OH Taxonomy
Frank Baxter is the proud founder of Piano World (PianoWorld.com). Having programed webpages in the early 1990s, Frank used his skill and his insight that the web would soon be growing, to create a platform for his business. As a piano technician, Frank found his online marketing very successful as...
Pete Langdell grew up in Northern Vermont and takes great pride in the fact that he has lived and worked in the same area his entire life. When he had an opportunity to establish his own musical instrument company, Rigel, making mandolins and guitars, he insisted the factory be located in Vermont. ...
Rob Juzek and his brother Adam are the owners of Metropolitan Music in Stowe, Vermont. The family business dates back to the very early 1900’s when his great uncle, John Juzek, began making violins. His brother, Rob’s grandfather, began selling the instruments and by 1920 their distribution company...
Adam Juzek recalls playing around in his father’s workshop as a kid. It never occurred to him to do anything other than working in the family business. As a result, Adam and his brother Rob, purchased the family business from their father in 2008. His family’s involvement in music goes back to the...
Gerry Labelle’s first musical instrument was the alto saxophone; later the tenor and soprano saxophone remained his main instruments, and he later played C Flute, piccolo & Alto flute. Gerry studied music with Frank Mella in Montreal, Canada. He has traveled across Canada and the United States...
Rick Peate recalled the story of how his family’s multi-generational music business began and developed. During his NAMM Oral History interview, Rick talked about his innovative grandfather, George Peate, who moved to Montreal from Utica, New York as a teenager and opened a music store in 1899....
Marc-Pierre Verge came to work on computer generated musical instruments by first studying acoustics. He and his colleagues at Applied Acoustics Systems used physical modeling to recreate the sounds of analog synthesizers and acoustic objects. When they released their first PC based products in...
Jacques Masson was just 15 years old when he began giving drum lessons at a local music store. He has been involved with teaching music ever since. As a player, Jacques was approached by Premier Drums to serve as an endorser in 1986, which served as his introduction into the music products industry...
Guy Desjardins was composing and arranging music as technology in musical instruments was changing. His adaptation of these developments resulted in his nickname of Mr. MIDI. He was hired as a clinician for Akai-Digital and helped with product development for Steinberg as well. Along the way, he...
Ralph Angelillo grew up inspired by Joe Morello. His dad was a bassist for big dance bands in the 1940s and '50s and his four brothers all played music. In 1961, at the age of 17, Ralph purchased his first Ludwig drum set, with money earned working as a busboy in local hotels. While working in the...