Toot Your Own Horn with Benny Romero (Episode 23)

It’s not too often you find someone getting into the music industry where generations before have not proceeded him. But not for Benny Romero. No one In Benny’s immediate family even played a musical instrument. It was a couple of generations back, in fact, before he could find anyone interested in the arts in his family at all. And yet, it took just one ‘let’s try all the band instruments’ open house night- which any music store of quality will let you do- come in and see what instrument you like. Well, for Benny that happened in 7th grade- kind of late- but not too late to fall in love with the clarinet. It was the need for its repair and the cost, and a band director that saw his spark, who switched him from his pawn shop Bundy, in sorry shape, to a school bass clarinet. That support sealed Benny’s love forever of the clarinet family of instruments. From high school into college, Benny took the scholarship he was offered to become a band director. But something happened to his health along the way and he didn’t quite finish. And frankly, Benny also couldn’t see himself standing in front of the kids on a podium. It just wasn’t for him. But he still loved to play the clarinet and after a little bit of time in the automotive industry, applied and landed a job working at a national music chain. It was there he learned some basic repair that sure came in handy when he got a promotion into school service- which happened pretty quickly. Once Benny started to call on band directors, who always had something in need of repair, Benny saw how he had some of the skills to help them keep kids engaged and learning to play like his band director did for him once. It was when Benny met Bruce Marking, former head of woodwind repair for Buffet Crampon, that totally sparked his curiosity about a career as a woodwind technician. Lucky for both of us, Lisa’s Clarinet Shop launched our introductory repair class and Benny was in Year 1 in the inaugural class with Bruce Marking at the helm. Much to our surprise, Benny stayed with it and went on to learn Clarinet, Saxophone and Flute with us. Now, almost 5 years later, he is using those skills every day at Songbirds Music, Art, and Dance Center in Oviedo Florida. Having helped grow it from the ground up, and now able to complete repairs for the directors he calls on, Benny is just getting warmed up doing the things he loves to do. Take a listen to this episode and learn how someone falls in love with school service in the music industry. Benny Romero loves the industry and always has. He especially loves music and believes its something anyone can enjoy. His story about how he got a parent to start to play not one but two instruments, will warm your heart. But then again, when your with Benny you can’t help but love music because of how much he does.