Disclaimer: This is transcribed using AI. Expect (funny) errors.
Mindy Peterson: [00:00:00] I’m Mindy Peterson, and this is Enhance Life with Music, where we explore the ways music makes our lives better. Today we are talking about a tool that you probably have at your disposal, but you may not realize it. This resource is probably at work, behind the scenes in your community, making lives better and probably offers opportunities to enhance your life with music directly. If you just take a simple step or two to become aware of these opportunities. We are talking about your local music store, which exists in many of our communities. I work for one of these incredible local music stores. I work for Schmitt Music, a fifth generation family owned store that is headquartered in the Minneapolis Saint Paul metro area and has stores in several states in the Midwest and also in Colorado. Before I started working here at Schmitt a couple of years ago, I was familiar with the store just by being a piano teacher in the area. I would buy piano music at Schmitt and heard their name frequently at our state music teacher events, and Schmitt was always mentioned in some sort of collaborator or sponsor role, but did not realize the full extent of the store’s involvement or all that it offered to the community. Until I started working here.
Mindy Peterson: [00:01:23] And once I started working here and really realized all that the that Schmitt does, I thought, Wow, other people would like to know about this, about Schmitt, and also about whatever local music stores in their area. And certainly each independent music store will be different. But hopefully by hearing one store’s story and offerings, you will be inspired to check out your own local music store and become aware of what is probably a hidden gem right in your own backyard. Music stores are usually staffed by musicians who are amazing at making music and improving their communities through music, but they don’t necessarily always tooth their own horns figuratively or advertise all of the incredible things that they’re doing and the opportunities that they offer, partly out of humility and partly because they’re busy doing what they do best, which is making music and enhancing lives with music. So I am here to toot the horn for them today and uncover these treasures so that you can fully enjoy the resources in your area. Joining me today are my colleagues here at Schmitt Music. We have with us today CEO Peter Schmitt. We have CFO Ted Schmitt and VP of Sales, Jeremiah Babcock. Welcome, all three of you, to Enhance Life with music.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:02:50] Great. Thanks for having us, Mindy.
Mindy Peterson: [00:02:52] And I should probably have each of you just introduce yourself and say, you know, Hello, your name, just so people can recognize your voices for when you talk here in our conversation. Pete, do you want to go first?
Peter Schmitt: [00:03:04] Sure. Yeah. Thanks, Mindy, for having us. My name is Peter Schmitt. I am the fifth generation CEO of Schmitt Music. My father stepped out almost exactly two years ago. My two year anniversary as CEO is coming up on the 29th of July, so just in the next ten days. But that’s great to be here and looking forward to the conversation.
Mindy Peterson: [00:03:26] Awesome, Ted.
Ted Schmitt: [00:03:27] Yes. Ted Schmitt, the CFO, currently Pete’s cousin. And yeah, thanks for having us, Mindy. It’s a great opportunity to get to tell people what we do.
Mindy Peterson: [00:03:37] Absolutely. And Jerry?
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:03:39] Yep. Jeremiah Babcock here and been working in some facet of the sales side of the business coming up on 17 years this fall.
Mindy Peterson: [00:03:49] Wow. One thing I will point out is when I started working at Schmitt, I was blown away by the longevity at Schmitt Music. I just remember my first week walking around meeting people and everyone’s like, Great to meet you. I’ve been here for 40 some years. I’ve been here for 30 years. One Diane had been there for 50 years. She since has retired. But I just think that says so much about Schmitt music that there’s such longevity with the employees. Well, starting out, as we’ve mentioned, and Ted, are both fifth generation family owners. Schmitt Music has been around for over 125 years, and these facts alone are pretty incredible. Can one of you tell us just a little bit about the history of Schmitt music in the community, including the iconic store mural that everybody mentions when they hear that I work for Schmitt Music?
Ted Schmitt: [00:04:40] Yeah, absolutely. I can take this one. The history goes back quite a ways. As you mentioned, back to the 1890s, Schmitt music was started by our great great grandfather, Paul Schmitt. He was working for Century Piano Company at the time and decided to purchase their sheet music division, which he was running in 1896. So that’s the official year that we we say Schmitt Music started. It was technically not incorporated until later in 1926. Then it was passed to the next generation. In 1935, Robert Schmitt became president, and during his reign, I believe in 1941, he purchased the iconic 10th Street building, which did not have the mural at that time. And then in 1958, it was passed to his son, Robert P Schmitt, which was our grandfather. And he was the the one who gets to take credit for the the mural in 1972. The story goes that it came to him in a dream. Someone.
