OH Taxonomy
William Demmers volunteered for the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music for over ten years. During that time he provided tours as a trained docent to guests of all ages. His own background in music was fascinating. As a teenager Bill played trumpet in a traveling big band in the Mid West,...
Dorothy Demmers was proud of the volunteer work she and her husband Bill provided the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music. For over a decade she gave her time and talents by providing tours of the museum to all ages of visitors. Dottie also helped run the museum store, created and managed the...
This video is of our annual NAMM Tribute, created in honor of our members and music industry friends who passed away in 2010 and early 2011. This Tribute was shown for the first time at the NAMM Show in Anaheim, California in January 2011.
Jack Ripperger was the director of marketing for the Hammond Organ Company for seven years, at the height of the home organ boom in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s. During his time in the industry Jack played a vital role in increasing the promotion of African-American musicians who...
Don Buchla grew up with a passion for music and a passion for engineering. When he combined the two loves, he created electronic musical instruments the world had never dreamed of before. His early synthesizer work parallels the similar work Robert Moog was doing on the East Coast while Don was...
Fred Walecki grew up in a musical family. His father was an expert on the violin who established a rare instrument dealership in Southern California back in 1946. Fred worked with his father until his passing in 1967, at which point Fred continued in the business. Fred’s focus in the industry was...
Trev Wilkinson began painting cars as a teenager and soon there after painted his own guitar, which started him on the road to guitar restoration and building. His long and fascinating interest in guitar design has resulted in many musical product innovations including the Wilkinson Brass Roller...
Marco Alpert has had a fascinating career in the music industry and lucky for the NAMM Oral History collection he shared many of his stories with us. Marco was an electronic music composer in Los Angeles when he happened to meet the two founders of E-mu. Marco was hired to promote the innovative...
Arnold Poppenberg was hired by the Winter Piano Company as a traveling salesman in 1959, the same year he attended his first NAMM Show. He remained with Winter for ten years, but went on to rep for several other piano companies in the industry making him one of the most successful piano travelers...
Hai Muradian sang in his Kindergarten class and soon realized he really wanted to be on the stage to entertain people. After singing and playing flute in rock bands as a teenager, Hai began working in the studios and touring with several bands for several years until he landed a job at a local...