Pianos
Joey Welz was a member of Bill Haley’s Comets as well as Link Wray’s Wray Men. He played piano in the early days of Rockabilly for Bat Records with his own group as well as with The Jay Rockers. While in the Army in Germany in the early 1960s, Joey became a recording engineer for the Armed Forces...
Chris Scialfa developed his great love and passion for music at a very young age. By the time he was five years old Chris was taking classical piano lessons, which thanks to his understanding teacher, occasionally included works by Chris’ hero, Elton John! He began writing original music when he...
Viola Schimmel proudly recalls the mantra of her great grandfather, the founder of Schimmel Pianos, “Quality will prevail.” These words provide motivation, understanding, and guidance for her and her team as they continue the rich tradition of piano building. The company was formed in 1885 and has...
Al Slivinski was in the third grade when a salesman visited his school with the pitch “you too can be an accordion player!” Al developed great techniques on the accordion that served him well when he began playing the organ in high school, which he continued throughout college. He sold pianos and...
Sabine Grubmüller joined the Bösendorfer Piano company in 2008, the same year the historic piano manufacturer was purchased by Yamaha. In 2015 Sabine was named the Managing Director and outlined a plan to continue the company’s traditions while embracing changes that helped keep the company...
Ellis Hall is a man of many talents. This singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, actor, and composer may have lost his sight at the young age of 18, but he quickly found inspiration by looking to Ray Charles. After moving to Boston at a young age, Ellis started piano lessons despite knowing that...
Mike Bennett began playing trumpet at the age of eight and played jazz trumpet and piano throughout high school. He studied music at the University of Tulsa and in 1980, landed a part time job at Saied Music. That first job was in the sheet music department and less than a year later, in January...
Sonny Wittkopp studied business in college and landed a job as a bookkeeper for a local music store in Washington state. This experience generated a great passion for the music industry which resulted in Sonny opening the Hammond Organ Studios of Spokane in 1962. The store grew along with the home...
Normalu Cooper was inspired by her piano teachers as a young girl so she eventually began providing lessons in her father’s piano store when she was a teenager. Like her father, Normalu went on to have a long career in piano retail in Washington and, also like her father, she played the organ for...
Mario Ortigara joined his brother’s music store just two years after it opened. Since 1949, Mario worked alongside his brother Ben who started the store to teach and sell accordions. By 1959, their sister, Mary, joined the team and years later both of Ben’s sons, Mike and Dan, came on board. The...