Mindy Peterson: [00:05:43] Oh, really?
Ted Schmitt: [00:05:44] Yeah, someone in the city, actually. Not sure who had told him they needed to make that wall sing. And then that night he had a dream. He pictured a sheet music on the wall and decided to to get going with this. So they had to brick up 32 windows and he went to his sheet music division manager at the time and said, Find the piece with the most black on it and we’re going to put it up on the wall. And so they they came up with Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit. And so that was put up on the wall in 1972.
Mindy Peterson: [00:06:21] Oh, cool. And we’ll have to get some pictures of that to include in the show notes because that is so iconic. Everybody mentions it. Like I said, when they find out that I work for Schmitt Music. And there’s been some really famous people who have been photographed in front of that wall like Prince and Van Cliburn.
Ted Schmitt: [00:06:39] Yes, that’s right. It’s it’s been been some very important pictures. So pretty cool history there.
Mindy Peterson: [00:06:45] Yeah. Awesome. Anything else that you want to tell us about the history before we go on?
Ted Schmitt: [00:06:50] I don’t think so. I think that was it. Okay.
Mindy Peterson: [00:06:53] Schmitt did recently. Move its headquarters and flagship store into a new location. And this new location is already iconic. It’s absolutely amazing and mind blowing. All of us who work there just feel so privileged to work in such a beautiful space. It was described by a news reporter as a Willy Wonka like Wonderland for musicians, which I just loved. I mean, I loved those books growing up, and I just feel like it’s such a perfect descriptor. Can one of you tell us a little bit about this new space and what it offers to the community? Yeah.
Peter Schmitt: [00:07:29] Thanks, Mindy. I can speak a little bit to our new facility. In November of this past year, we relocated our flagship retail store, our corporate offices and our warehousing operations to Bloomington, Minnesota, from Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. Now, that happened and coincided with us closing our former Edina location when that that store shut down and our lease expired, we were kind of put on a quest to find a new Southwest metro store that had slightly smaller square footage to replace our Edina store. And and that that search kind of left us empty handed. We didn’t really find anything. So I had the wild idea to instead of just opening a new retail store, why don’t we reimagine our flagship, which at the time was in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota. So we set out with this goal to build an experience for our customers that are at our core focus in the band orchestra or an acoustic piano. And what we did was we designed the space to create unique experiences for each instrument type. So when you enter our flute gallery, you’ll find that decor in that space is much different than the decor in the saxophone shop. So very unique and interesting experience for our customers.
Mindy Peterson: [00:08:39] And very great Instagram opportunities want to do.
Peter Schmitt: [00:08:44] Yeah, there have been a lot of Instagram opportunities from custom fixtures and, you know, you know, uniquely designed spaces for trombones. You know, it hasn’t been done before. So it was a very exciting project to be a part of. We expanded our concert hall. We have a concert hall that is typically used for recitals, performances, master classes. And the capacity in our old facility was just over 80 and here we have 124 is our capacity. So more opportunities to bring bigger performers into the Bloomington area and share those with our customers.
Mindy Peterson: [00:09:18] Awesome. Anything else that you want to mention about the new facility?
Peter Schmitt: [00:09:22] Well, I just want to welcome everyone that’s listening to come visit us. You know, we would love to have you feel free to send a message to any of our staff members and we’d love to give you the grand tour and share what we’ve been working on for the past year.
Mindy Peterson: [00:09:34] Absolutely. And we’ll definitely have lots of information and links in the show, notes of ways to reach out and connect with us. But it’s definitely an awesome I call it a little field trip for anybody who just wants to see it. It is so gorgeous. I just love showing people around it and showing them the different spaces that you mentioned because each of those unique individual stores for the different instrument families does have its own unique, distinctive vibe and personality. You know, something like the sack shop that’s so warm and clubby and has that leather booth in it that I think is a great Instagram little place to take pictures. And then you go from that to the flute gallery, which is very modern and minimalist and contemporary and looks like a almost like a jewelry store. It’s just gorgeous. And like you said, the light fixtures are different in each of these shops. There’s the string shop, the trombone, low brass shop, the clarinet shop, so many different areas. And then of course, the piano floor, which I’m particular to as a pianist. But yes, definitely lots of great things to see just by coming in and looking. I mean, it’s almost like a museum combined with an instrument petting zoo and just lots of lots of things to take in and see.
