By By JESSICA SIEFF / Niles Daily Star
NILES – Opening the door to Chuck Day's Music Center at 48 N. St. Joseph Ave. leads to more than a place that fosters musical education. It is a trip into a musical history – all of which has taken place right here, in Niles.
Music books fill the right side of the store's entrance. Accessories for a variety of instruments hang from the walls. It's a small corridor – but every inch of space is filled, covered … stocked.
Guitars are everywhere. They are poised behind glass cases in the living room, lining the walls near the television, hanging from hooks in the office off to the right. There are other instruments as well, sitting in cases atop shelves in a neat row.
Linda Jaroch, who runs the music center, could play any of the instruments in the store if needed. Trained as a band director during time spent at Michigan State University, she can play 21 instruments in all. "Music is just my life," she says. And it is.
Jaroch's father, Charles Day, started this music center in 1962. It was originally located at 211 N. Second St. In those days, on the streets of Niles "everything was full and there were no empty stores," Jaroch, said. "We were all just mom and pops … scraping our way."
Jaroch was 16, armed with a teaching certificate from the Sherwood School of Music and had 15 students of her own. Her father taught 80 students each week and her mother taught 50. Lessons were $2 per half-hour lesson.
She has a welcoming demeanor making it easy to imagine her students returning over the years, following her careful instruction, listening carefully to make sure they did exactly what they were told. It's easy to imagine they went on to become skilled musicians. What isn't, is just how many children and adults alike have been touched by Jaroch and her parents through the power of music.
"I was raised with it," Jaroch said. She began learning to play piano at age five. "I just never got out of it," she continued. "I love it. I love it still today. I love helping people learn music."
For those not quite familiar with the world of frets and notes and time and rhythm, it can be difficult to keep up with Jaroch. She weaves them in and out of her regular speech. Musical terms roll off her tongue with ease as she explains the specialized services the center offers like specialized repair and upkeep for guitars.
It's easy to see that Jaroch is 'old school'. She cares for instruments in a way far removed from the multi-million dollar industry. She knows just what gets the best sound out of a guitar, for instance. Just how the neck and strings should be. And she focuses on each instrument individually, as if the sound were the object's heartbeat. She's about quality not quantity.
And quality is something that has seen its share of changes in the 46 years Chuck Day's Music Center has been in business. The mindset of students is one of those changes.
"Parents need to set better priorities," Jaroch said. Students today don't practice as much, they suffer from learning disabilities that hamper their ability to focus or progress and Jaroch said the parents aren't supervising them enough.
Jaroch believes the study of music is extremely beneficial for children. "It teaches an eye, ear, hand and foot coordination that nothing else does," she said. It changes, "the way children learn and the way they study."
At the music center, Jaroch still teaches 35 students. And throughout the week there are other instructors that handle even more students at the center. "I send students to other teachers in the area too," Jaroch said. Because she'll do whatever it takes to bring music into someone's life.
Well … almost whatever it takes.
Jaroch's home is relatively busy when she sits down to discuss the history of the music center, her experiences in the world of music. During that time, her son Chuck appears from time to time and every so often jokes with his mother. Her eyes – framing her smile – sparkle as she says he hasn't quite forgiven her for not letting him tour with a band that made it big years ago.
Which band was that?
"Motley Crue," he said.
The band had been playing in South Bend at the Joyce ACC when some drumsticks had been stolen. The music center opened up especially to help them, and Jaroch said the band bought more than just drumsticks. Later, Chuck, who was 16 at the time, was invited to go on the road, but Jaroch said no.
The rock band wasn't the only brush with fame the Chuck Day Music Center has had in its lifetime.
"Johnny Cash used to call once in a while," Jaroch said. "And tried to buy my dad's guitar."
She doesn't gloat about such things. Jaroch tells her stories with pure enthusiasm and appreciation for what the gift of music has given her and her family. And she shows the same measure of enthusiasm and appreciation for her students and her customers.
"My customers are like my family," she said. "If it's not good enough for my family, it's not good enough for my customers…. A lot of people just don't have that dedication in this day and age."
"I teach and do what I do because I love it so much," she said. "I was going to shut the store down," she said. But she changed her mind. "I get very antsy just sitting. I need to be busy."
And she has been. In addition to running the business, Jaroch and her late husband were foster parents to 38 children. And she still goes from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. each day.
And when she looks into the future…she sees a time to rest for herself…maybe in 10 years or so, she said. When her granddaughter is old enough to take over.
Because in that house – the music never stops.
For questions about lessons, instruments or accessories, call the Chuck Day Music Center at 683-8113.