A local shop has been giving music lessons to the Boyertown community for over 20 years.
One of Barry Bachman’s first jobs was at Green’s Music Shop, a three story building on South Reading Avenue that opened in 1947. His dream was to teach music, but never did he guess that one day he would acquire his own music shop right across the street, almost two decades later.
Today, he continues to run Bachman’s Music Shop and teaches students a wide variety of instruments – everything from guitar to flute, saxophone, and violin. While there’s plenty of equipment for sale, Bachman especially enjoys sharing his passion for music with his students.
“I’ve seen kids find themselves. They discover their identity through music or through an instrument. Sometimes they will just identify with the guitar or the saxophone, and it’s really something to see,” he said.
Bachman grew up in Boyertown and later studied guitar at Berkley School of Music in Boston. While living there, he eventually became a mental health therapist. Bachman returned to Boyertown in 1988 due to rising rent in the city, and asked his former teacher Willard Green if he could help teach at his shop a few nights a week on the side. Green explained that he was thinking about retiring, and offered Bachman the business.
“I always wanted to do what I wanted to do since I was 14 working downstairs at the music store, and that’s teach music lessons.”
At the time, the shop was in the back of Floyd’s Insurance Company, which no longer exists, on Philadelphia Avenue next to the Grill Shop. However Bachman’s store moved around town three times before it found its current home. He first moved into the building at the intersection of Washington Street and Philadelphia Avenue but later moved around the corner into the shop which is currently the Book Nook.
“When I got to the store out front, that’s when I started to eventually do it full time. I quit my job and started doing the music store all the time.”
Bachman moved to his current location on South Reading Avenue in 2000. Bachman mentioned the old landlord had started raising prices, so he decided it would be a better idea to own his own building instead. Business grew rapidly after he bought shop on Reading Avenue, and his student count rose from 160 to 220, as well as five other teachers who he hired over the years.
As his business grew, Bachman’s developed a philosophy of teaching his students, Many of them being school age, he worked to get them interested in music itself rather than its superficial aspects.
“Some kids get interested in music or guitar because they want learn how to play ‘Smoke on the Water.’ Then they sign up for lessons and come in, but they’re not ready to play ‘Smoke on the Water.'” he said, “I try to get them interested in learning music, not just learning how to play a song or whatever.”
Times got tough for Bachman after the 2008 recession hit. He explained how a large number of his students graduated high school, and there weren’t many young students coming to replace them.
“More and more people began to lose their jobs, and that’s when lessons were not as much of priority.”
Bachman said that the growth of China-made instruments and the advent of the internet has made it harder for the small shop to make as much of a profit. He was forced not only to sell instruments at lower prices, but also had to accept the idea of people buying instruments on the internet. He mentioned that most people only come to his store to buy a few picks or some strings, not guitars or amps.
“I think the manufacturers put this stuff online, and cut out the middleman completely. That’s the only way they can sell them at such low prices. I’m turning into a music convenience store – that’s what music shops are turning into.”
To combat the economic downturn, Bachman has taken up a second job and now works two days a week at an alternative school. He returns to Boyertown in the evenings to teach lessons.
Despite the setback, things have been looking up. The shop has experienced a steady growth of student numbers. To advertise his shop, he mentioned he is planning on contacting a company that sends out postcards to families in the area that promote small businesses.
“I was trying to think of something different. It’s been steady, but it hasn’t been growing as much. I need to shake things up a bit,” he said.
During Small Business Saturday on Nov. 26, consumers have the opportunity to support businesses in the community like Bachman’s Music Shop.
“It’s the dedication. This is what I do, if I wanted to do anything else, I would. But this is what I decided I was going to do, and I’ll stick with it until the bitter end.”