Peter Schmitt: [00:10:49] And besides just the decor of the space, you know, our location here in Bloomington is going to have a much larger inventory of trumpets, as an example, than you would find in our Apple Valley store. So there’s also unique pieces here at this location. So any kind of one offs or consignment instruments would also be more focused here in Bloomington than it would be in other Schmitt music stores.
Mindy Peterson: [00:11:11] Sure. Good point. Well, Schmitt music takes music education very seriously. I talk about this a lot with the customers that I work with because I do work a lot with music educators, faculty members at universities and colleges, K through 12 educators. And it it’s so gratifying to work with these educators because we really, truly do want to be a resource for schools and music educators, whether they have new piano purchases or other instrument purchases on their immediate horizon or not. And I always tell them that, and I can feel so honest saying that because I know how true it is. Schmitt does take music education very seriously. They play a very significant, supportive. Rule. Can one of you tell us about some of the ways that Schmitt does support local schools, including band and orchestra programs, music teacher associations, college and universities, local artists, that sort of thing? Sure.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:12:10] Thanks, Mindy. Just taking us just a quick step back for a second. Peter touched on something that I think is is real important, that our focus being orchestra, band and pianos, those are the instruments and communities that we focus in on. And you just mentioned quite a few of them there and how we support those different instrument areas. I think first and foremost is a real specialist and all of those physical spaces are paired with really the most important thing, and that’s our people we have on our we’re very fortunate to have on our team people who are passionate about the respective instrument categories that they’re serving. And those customers not only passionate but talented and some of the most knowledgeable people in the industry when it comes to how the instruments are made, what is best suited for those students or those professional players who are seeking the new instruments. So it starts here in our store, but we certainly spend a lot of time outside of our store. We have staff and people that are which we affectionately call our road reps who spend a lot of time around the region visiting with band directors, trying to be a resource and understand where their challenges are in day to day teaching and growing of their programs, whether it’s band or orchestra, whether it’s middle school, high school or at the university level, we truly try to position what we do and what we have here available to them as a resource, and we make that accessible on site to them.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:13:46] It’s not just in our store, as I mentioned earlier, but we often come to them and that manifests itself in the form of it could be a having one of our director of sales present as a guest soloist at a middle school jazz concert at no charge to them. It could be putting on a masterclass for a woodwind section at a high school and spending time on that hard excerpt right before the Christmas concert. Wherever those needs are, we try to approach it in a real collaborative way to understand how we can help. And what we’re trying to help ultimately is foster programs and a community out there that is supporting the creation of music makers. That’s the business that we’re in. And the more music makers that are out there and we’re able to get actively having music as a part of their life, we believe it just makes everything better. It touches so many different facets and you’re very familiar with that. So whether it’s masterclasses clinics providing instruments themselves at no charge, so students have access to it, we really view it as a complete ecosystem that we want to be truly the center of if we can. That’s it’s not an easy approach. We believe it’s the right one. And as Ted touched on the history, this is a long term play. We want to be a part of the musical communities in every market that we’re in, and that’s the way that we approach the business as a whole. At Schmitt Music.
Mindy Peterson: [00:15:18] I’m glad you mentioned the people, Gerry, because that’s another thing that I want to point out is there are so many, like you said, passionate people about their instruments here, but also very knowledgeable and educated people. I mentioned how I was blown away when I started working at Schmitt by the longevity of employees. I was also blown away by the level of knowledge. People who work at Schmitt are so knowledgeable about their instruments, and a lot of them have PhDs. I wanted to just mention to one of our PhDs is Dr. Rachel, who works in the flute shop, and she has an incredible story of selling a flute to Lizzo when Lizzo was in town for a Minneapolis concert and performance. And I just think that’s such a cool story because Schmitt is known as being the experts, and that’s who people, including the professional performers like Lizzo turn to when they are in town for a concert, suddenly realized that their flute is on the tour bus, headed to the next destination, and they need it for a performance, right? Two hours. And so Schmitt is who Lizzo turns to. And Dr. Rachel helped provide a flute for her. And she loved the flute so much that she used for that performance that she ended up buying it. So I just love there’s so many fun stories like that that demonstrate how Schmitt is the expert. And that’s a huge benefit that they provide to our musical community.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:16:50] For sure it is, Mindy And I’m glad you brought, you know, that’s probably a pretty just. Great example just in that you have somebody as iconic as Lizzo and the reach that she has there stopping by to receive an instrument from us and make that purchase. What we pride ourselves on is that that consummate professional, that’s an international touring artist coming by. And we we pride ourselves on the other end of the spectrum all the way. We want that beginning student, that intermediate student, that hobbyist, whether you’re Lizzo or you’re a fifth grade band student, you’re going to have the same experience within our stores. And that’s something that we pride ourselves on. And it takes the right team to be a resource for everybody on that spectrum of playing ability. And that’s what we’ve created certainly here at Bloomington. But throughout all of our locations that have access certainly to all the inventory here and inventory and resources that are located in the company just as a whole.
