Deceased
Vern Schafer joined the family business of moving pianos as a teenager, but had the dream of running his own piano store. While still running the Schafer Piano Movers Company, Vern set out to learn all he could about the ins and outs of the piano retail business. Soon after opening Colton Pianos,...
Aspen Pittman grew up in the 1960s as a student of the folk music movement. He studied the art form and performed on every type of string instrument there was to play. During high school he and a buddy got a job delivering organs for a retailer that was just about to open a rock and roll retail...
Terry Bingley was a leader in the Canadian Music Products Industry for several decades. He began his career when he formed a music retail store before working with Yamaha and, later, serving as the Managing Director of Kawai. He helped to establish Kawai Canada. In 1984, Terry formed a music...
David “Bud” Morgan opened his music retail store in 1957 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Since that time Morgan’s Music has become a critical part of the community and the local school music programs. Built on a devotion to music and music making, Morgan’s Music followed the mission to serve the music...
Webb Phillips formed the Allied Piano Company outside of Philadelphia with the goal of filling a need. As a piano technician it was hard to find reliable products that you can trust, so Webb sought to gather the best the industry had to offer and supply the products to his fellow tuners. Over the...
William Stonier always stressed the importance of personal relationships when conducting business in the music industry because the passion for music was a very personal and very critical element for him. He grew up in a musical family and he played in school bands, nourishing a burgeoning love of...
John McDermott could sure sell pianos! His knowledge of the products and his strong relationship with music retailers made him an ideal and successful sales rep. John worked for the Gulbransen Piano Company during the company’s innovative era of the mid 1960s through the 1970s. After his retirement...
Layton V. Rawlins was the founder of Rawlins Piano Company in Southern California and a veteran of the piano industry. Layton witnessed many of the biggest changes within the piano business over his 50 plus year career. He was always proud of the strong friendships within the industry that he...
Jack Martin was a leading piano sales rep for Wurlitzer from 1959 until 1963. Although he spent most of his career in the music industry it was those four years that Jack cherishes the most. During the early part of his career with Wurlitzer, Jack took part in the training classes that Wurlitzer...
Jack Javens loved the piano business and became one of the industry’s quintessential salesmen. He worked for the Aeolian Piano Company out of East Rochester New York beginning in the 1950s and stayed for 26 years. He witnessed the famous merger between Aeolian and the Winter Piano Company in the...