Music Education
William Thomas is a recent retiree who served as first the head Band Director at Lakota East High School outside of Cincinnati, Ohio. He gives insights on the challenges and rewards of beginning and building a new music program.
Ryan Arp is the Associate Band Director at Iowa City High School in Iowa City, Iowa. He gives insights on networking and recruiting the help of fellow music education colleagues from the University of Iowa to make a beneficial impact to his music program.
Sam Ulano was the drum teacher, performer, method book author and drum shop owner whose name became synonymous with the world of drumming. During his long and celebrated career, Sam played with some of the legends of jazz and popular music. In 1948 he published the first of nearly one thousand...
Hans Jürgen Nebel is a fourth generation violin maker from Germany who decided that his skills and talents were best served as a repairman. He has rebuilt and restored violins ever since establishing his own business in 1957. From that time on Hans has become one of the true experts on violin...
Bill Larson served as a band director for over 35 years in Montana. When he needed the support from a music store to service his bands, he called on Eckroth Music in Bismarck, ND. Bill was so impressed by the help he received that he visited the store and got to know owners, Bill and Mary Ann...
Ernie Borr was a band director from Mandan, North Dakota who was an early supporter of the Eckroth Music store. Ernie was on hand for the Eckroth Music Center's 40th anniversary party in July 2012 and recalled the early days of calling on the store to help him with his school band instruments and...
Sherry Linnerooth took music lessons from Bill Eckroth, who would later open a music store in Mandan, North Dakoda. When she later taught music in Bozeman, Montana, she called on Bill to supply her with accessories and music books. Those orders increased so much that she could no longer work out...
Peter De Luke Sr. taught music in the public school system in New York for over 25 years. His zest for encouraging young students to make music has been a strong focus of Pete’s even after his formal teaching days were over. In addition to his teaching career was a very impressive performance and...
David Horine opened a small piano store in Bloomington, Illinois in the 1980s. David became a piano technician and gathered a nice reputation for tuning and repairs before he decided to open his own retail store. He found in short order that his customers were eager to try new models of the...
Mike Bates is the senior member of the Institutional Solutions Group in the Keyboard Division of Yamaha Corporation of America. Over the last 28 years with the company, Mike’s career has included nine years as the general manager of the Music Education Division. In his long career with Yamaha, he...