Mindy Peterson: [00:17:47] Yeah, for sure. Well, some of the other ways that Schmitt supports the local education, music, educational community I am still learning about just by following Schmitt on social media. I feel like there’s I’m constantly stumbling on more ways that Schmitt enhances its community, whether it’s the music education community or the community at large. I know recently I was on, in fact, it may have been an email from MTA, the Minnesota Music Teachers Association, that I got that was mentioning the Robert Schmitt Professional Development grant. And I was like, Oh, I know I’ve seen that before, but I didn’t really pay close attention because I wasn’t working at Schmitt at the time. But I’m like, oh. So I, you know, paid a little bit more attention. And sure enough, it’s funded by a generous gift from Schmitt music. And then recently I was on on Instagram and saw some posts about Schmitt music, donating instruments and accessories to a music initiative that bridges the gap of music education and conservation education. And I think that has some international beneficiaries. Can you tell us just a little bit about that? Was it in Tanzania maybe?
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:18:57] Yeah, Tanzania. There’s a number of local educators who have taken some time away to support music education in other countries. Again, as I mentioned earlier, music makers and creating them is what it’s about. So as we have the ability, we’re certainly supporting initiatives that are in line with that. I mentioned ecosystem before and we want to be involved with our local musical communities and if there’s a way to collaborate, those are the kind of conversations that we welcome and always look forward to.
Mindy Peterson: [00:19:27] I know there’s been some other recent big collaborations with Walker West. I know there’s a collaboration in place with the Robbinsdale School District. Yeah. Anything that you want to mention about those or any other specific collaborations?
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:19:42] Yeah.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:19:42] So again, this is about getting instruments into the hands of students. Our programs are designed specifically to get kids making music and have them experience that have a positive experience with the quality of instruments that they’re playing and the setup that goes into those instruments. So our programs are built around accessibility, and this is something that everybody has access to. Robbinsdale specifically was a unique situation where there was many students who just did not have the means to do that. So we explored and got creative with the lead directors there and partnered with them to allow some students to have access to music where otherwise they would not have had. So those those are conversations and collaborations that happen across our markets.
Mindy Peterson: [00:20:31] And I’ll just mention too, that Schmitt is a sponsor of countless music festivals and other events, whether it’s the Aspen Music Festival or the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, I get the pleasure of coordinating the piano rentals for some of these events, and so I get to see firsthand some of the many ways that Schmitt is sponsoring local musicians. New musicians, and lots of different music festivals. So that’s another significant involvement that Schmitt has in the community.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:21:04] Yeah, you know, with those sponsorships, sometimes it’s in the form of the physical instruments themselves, and you’re very familiar with that, supporting all of these great offsite venues and festivals. There’s an element here that we key in on and we bring in artists through our manufacturer relationships or just relationships with these artists and have them quite often in store free performances, right? So there’s this inspirational element of, of seeing what this instrument can do, seeing what these students could aspire to do as they continue to play and develop their own musicianship. We spend a lot of time and energy coordinating those events and making them, for the most part, free of charge and accessible. And some of those, if you’re not available to attend on site, many of those are live streamed. And again, it’s an effort to. To make us a resource to musicians everywhere.
