Lessons, Sales & Service Since 1986
 

Welcome to my Autobiography Section - A Work In Progress!

I grew up in a suburb of Boston.  Started violin at 4 in a branch of the New England Conservatory of Music with the Suzuki Method.  Fell in love with fiddling at the age of 10 and started demanding to learn fiddle music since.  Parents wanted me to finish my classical education, so I stuck with it until 18 when I went to Hampshire College and started studying Ethnomusicology, and Music Therapy.

I grew up in a very outdoorsy family.  We were members of the AMC and Audubon Society, so I spent just about every weekend tramping the trails of Drumlin Farm in Lincoln, MA or in Maine hiking the Appalachian trail, or at my Grandma's farm in Sullivan, NH.  Vacations every year were on MT Desert Island in Maine.  I worked there my final year of High School.  I did Outward Bound Hurricane Island at the age of 18, where I learned to sail and survival skills.

Since college, I've done a lot of things.  Worked for Bread & Circus as the Beer, Wine & Cheese Manager, did Sales Management and IT for Dr Hauschka Cosmetics USA, was NSM for Herbs for Kids in Bozeman, MT; webmaster of Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music and the Keene Chamber Orchestra, eventually starting my own consulting biz to work on a contract basis with a variety of interesting clients including Stamell Strings, Chef Drew, Wise Ways Herbals, Tree Free Greetings, Gold's Gym (now the Leading Edge), the Amherst Chamber of Commerce, and many more.

 

Performance Experience

I was the principal violist of the Five College Symphony Orchestra, the principal violist of the Pioneer Valley Symphony Orchestra, Valley Light Opera and Keene Chamber Orchestra.  I've played with Maple Ridge, Swift River, Crackerjack, Woodkerne, Celticado, Crossing the Pond, Fiddle Hill, Klezamir and Yiddishkeit Klezmer. 

I've been all over the world performing music including Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, South Korea, China, and Egypt.  Visit my Portfolio page to see pictures, videos and listen to recordings

Retail & Violin Shop Experience

My first job in retail music was working part time at a repair shop in Amherst while I was in college.  I learned a lot about how much things really cost and what labor value adds to the cost of retail items.  It was also an introduction into concepts like overhead, markup, profit margins, and what the market will bear.  In 1986, I became manager of the Wine & Cheese department at Bread & Circus in Hadley.  I learned about purchasing, sourcing, contracts and negotiations.  I learned also that the customer is NOT always right, indeed they are often way out of line.  But, a foot in the door is worth more than a hundred on the sidewalk, so you learn how to work around the difficult customers.

My second job in retail music was as Sales Manager of Stamell Stringed Instruments in Amherst.  I sold violins, bows, cellos, violas, repairs, bow rehairs, rentals, sheet music and so on.  We had quite a comprehensive stock of instruments for sale, most on consignment, and a contract with Eastman Music for unfinished violins which Stamell would label as his own.  I learned more about sourcing, purchasing, inventory and music sales there.  Shortly after that, I started a company that imported horse tail hair for sale to violin shops worldwide with a silent partner out of Northampton.  The business did very well.  It took me to Europe, to Korea and eventually China on sourcing missions.  I sold it to a company in Keene, NH in 2009.

My shop consists mainly of items that are useful to my students including Accessories, Bows and a few instruments they can't find elsewhere.  I send all repairs to Downtown Sounds in Northampton or David Baker in Dummerston, VT.  Bow rehairs are performed by Jim Bunting in Enfield, CT.  I don't do any repairs here any more.

Find Me Online

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