
Wayne Seppala was playing organ for shoppers at the Montgomery Wards in San Diego before he was a teenager. When the store stopped selling organs, he landed a job at Ozzie’s Music where he met his future wife, Cheryl. Together they opened their own store just a year after getting married in 1977. ...
Cheryl Seppala has given the gift of music to countless students in her organ store over her career. She has never lost that spark in her eye that has encouraged her students to stay with the lessons and enjoy the benefits of making music. She began teaching when she was a teenager at Ozzie’s Music...
Rita Goldman sat right next to her future husband in high school and recalls with a smile how their friendship turned to a long and loving marriage. She also warmly recalls his passion for the piano business. Harry Goldman was the founder of Fields Piano in southern California, a store that...
Jerry Goldman's father, Harry, opened a wholesale piano business inside Marshall Field's Department store in Chicago with his brother back in 1947. Just over a decade later, Harry and his wife, Rita, moved out to California to open their own piano store while kept his roots from the department...
Bob Ulius began working in the music industry when San Francisco retailer, Stu Goldberg, hired Bob at Marina Music in 1969. It was the beginning of a long career that included gigs at Leo’s Pro Audio in Oakland, California, and with Sound Genesis. Bruce Hatch formed Sound Genesis, which was located...
Chico Fernandez was born in Toronto and began playing drums at the age of three! He studied piano when he was eight and later reconnected with the drums, which he played in local bands both live and in the recording studios. He later moved to Los Angeles where he opened a music teaching studio. ...
Greg Gohde's love for violins and bow making began in college and soon became his life's work. He moved to San Diego from Chicago, where he opened a repair shop and crafted handmade bows. His store expanded over time into Classic Bows, a world-renowned location for violin goods and services. The...
Lois Bach proudly worked beside her husband, Greg, to expand his music business into a strong retail and repair service. Lois joined Greg in the business after a successful career in television. She could see that Greg needed help and brought her business and social media skills to the store. Their...
Abel Sanchez is the noted restoration expert for such piano brands as Steinway and Chickering. Abel was born and raised in northern Mexico on the cattle ranch along with seven brothers. By the late 1950s, he moved to San Diego where he began working for two music stores as a piano technician. Some...
Eleanor Giacoletti began playing piano as a child. While in college, studying music education, she realized she had a strong passion for providing meaningful lessons to young students. In 1978, she attended a Yamaha Music School program and talked her husband, Bob, into opening a music school. The...