OH Taxonomy
Lauri Knapton is the founder of Knapton Musik Knotes in Janesville, Wisconsin. The store, which was established in 2000, provides musical instruments, lessons, and a long list of community outreach programs such as Rock Camp and Uke Circles. Lauri has been passionate about music since she began...
Sigrun Jantzen has been playing piano and cello since her childhood and holds a Ph.D. in History of Fine Arts. She has also worked for a book publisher which focuses on classical music books. In 2012, Sigrun was hired as the Head of Sales by G. Henle Publishers in Germany. The company was...
Matt Keiser was strongly encouraged to play music as a child, after all his father is composer and music publisher, Lauren Keiser! Matt played bass in high school and began taking a strong interest in his father’s career as a leader in the music publishing industry. In 2012, Lauren purchased...
Alex Ordonez was eight years old when he began playing the piano. He was the first in his family to play music and was encouraged by his parents. Although he later focused his time on sports, Alex somehow knew his love of music would be part of his future. It was after serving in the United States...
Chuck Neitzel joined Deering Banjo in January 1979 having previously been a woodworker with antique furniture. Chuck also brought with him a deep respect and passion for bluegrass music, which he had followed and played since he was a young man. Working closely with Greg Deering in the early days...
Ron Blair was the original bassist for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, bringing to the group his understanding of the blues and his skills on the electric bass. The band was formed in 1976 and Ron stayed on until 1982 when he took a twenty-year hiatus. He returned to the band in 2002 and stayed on...
Mark Kiesel is the President of Kiesel Guitars in Escondido, California and the son of Lowell Kiesel, the founder of Carvin Guitars. When his father began making guitars in the 1930s, it was with the Kiesel name. However, he stopped using the family name when he established Carvin Guitars in the...
Bruce Howze is the founder of Community Professional Loudspeakers, which he established in 1968 after being asked to provide sound for such venues as the Electric Factory in Philadelphia. Bruce designed the first midrange sound system and later toured with rock and roll bands to test out his...
Paul Peace holds several patents on the cinema side of professional audio having worked with IMAX on and off for nearly 20 years. One of his many exciting projects was creating the sound for the Back to the Future ride at Universal Studios in Hollywood. He continued to focus on cinema audio when he...
Fred Oster was encouraged by his cousin to play the guitar as a youngster, which quickly expanded to include playing the mandolin and the five string banjo. By the time Fred was playing banjo, during the height of the folk music movement of the early 1970s, he was hooked! He soon had the idea of...