OH Taxonomy
Steve Shelokhonov was born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and was classically trained on the piano. As a teenager and young adult, Steve played in underground rock clubs in Russia before moving to the United States. He began writing music and attending the NAMM Shows where he was exposed to...
Christian Wissmuller began playing the violin at the age of four, encouraged by his classically trained guitarist father and vocalist mother. Christian went on to learn other instruments and continues to play in several bands. Along the way, he earned a degree in English and Journalism at Boston...
Chris Martirano started working for Kurzweil Music Systems in 1986. For the first few years he was on the sales side of the equation, originally the district sales manager for the northeastern U.S., then promoted to regional manager for all states east of the Mississippi River in 1988. Later he...
David Battino majored in philosophy at Oberlin, but found his epiphany in the college’s electronic music studios. Suddenly it was possible to create both the instruments and the music, and he began writing to share that excitement with readers around the world. He joined Keyboard Magazine in 1994,...
Mathew Schirado can tell you the first music store he ever entered. As a kid he went into Eckroth Music in Bismarck, North Dakota, with his parents when he first joined the school band. When he was 18 he returned to purchase some reeds and saw a job opening, which he pursued. Beginning on a part-...
Jeff Fair, the multi-instrumentalist, sound designer, and music producer, specializes in creating soundtracks for movies, TV, and movie trailers. Forbes magazine credited Jeff and his wife Starr Parodi for “reinventing the modern action movie trailer” with their arrangement, production, and...
Honoring Larry Morton for his invaluable service in assisting the NAMM Resource Center in obtaining fantastic interview contributions to the NAMM Oral History Program. This video contains some of the highlight interviews that Larry helped us gather over the years. Thank you, Larry!
Rene Flores grew up in a culturally rich family and began playing upright bass in grade school. His parents, both from Cuba, encouraged Rene to follow his musical passion. By the time he was in high school he was playing in six bands, including the stage band for which he played the electric bass....
Jim Semeizer started playing saxophone when he was a kid and went on the road with the Les Brown Orchestra in 1962 for two and a half years. He learned repairs from his father, who was a watchmaker. The mechanics of instruments came easy to Jim and provided a career path. That career was put on...
Jeff Falgien’s passion for the piano and organ can be traced back to the age of six. Before he was a teenager, Jeff was hired to play in front windows of mall music stores to generate interest among the shoppers (this was called front pumping). Over the years he worked for a number of music stores...