OH Taxonomy
Kris Kjeldgaard finished her degree with a music major and a minor in business and went job seeking. She was not sure what the direction of her career would take and in fact, looking back, did not see what was to come. She interviewed for a job at Roper Music and soon was hired. She tried her hand...
Patrick Jacobson, along with his friends and fellow Roper Music employees Seth Strickland and Kris Kjeldgaard, became owners of the store in 2019. Their mentor and teacher, John Handley, who purchased the store from Mr. Roper, taught all three of them the fine art of instrument repair and wanted...
Seth Strickland had a wonderful grade school music teacher who was a great inspiration for him. Seth played saxophone throughout high school and in the jazz band. He later performed in a local blues band and whenever he needed a reed or a repair, he always went to Roper Music in Grand Junction,...
Tom Pooton was not yet a teenager when he began taking guitar lessons. A year later, with the support of his mother, Tom attended a Gibson clinic where he connected with some of the employees. They later invited young Tom to attend the NAMM Show in Chicago, where he fell in love with the music...
Roby Turner moved to Las Vegas as a teenager and soon embraced the rich and diverse musical landscape of the city. He played for a number of groups, big and small, in dives, bars and showrooms all around the city. He soon learned the names of bar owners and convinced them to hire musicians to play...
Jim Mason played trumpet as a kid, landing his first professional gig in a Polka band when he was 13. He saved his money to attend college and during the summers, Jim began selling pianos, which was a great experience for him. In 1995, along with his friend Scott Groseclose, Jim opened Family Music...
Pat Emmett has had a whirlwind of a musical career! He began playing trombone in junior high school and even took lessons while serving in the US Navy. After earning a degree at North Texas University in their jazz program, Pat hit the road with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, which at that time was...
Doug Beck was hired in the keyboard department at Manny’s Music on the famous 48th street in New York City. The street was lined with musical instrument stores and while Doug worked there the industry enjoyed the synthesizer boom and the introduction of MIDI. In the 1990s Doug was a Korg product...
Cosmo Watts is a multi-talented musician and songwriter who played an important role in the music products industry as a sound designer, synthesizer programmer and music teacher. Growing up in a home surrounded by music, his father was close friends with big band vibraphonist Red Norvo. Cosmo began...
Joyce Meekins is a pioneering woman piano technician who has sought every opportunity she can find to encourage young women to join the profession. She has served as President of the Washington, DC Chapter of the Piano Technicians Guild three times and in the process helped develop the group into a...