World War II
Fred Davis began playing saxophone as a boy and started his own band, the Freddy Davis Orchestra, which played around Ohio during World War II. He was well equipped with reeds for his gigs as his mother owned a small music store in Marysville, where Fred grew up. After working in his mother's store...
Guy Ward was the president of the Ward Piano Company, located in Canton, North Carolina, from the 1940s until his retirement. After his daughter and son took over the company, he continued to go into the shop every day even at the time of his 2013 NAMM Oral History interview when he was 89! As...
Dr. Carlton Young has had a most interesting career as an editor and arranger of church music for hymnals and for music publishers such as Hope Music. His passion for church music began in his childhood and continued to grow and develop after college. He served as editor for two editions of the...
Allan Clark began taking training classes as a volunteer docent right when the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music was opened to the public in 2000. Since that time Allan has provided countless tours of the museum as well as volunteered at many museum events such as the annual fund raisers. ...
Robert Neu grew up in the Cincinnati area and went to work for Baldwin Piano Company on August 2, 1946, right after World War II. In fact, Bob started out as a time keeper to keep track of production. He recalls in the first few months of working there, military guards were at each entrance since...
William Scarlett has dedicated his career to band instrument repair and the history of the many instrument makers in and around the mid-west. He studied the York Band Instrument Company and the many well-known products the company produced over the decades. Music is in his blood. His grandfather...
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 store over the years as she ran the business while Ken would travel and sat up front to ensure she greeted each...
Elliot Fine is best known to percussion students for the method book he wrote with Marvin Dahlgren called 4-Way Coordination, which was first published in 1963. Over the years, he has published several method books on drumming including Accent On Accents. He played for several big bands before...
Dr. Leo Beranek is considered by many to be the father of concert hall acoustics. His amazing career has not only traced the growth of acoustic measurement but has documented it in a series of articles and books. His first book, Acoustics, was published in 1954 and is considered the bible for the...
John Wessel was born in Holland and recalled with a stern face his World War II memories of running from the Nazi's. He was just one step ahead of the SS on several occasions. After the war he relocated to America where he found a sponsor in the Estey Organ Company. Before the war John had worked...