OH Taxonomy
Wally Pikal may have been the only music retailers who played on the Johnny Carson Show! Wally opened his store, Wally Pikal Music, in Hutchinson, Minnesota in 1964. Up to that time he had been a sought-after bandleader and trumpeter in and around the Midwest. One of his tricks, that got the...
Herb Holt has thoroughly enjoyed his life in music, both as a musician and as a sales rep! In 1968 he formed the Music Marketing Company to represent the Ovation Guitar line in Minnesota. The company quickly expanded to cover a long list of products for retail stores Herb called on in and around...
Mike Olsen has worked in the very shop his grandfather established right after World War II to make parts for band instrument makers in and around his hometown of Elkhorn, Wisconsin. At one point, after Mike joined the company full time after high school, three generations were working together. ...
Larry Seaver spent decades designing, engineering and producing parts, instruments and tools for band and orchestras. The key to his success was simple, Larry was an engineer’s engineer! He was always thinking about ways to better a process or improve an instrument. Over his career in the music...
Ella Jenkins earned the title The First Lady of Children's Folk Songs and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for her dedication to bringing music to children. She began collecting and writing folk songs as a summer camp counselor, which years later tied nicely with her college studies of child...
Niclas Luthman has a long history in the music industry. Beginning in 1989 at a NAMM show, Niclas started his distribution company by "accidentally" taking on the M-Audio line for Scandinavia (the original business was to develop software and accessories for synthesizers). Niclas built on this...
Sue Collier-Lewis played piano as a young girl and loved singing, a passion that has continued with her all throughout her career as a music teacher and music advocate. After earning her master’s degree in music education she opened her own studios, which lead to her relationship with the Yamaha...
Lester Abrams is the songwriter who teamed up with Michael McDonald to pen the Doobie Brothers hit "Minute by Minute." As a teenager and playing drums, Lester's first band was the El Doradoe. He later switched to keyboard and after playing with a few other bands landed in the innovative band...
Duncan Moore moved to San Diego from Iowa in 1977 and quickly established himself as the go to drummer for gigs and sessions. Playing with all the top names in San Diego, including Peter Sprague, Jaime Valle, Mark Dresser, and Mundell Lowe, Duncan shows a rhythmic drive that supports and pushes...
Peter Sprague smiled as the audience at the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California continued their applause. It was one of many performances that month in mid-2012 for Peter, but a special one to those who heard music in a different way. Peter’s career is filled with...