Music Works: A work in progress
By Jenn Marsh
“But dad, I promise I’ll practice. Really!”
The little boy looked up into his father’s eyes, pleading for that first electric guitar and the amp to match. The salesman looked on with one eyebrow cocked. Father looked to son and with a little sigh conceded.
“Let’s go see what your mother says.”
It was a slow Wednesday afternoon at Music Works, a locally owned and operated music store in the little mall at the corner of 200 East and Trailblazer Boulevard. The parking lot was about half full of patrons for the dentist office or the Little Harvard Academy. No one else was in the music store itself. It is right on the end of the mall, convenient for in-and-out shoppers.
The smell is unavoidable. Less than two steps inside the shop, an almost-pine smell assaults your nose, as if you’re standing next to a teenage boy who has yet to discover the correct application for body spray. The scent — black bamboo — might be pleasant, if it were not so overwhelming.
There are boxes stacked against the eastern wall, waiting for the soon-to-be-completed orchestral room.
“We get people who come in all the time asking why we don’t have cellos or violins,” said Laurie, one of the owners. “We do have them — out the ears! — but we haven’t had a place to put them. It’ll be nice when that room is ready.” For the moment, it can be difficult not to overlook the half-finished nature of the area.
But if you can tune out the smell and get used to the construction zone, there is a lot to like about this former warehouse. Rock plays gently from speakers above the soon-to-exist orchestra room. Though many of the physical aspects are changing, much of Music Works invokes nostalgia and tradition. They sell music, but they recognize that they sell to people.
“We do have a lot of regulars,” Laurie said. “We get really busy at back-to-school because both the kids and teachers are coming in for the new year, but we have a few that we see all the time.”
The main walls are forest green and dark lavender and filled with memorabilia. Old vinyls, no longer playable, pretend to be ceiling tiles above the door. Obscure album covers replace the wallpaper behind the cashier’s desk. An antique Italian accordion lays partially hidden behind the old display counter. Defunct brass sits on a shelf in the far corner. Posters for different brands — Yamaha, Ibanez, Omaha Ukuleles — lord over the highest points. There’s a painting of two purple flowers nestled into all the music paraphernalia. When asked about the piece, Laurie explained that it’s there to cover an ugly speaker.
This mix of nostalgia, creativity, and practically well encapsulates Music Works. Drum sets dominate the entry way with electric guitars on the western wall and sheet music in the back corner across from the repair station. Children from local schools can rent instruments from the store in stages, working their way up from a child’s violin to a full-sized one. Laurie boasts that they have the best musical selection in town.
In a mostly soundproof room full of acoustic guitars, Aaron sat practicing. He’s a young man in his early 20s with a novelty button-up and a beanie. He bragged about how his dad and brother sold guitars and how he’s younger than most. He showed off the Taylor insignia on the wall and told me about how his brother is the youngest independent, certified Taylor salesman.
As he grabbed various instruments from the wall, showing how one has a richer tone and another a more comfortable edge, it was easy to see his knowledge and passion. His fingers flew through chords and progressions as he maintained his constant patter of brand names, technical terms, woods, string materials, shapes, sizes, prices, and colors. When I asked him about electric guitars, he took me out to the wall filled with neon greens, deep reds, and gradient blues while maintaining his stream-of-consciousness narrative about genres, fretboards, and amps.
Though it is a small store, Music Works has an impressive collection of instruments, including drums, ukuleles, recorders, microphones, and even a consigned baby grand piano. Their sheet music selection covers a range of instrument and music types, though the bulk of it is what local teachers prefer.
“In a store this size, we can’t carry everything,” Laurie explained. “It takes up too much room. We keep the most popular stuff, the stuff people come in looking for most often. Besides, if there’s something someone wants, we can get that for them too. We’ve been in the business a long time. I’ve been working here over 15 years. So, you get to know which suppliers will give you what deals and who will get you what in how much time.”
A young teen wandered into the store just ahead of his father. He walked up to the front desk and asks Laurie about his saxophone, which had been at Music Works for repair. She encouraged him to take it out of the case and hear for himself.
Apparently, this happens often. It’s not always people testing out repairs. Anyone can come in and try before they buy. Laurie told of a man last week who came into the store, plugged a display guitar into an amp, and spent an hour and a half banging out heavy metals hits. The week before that, she said, there was an obviously talented gentleman who plugged in only long enough to check sound quality.
“It’s like that,” Laurie said. “The best ones only play for a minute, and you’re just like ‘NO! Don’t stop! Come back!’”
As a music store, Music Works is everything you could wish it to be. From rentals to lessons and knowledgeable sales people, they are there to serve. Laurie is a nice lady who obviously cares about and wants to perpetuate music in a world that continues to devaluate the arts. She seems to have more of a head for business, though, and largely left Aaron to the sales floor, allowing him the space to pitch instruments or accessories as he deemed appropriate. Aaron walked with total confidence in his abilities and knowledge, working with both myself and that little boy’s father to get the right solutions. But when there was no one to sell to, they picked at each other.
Whenever Laurie would state an opinion or talk about what the store used to be, Aaron would jump in to correct or clarify her words. Though she never confronted him directly, Laurie seemed to resent the constant interruptions. She introduced herself as the owner of the store, but Aaron refused to acknowledge that claim, referring instead to his brother as the owner. I floundered in the middle of this subtle power struggle but have yet to find any information that would clarify the position of either side. Such jockeying is concerning for the longevity of the business, particularly as it undergoes some rather drastic changes.
Yet somehow, despite their sniping, they conveyed a warmth both for the store and for the other employees that work there. They spoke of their brass technician who played with the Dallas Brass, a famous brass quintet started by Micheal Levine in 1983, and Gary, their electronic technician who not only fixes microphones, amps, and keyboards but is working on repairing a Geiger counter from the 1960s. Laurie spoke of her son Rylin, a co-owner, and his brother Aaron. There didn’t seem to be much love lost between them, but they both clearly cared about the Music Works family.
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