Oral History - all
Angela Koregelos grew up playing the flute and taking lessons from her father, George Koregelos. George owned his own retail store and Angela has fond memories of working alongside her father. George also founded Koregelos Flutes, as well as HW Products. Angela went on to study flute at the New... more
Sarah Hagan wanted to play the drums more than anything when she was young. After asking so many times, her parents finally agreed and got her a snare drum and signed her up for lessons. Sarah loved every minute of playing the drums, and would even skip recess during elementary school to receive... more
Stu Cohen grew up playing the clarinet, and took lessons for close to eight years. In the early 1950s, Stu listened mostly to country music on the radio, just because it was the only station that his radio would pick up. When he was in college, Stu got into country music even more, and started... more
David Bergstrom spent 10 years studying classical guitar, and even traveled to Spain to study under André Segovia. Upon returning to the United States, David found a career in the music products industry working for Kaman Music Corporation as the manager of artist relations - a job he kept for 18... more
Bruce Pearson developed his own methods of teaching students music, which became the center of his three successful book series for Kjos Music Publishing. He taught music in the public schools in Minnesota for over thirty years and began making note of what students at each level could and couldn'... more
Music Stores are the first glimpse into the music industry for many of us, and often ignite the passion to play. This compilation from the Oral History archives features memories of music stores from industry greats such as John R. Smith, Jerry Harrison, Brian Setzer, John Scofield, B.B. King, and... more
Christopher Parks is the CEO of Quilter Laboratories, LLC. His first introduction to music was when he joined the school choir at a young age. This alone pushed Christopher to pursue a career in music after serving in the Marine Corps. He would eventually go on to get a job at QSC as an electronics... more
Harold Owens has always had a passion for music throughout his life, but has also struggled with addiction. After entering recovery and basically starting his life over, Harold wanted to give back to the people that helped him, and help others that were in the same situation he was. He went back to... more
Thomas Nordegg is originally from Vienna, Austria, and when he heard The Beatles for the first time, he knew that he wanted to be in the music industry. In 1972, Thomas moved to the United States and worked as a guitar tech. Since then, he has worked for legendary artists such as Frank Zappa,... more
Terry Lawless is an expert at all things MIDI. When the language first came out, it was hard for most people to learn and especially difficult to program. However, Terry, who had just completed both a math and music degree, was very comfortable with MIDI and used his skills to help program for acts... more
Billy Klein is a co-founder of Hybrid Studios in Santa Ana, California. He got into the music industry the way most of us do - playing in a band and experimenting with recording. He then went on to receive a recording arts degree from Loyola Marymount University, as well as various internships... more
Basilios Strmec grew up in Vienna and was exposed to piano music at an early age. While learning many different languages, he studied business in college and went to work for Xerox. After a few years, when a friend suggested to him to apply for an opening with a piano company, Basilios jumped at... more
Christan Griego grew up surrounded by music. In fact, he did not have a television in his home as a child, but did have a piano! While in the school band during the sixth grade, Christan began playing the trombone, where his love of band and orchestra instruments began. As a child Christan visited... more
Paul Nelson was playing guitar behind his friend and musical hero, Johnny Winter, when a friendship developed. The two became musical partners, wrote songs and gigged together over the years. When Johnny had difficulty getting sober, it was Paul who stepped up to help his friend during a... more
Percy Bady grew up surrounded by gospel, thanks largely to the fact his father was a minister. Since he was six years old, Percy expressed his feelings through music, especially in church. Playing the piano and later organ and keyboards, Percy found another passion in writing music, which has... more
Ed Gerhard knew that there was something special about playing the guitar when he heard Andrés Segovia play on TV when he was 10 years old. He took a few lessons from a music store but learned most of his beginning skills from one of his neighbors. Ed has a unique playing style - combining the... more
Jerry Michelsen started playing the piano when he was four years old. His father worked for the Federal Aviation Agency, so Jerry moved many times during his childhood, but never stopped taking piano lessons. He went on to study classical piano at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music in Milwaukee,... more
Roy Good, like many, was first influenced by The Beatles when they came over to the United States as part of the British Invasion. After finishing school, Roy took as many college music classes as he could from composition to vocal ensembles. He took his passion for music further when he accepted a... more
Jack Hill was introduced to music at a very young age as his uncle was a professional musician. Jack started taking guitar lessons at eight years old, which he paid for himself with the money he made from his paper route. He started playing with older musicians and got quite a few gigs early on. At... more
Barbara Honig found out about the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music when she joined their New Horizons band - a band that offers learning new instruments and playing in a concert band setting to adults. After playing some percussion in the band, and then switching to the clarinet, Barbara... more