OH Taxonomy
Dale Wentworth put himself through college by teaching music lessons in the back of his father’s lighting store Kelowna, British Columbia. After finishing college, Dale realized that his lessons along with some instrument sales were surpassing the income of his father’s business. He sat down with...
Jay Wanamaker found his passion for music as a member of a drum and bugle corps and eventually honed his skills while attending the Crane school of music at SUNY Potsdam University in Potsdam, New York. After completing a graduate degree program at the University of Kansas, Jay took a job at Alfred...
Brad Townsend always had a love for music and remembers growing up with music all around him. He opened a retail music store/lesson studio and also had an extensive career at Fender Musical Instruments for 18 years. While at Fender Brad dealt with domestic and international sales as well as...
Summer Pittman began taking piano and voice lessons at Contemporary Music Center when she was seven years old. After studying with many teachers, Summer also started playing guitar. She helped her father with designing that layout of the store, and focused on bringing a vibe to the rooms, and...
Mark Gooday is the founder/owner of Ashdown Engineering. As a young bass player in England, Mark idolized the tone and style of John Entwistle of The Who and wanted more sound from the bass amps he was using. He approached Trace Elliot and helped make their amplifiers sound bigger for less money. ...
Tommy Emmanuel played bass to his brother's lead guitar as a kid and knew playing music was his calling. Tommy has become a world renown player and songwriter who realized early on the importance of finding the perfect guitar. For him, the best guitar is the one that you can't put down, the one...
Andy Allen established the custom shop within the Maton Guitar Company in Melbourne, Australia. The company was created by Bill May back in 1946 along with the help of his brother Reg. Since that time, the company has built a respected reputation around the world for acoustic and electric guitars. ...
Mike Henry was born in Los Angeles, CA and studied drums with Mel Zelnick at Mel's store, The Music Stop. When he was older, Mike toured all over the US, Canada, and Japan, eventually settling in Houston where he performed with some of the cities' best musicians. After working for Keith Kanekey's...
Larry Erny began working with his father when he was a very young boy, emptying trash and sweeping the floors in the store and traveling with him as he set up and created school band programs and music instruments all over Louisiana. Larry's dad was the first music teacher in the state and saw the...
Frank D'Arcangelo grew up in a house that always had music playing. He has memories of his parents record collection and large stereo system that seemed to always be playing. He took to the drums and grew up in an area with a vast amount of resources for musicians. In his oral history interview,...