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emember piano lessons? You wanted to play like, say, Billy Joel.So Mom got all excited, pushed the laundry off the old piano,signed you up for lessons and blocked out your calendar through

adolescence. Then in the time it took you to master scales and passablyrender Beethoven’s “Für Elise,” the Piano Man released two more albumsand married a supermodel. So you quit, just like half of all first-yearstudents do.

Well, forget all that. The husband-and-wife proprietors of a newpiano store in downtown Frederick are hoping to re-introduce the pianoto anyone who ever wanted to just sit and play, including all thosewayward souls who gave it up. Scales have their place, of course, butTheresa Shykind’s less conventional approach at Downtown Piano Works

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Balancing the Scales

By James Eppard Photography by Erick Gibson

Piano Store Mixes High-Tech,Tradecraft to Go Beyond Middle C

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is aimed squarely at getting students to play right out of thegate. Rather than advancing through regimens of rotesuffering, students learn to understand the music they areplaying and to break it down to its essential elements. Thenthe really fun part comes when they record a track of theirwork-in-progress on the Clavinova digital pianos, and thenorchestrate—again, on the keyboards—full-blown multi-instrument arrangements to accompany their pieces.

“I’m all about teaching people not to need a book and notto need me,” says Theresa, who with her husband Danopened their store/studio/recital hall on South Market Streetin downtown Frederick in early October. “Most people justwant to play music, to just sit down and play.”

HEART AND SOULTheresa, 39, has a long and esteemed track record ofteaching, most notably as head of the music program atBaltimore City College High School, a competitive college-prep magnet school that boasts its share of Nobel andPulitzer prize winners. Her own education includes amaster’s degree in musical composition and years of yeomanwork in New York City studios. She met Dan, 40, at JordanKitts Music, a large piano retailer, about six years ago andthe two salespeople hit it off. Dan, whose resume includesvery successful stints at a Fortune 500 company and anational retailer, loves the craftsmanship of fine pianos,whereas Theresa is all about the music.

“I like acoustics and construction,” says Dan, who couldbe talking about the 40 Yamaha showroom pianos displayedlike pieces of art, or the 14-foot tray ceilings and pleasinglythick 140-plus-year-old walls of their nearly 3,000-square-foot space. “Theresa,” Dan says, “is on the warmer end, theemotional end.”

It was Theresa’s playing that caught the attention of EricDelente, a father of two who poked his head in the storeduring a random stroll. “I was very impressed,” he recalls.They struck up a conversation that included his ownadmission that practicing piano is always a struggle, for himand for his kids who regard it as a chore.

Sold on what he called Theresa’s “more contemporaryapproach to pedagogy,” which also follows Yamaha’s own

Theresa Shykind, surrounded by her five-year-old students,teaches a group lesson in the piano lab. (Left to right) CharleyDodson, Broden Moran, Hayden Jones and Tom Haynosbecome acquainted with the piano and develop a sense ofrhythm with Theresa’s innovative approach.

Local composer and pianist Susan Dale kicks off Downtown Piano Works’ Local Artist Series, performing on the Elton JohnSignature Series Red Piano currently touring the country.

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Tom Haynos is eager to participate, but group lessons aregreat for shy children, too—quieter students prefer to sharethat often nerve-wracking spotlight.

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Keyboard Encounters program, Delente enrolled his sonChristoph, 12, and daughter Nicole, 10, in classes.

“She’s managed to get them interested in it, and now theylook forward to piano lessons,” he said. “She has a real knackfor relating to the kids.”

IMAGINEDan and Theresa agree that incorporating technology intolessons goes a long way toward keeping students interested.The ability to sample, compose and arrange music on adigital keyboard—then save your work on a thumb drive—beats 30 minutes of scales for all but the most hardenedtraditionalists.

In the store’s first week, 24 people signed up for classes,more than half of them adults. The classes alone are payingthe bills, Dan says, pleasantly acknowledging one of the fewsurprises in a very detailed business plan that includedswapping out light bulbs and building a Web sitethemselves to save money.

“I knew we’d sell pianos, but I didn’t know how peoplewould take to the lessons,” Dan said. “All our overhead ispaid by lessons.” Already they are interviewing to hire help.

The goal, of course, is to sell pianos, something Dan and Theresa know all about. For years they fantasized about opening a shop where they eventually did—a cornerstore that looks out onto a busy intersection where AbeLincoln once spoke. Until last June it was still just a fantasy—Dan was an operations executive and Theresa was home raisingtheir 2-year-old daughter Zoe. Then the Shykinds were offereda chance to sell Yamaha’s full line of pianos—grands, verticals,players and digitals—and they didn’t hesitate. Prices aren’tmarked, but they vary from about $1,500 to more than$40,000 for the tricked-out Disklavier Mark IV.

Friends have questioned their sanity, opening a store full ofpricey merchandise during a recession. Dan says motivatedbuyers across the economic strata will still make what amountsto a once-in-a-lifetime purchase. And musicians, Theresa jokes,typically “have no money anyway, so what’s the difference?”

In addition to showrooms, offices and a classroom, thestore at 74 S. Market includes a 50-seat recital hall whereperformances will be held on the first Saturday of everymonth. In early December, local artist Susan Dalechristened the hall with a performance on a limited-editionpiano, signed by Elton John, that is touring the country.

The event may bring in more people like Lea Allen, 53,of Frederick, who took lessons in high school but soon afterfell off the wagon. “It was always the same,” she said. “I wasover the recital thing. And I didn’t particularly like mypiano teacher.”

She’s taking private lessons with Theresa now, makingmore sense of the music. “There’s more logic to it,” shesays. “It’s not just reading the music. It’s understanding it.Feeling it.”

And clearly she likes her teacher now. Her lessons aresupposed to be for 30 minutes, she says, “but usually it runsover because we gab.” C

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Ten-year-old Nicole Delente concentrates on her music. Privatelessons include time for self-paced practice and improvisation.

Dan Shykind holds the “executive function” of the brainyDisklavier Mark IV (pictured on page 78). This “teaching”piano is the first product to win the Music Educator Award,usually given to a person.

Above, left: At the corner of Market and All Saints streets, Downtown Piano Works reflects growing revitalization south ofCarroll Creek. Above, right: Owners Dan and Theresa Shykind have composed a business plan that promises to play on.

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