Women in the Music Industry
Delores Rhoads began teaching music in 1939. Seventy years later when she was interviewed by NAMM, she was still teaching. After World War II Delores and her husband opened a small teaching studio and retail shop in North Hollywood, California, called Musonia. Over the decades she taught thousands...
Elianne Schiedmayer proudly serves as the CEO of the Schiedmayer company. Since 1735 Schiedmayer has been at the service of music, building keyboard instruments of the highest craft. In 1809 the company settled in Stuttgart, Germany, and quickly gained worldwide reputation for its pianos and...
Brooke Ludwig Crowden remembers her grandfather, William F. Ludwig, working around the factory inspecting drums and insisting on a quality product. She remembers the day her father, William F. Ludwig II, took her to meet the Beatles on the occasion of her father presenting Ringo Starr with a...
Carole Ozanian has been surrounded by music her entire life. As a four-year-old child she took piano lessons and played up to her college years, when she studied to be a choir director. After college she was hired to work for a Southern California music store and found she had a real flair and...
Linda McDowell proudly watched as her father was installed as president of the NAMM Board of Directors in 1970. It was a time of change and, under Robert McDowell’s leadership, programs were created with a goal of increasing the number of music makers. Since her father's passing in 2007, Linda does...
Martha Hilley was a young piano teacher in the 1960s when she had the idea of expanding her ideas of group lessons. She contacted the Wurlitzer Company, well known for their dedication to music education. The company was so impressed by her concepts that they hired her as an educational advisor....
Annette Luyben feels as her parents had, that their music store is an extension of their home and their customers are an extension of their family. The Luyben Music Company in Kansas City has provided a large selection of sheet music for more than 50 years and has become a very important part of...
Barbara Gard and Catherine Poruba are the only children of former NAMM CEO William Gard (1915-1987). Mr. Gard’s legacy is strongly remembered and archived by the people who worked with him over his long career. His daughters added vital background facts and family stories behind the man who built...
Catherine Poruba and Barbara Gard are the only children of former NAMM CEO William Gard (1915-1987). Mr. Gard’s legacy is strongly remembered and archived by the people who worked with him over his long career. His daughters added vital background facts and family stories behind the man who built...
Helen Tozzi was hired to set up the accounting for a new music store that was opening in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Progressive Music opened in 1947 and Helen was there on opening day. She recalled Ed Garbit, the famous band director and founder of Progressive Music, as a warm and understanding man...