Band and Orchestra
Carl Thacker was a teenager when he began repairing band instruments. In fact he was a Charter Member of NAPBIRT and attended the first annual convention before he was 20 years old. After a long career as the instrument repair technician for Illinois State Universally, Carl devoted himself full...
Doug Davis has been involved in the music industry for most of his life. Getting the bug to play while playing in the Honor band in school, Doug went on to get a degree in music education and teach in Iowa public schools for many years. Additionally, Doug has worked in retail music for over 30...
Tim Jones brings both passion and a dedication to the customers he serves in Texas. Starting his first store in Midland in 2003, Tim expanded to the communities of Odessa and Abilene. Tim makes it a direct point to provide support to the communities he serves in the form of local scholarships to...
Gene Monnig is the owner of Cadenza Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. The store is an important place for music teachers in and around the Twin Cities as Cadenza keeps close tabs on the method books and sheet music requested by students both in school and private lessons. More than the sheet music...
Charles Conrad comes from a very long line of music retailers. Charles’ grandfather started the store in 1890 and it has been in the same location since. Having seen years of change in the music industry, Conrad Music Service has managed to adapt to the times and needs of the local communities it...
Nancy Vernon and her husband, Gene Monnig, own and operate Cadenza Music in St. Paul, Minnesota. Nancy is very active with the music teachers in and around the area and works hard to build those relationships so the store can best serve the needs of teachers and students alike. The store, which...
Scott Summerhays was the President of the company his parents established in Salt Lake City back in 1936. Scott and his brother Briant worked together to grow the family business and eventually split the company into separate entities, both based in Utah. Scott had been a key player within NASMD...
Bill Causey had a long history of music in his family. His father was a band director and both his father’s brother and sister were fine musicians. Bill had great memories of the family dinners being followed by a sing along and music making! While earning his music education degree he worked...
Jerry Portman learned so much from his father and his grandfather about how to treat customers. Those lessons became key as Jerry set out to not only take over the family’s music store, but to expand it over the years. The small shop, which his father, Ben Portman, began in 1936, became the...
Lynn White may downplay the role she has played within their family’s music store business, but for all those who have been to White House of Music, her spark and passion for music are very evident. Her husband’s cousin opened a small music store in Waukesha, Wisconsin back in 1955 in order to...