OH Taxonomy
Darren Speir often reflects back on the Texas music store his uncle and his father opened. His father was a piano technician and helped build the store's customer list based on his attention to detail and the care he put into each piano tuning and repair. After working in his father's piano store...
This video is of our annual NAMM Tribute, created in honor of our members and music industry friends who passed away in 2016 and early 2017. This Tribute was shown for the first time at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California in January 2017. All moving images within this video, indicate those who...
John Carpanini worked side by side with Robert Wilson at Sound Technology for just over 18 years. Perhaps considered a baptism of fire? The job was John’s introduction to the industry and one that grew with love and passion for music. John is a talented guitar player and has studied music for many...
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...
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...
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...
Robbie Robertson was a member of the rock group The Band, which backed Bob Dylan and went on to record a string of hit songs, many of which Robbie wrote. During his NAMM Oral History interview, Robbie talked about the music stores he visited as a kid and his delight in going to Manny's Music in...
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...
Abraham Wechter grew up listening to Yiddish music and took both piano and violin lessons as a kid. He used to sneak a transistor radio under his pillow at night and listen to underground rock radio stations. His passion for building guitars came about when he was in a music store and looked into...
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...