Pianos
Marv Drucker spent his early career in New York playing all types of venues from showrooms, to hotels, dives, clubs and theaters, more than you can imagine. Such performers were referred to as “musical journeyman,” and Marv was among the best. He witnessed firsthand the changing of musical styles...
Robert Heller worked in the music industry as a teenager in retail and discovered that he was drawn to the industry with his passion and love for music and music making. Bob was hired by Yamaha Corporation of America in the piano division, where he worked for 20 years before transferring to the...
Paul Calvin feels that his experience as a music retailer, including several years with Schmitt Music in Minnesota, has been helpful in his role as Vice President and General Manager of the Keyboard Division of Yamaha. Having a background in retail plays an important part in working with music...
Ralph Grierson’s father was a sawmill operator who loved playing music after work and on the weekends. As Ralph grew up, his father encouraged him to develop a career in music. After college, while playing in several bands in the Los Angeles area, Ralph was asked to record a film score. Over the...
Mel Wisniewski gave music lessons in a small music store in upstate Wisconsin and soon discovered he was interested in the idea of owning his own store. Not wanting to compete with his friend, Mel and his brother, Joe, moved to Southern Illinois where they established Wisniewski Brother’s Music in...
Don Middleton taught music lessons around town before working for Billy Hill at Hill’s Music in 1967. A few months later Mr. Hill announced his retirement and asked Don if he wanted to buy the store. With a small loan, which Don paid off in just over a year, he purchased the store. By 1970, he had...
Stan Lindenbaum grew up in Brooklyn and developed many thoughts and ideas about selling. While working for several different industries during his career, Stan studied the idea of incentive marketing, a concept that worked out well for him in his years in the music industry. He worked for the...
Hiroo Okabe is the Director and Managing Executive Officer of Yamaha’s Musical Instrument Business Group. During his NAMM Oral History interview he provided the history of how Mr. Torakusu Yamaha began his career in the music industry by first repairing a reed organ and later, in 1900, introduced...
Shuji Ito began his career with Yamaha Corporation in 1965 and has since held a series of positions in Japan, the United States and in Europe including managing director and senior managing director. He served as president and representative director for Yamaha from 2000 until 2007. Mr. Ito has...
Billy Taylor was first and foremost a jazz pianist. This fact might surprise some people who knew Billy best for one of a number of other careers he enjoyed in music, including teaching, composing and advocating for music education. As a jazz performer, Billy learned from the best including Ben...