Music Retail
Al Sturchio has served the Texas Bandmasters Association for over 25 years as director and also as president. His passion and unbelievable energy has been a large part of the success of the association’s annual meeting and exhibit fair. The yearly program includes sessions and clinics as well as an...
Tom Ostrander was the founder of Colonial Music in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. Now a string of stores, the retail company began with the simple idea of providing top quality instruments to the area school programs. He was born in Phoneton, Ohio, which is in Miami County, and was encouraged to play music by...
Pete Sides has a great passion for the music industry; in fact it is in his blood. On his mother’s side a piano tuner can be traced back to the Mayflower and on his father’s side, his grandfather was a piano tuner who formed a small retail store. His father opened Robert M. Sides Piano Service in...
Ernesto Gittli was born in Uruguay and moved to the U.S. as a small boy before he began taking piano lessons. He met his wife, who also taught music, and together they envisioned a music school that would encourage all ages to become music makers. Gittli Music opened in the mid- 1960s with a strong...
William C. Everitt is one of the big names in the music products industry from the big state of Texas. As a musical retailer, he has assisted in the development of the industry and the way instruments are sold. With an eye on the business side of the operation, Mr. Everitt worked to grow the...
Ben Jack was born and raised in Arkansas, so it was no surprise that the passionate steel pedal guitarist would open up a string of successful stores in and around Fayetteville. As one of the leaders of music retailing in the state, if not the country, Ben pioneered many of the American built...
Ray Hennig opened Heart of Texas Music in the early 1960s after years of repairing guitars for friends. He built homes in Texas and was happy with that line of work, but his passion was in music –and so he did both. Over the years, he had been awarded many honors from the city of Austin and from...
Maurice Summerfield wore many hats within the music industry as wholesaler, retailer, exporter, historian, author, publisher and mentor to a new generation of industry leaders. His family sold toys in the late 1800s. By the time Maurice joined the company, he added to the product line his own...
Julian Markson can tell the history of the piano industry in England because he and his family lived it. His grandfather was a piano tuner who expanded the business in south-east London with a small shop where two of his sons, including Julian’s father, began to work. After World War II, his father...
Crane Bodine’s father, Elmer, was a piano man who formed a retail store in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1933. When Crane was 17 years old, he began working in the store. In 1962, he took over as president shortly after his father’s passing. Crane became a pioneer in the organ business, both as a...