to include live sound mixing and professional audio pioneers, such as Al Schmitt and George Massenburg, whose involvement with professional audio equipment and recording studios has helped the industry grow. The Oral History Collection Milestones The NAMM Oral History Collection was also proud to add the first female to the collection in 2001 with the addition of music retailer, Luella Derwin. The first international interview occurred in 2001 and was with Ikutaro Kakehashi, who sat down multiple other times for follow-up interviews. Later, the depth of the international collection was expanded with the addition of interviews with Mr. and Mrs. Tom Lee of Tom Lee Music in Hong Kong. These interviews expanded the collection into a diverse, global representation of the music products industry, which now includes over a thousand music makers and industry leaders from around the world. These include Tommy Roe, Clifford Cooper, founder of the Orange Music Electronic Company, Hirotaka Kawai, a key figure in the Kawai Musical Instruments Manufacturing Company, Vera May, who is associated with Maton, Emily Achieng Akuno, a president for the International Music Council, and Tsutomu Katoh, co-founder of Korg. 1st: Bill Walden, professional harmonica player was interviewed in March 2000 100th: Seymour Duncan, Seymour Duncan founder was interviewed in July 2002 500th: Danny Rocks, music publisher was interviewed in July 2005 1,000th: Dennis Houlihan, Roland Corp. president was interviewed in June 2008 2,000th: Tom Schmitt, Schmitt Music president was interviewed in January 2013 3,000th: Chick Corea, jazz musician and music advocate was interviewed in August 2016 4,000th: Helen Meyer, Meyer Sound Laboratories co-Founder was interviewed in August 2019 5,000th: Kevin McGinty, audio engineer for the Grand Ole Opry was interviewed September 2022 The NAMM Oral History Service Award The NAMM Oral History Service Award was established in 2011 and recognizes the major contributions of those who have been interviewed themselves and who have strongly supported the program by providing historical context and suggesting others to be included. The award is presented at the NAMM Show each year by the NAMM CEO and the NAMM Music Historian. The list of winners is as follows: 2011: George Gruhn 2012: Keith Mardak 2013: Dennis Houlihan 2014: Jim Funada 2015: Madeline Crouch 2016: Ernie Lansford 2017: Craig Smith 2018: Bernie Capicchiano 2019: Harold “Hap” Kuffner 2020: Robert Wilson 2021: Gerhard Meinl 2022: Larry Morton References External links Oral history Music history