Mindy Peterson: [00:21:57] Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that because that’s a perfect segue into some of the offerings and opportunities provided by Schmitt to the community if listeners are not music educators. We talked quite a bit about music educators and that community and demographic, but if you don’t fall into that, you’re benefiting indirectly still. But there are some ways that you can directly benefit by things like these free concerts that Jerry just mentioned. Those again, I’m kind of blown away by the quality of artists and musicianship that’s represented by those concerts and that they are available free to the public in most instances. I know recently there was one that I learned about, I think on Schmitt’s Facebook page, and so I immediately clicked it and was like, Oh, interested in attending. And it’s kind of neat how with Facebook your friends can see what you’ve clicked on as interested in. And I think it was the next day I got a text from my neighbor saying, Hey, are you going to that Schmitt music concert? Because I’d really like to take my toddler to it and kind of expose her to some music in this concert. And I was like, Oh, yeah, I’d love to go with you. So we ended up going together and it was such a great way to introduce her young child to music and just have her experience the different instruments that were being used in that concert. And so it’s a great way to get involved as a in the community and provide this benefit to the community, those live concerts.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:23:28] You mentioned something about live stream, right? We have some that will occasionally live stream on our different YouTube channels or on our website. That’s a shared page. There’s something that we’re we’re pretty excited about and it’s a unique product that we’re carrying right now that gives access to these live concerts really wherever they’re happening, whether it’s going to be in our store or it’s happening on Carnegie Hall’s stage. We are a dealer of Steinway pianos, and they have a product called Spirio. And within that Spirio product, this instrument, this piano, has the ability to reproduce what is being played on the instrument and broadcast that to another Steinway piano. And now that Steinway piano could be in your home, it could be at another one of our locations. But we hold on a regular basis these Steinway Spirio casts. So if we have a concert happening here in Bloomington, Minnesota, that same performance is reproduced on an acoustic instrument for our customers in that musical community down in our Denver location. So it’s something that’s kind of cutting edge for the acoustic pianos and just thrilled to start exploring this technology and and really making customers and musicians more aware of that technology like this is out there, which makes these performances really accessible anywhere.
Mindy Peterson: [00:24:51] Yeah, I’m glad you mentioned that. And for sure, if any listeners want to know more about the Spirio pianos, the Spirio technology that Jerry was just talking about, please let me know. I’m a piano salesperson. I would love to help you.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:25:03] We’d be happy to show you. Yeah.
Mindy Peterson: [00:25:06] But yeah, it is really incredible. The technology that Steinway has utilized and put together with these performances and just can’t emphasize enough that these concerts that you’re talking about are not streamed concerts. They’re actual reproduced concerts on an acoustic piano where this concert is happening live in multiple venues at the same time. It’s really incredible.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:25:32] Yeah, Pretty special.
Mindy Peterson: [00:25:33] Yeah. So glad you mentioned that. I think I mentioned earlier in our conversation how another benefit of the local music store to the community beyond the free concerts. It is sort of like this instrument petting zoo right in your backyard. There are these large quantities of instruments that you can see and handle and touch and try out. Most of our shops have rooms where you can try out the flute. You can get your instrument repaired right there at the repair shop. You can introduce your young children to music and different instruments. There’s print music galore here, accessories. I think Pete had mentioned special pieces that are available in in our store for sure, our flagship store. And I just want to mention that on that note, it’s almost like our store is a museum because we have some of these special commissioned pianos, for example, the Skyline Piano that was commissioned for when we moved into our new flagship store in the fall that features the Minneapolis skyline on one side, the Saint Paul skyline on the other. It’s really absolutely gorgeous and just something that’s wonderful to behold and just and look at and there’s so many pieces like that that it’s like, wow, it’s almost like a museum just to see And. Inspired by the beauty and uniqueness of some of these different pieces.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:26:58] And make no mistake about it, if there’s if you yourself or your child has any interest or wants to explore that, you know, sometimes and maybe by by a fault, we call them, you know, instrument showrooms or this is our showroom. We really want you to come in and try these products and experience it. Pete mentioned early on the goal here was to create an experience, and you can do that by being on site and experiencing these unique instruments, trying. That’s that’s something that is unique to music and musicians who play instruments. It’s a very tactile experience. We want you to try that specific instrument and explore it and see how it can improve and give you access to things that your current instrument does not. So we welcome, whether you’re just starting, whether you’re a hobbyist, whether you’re a consummate professional, everybody is welcome to experience the instruments that we have on site in any of our locations.
Mindy Peterson: [00:27:52] One other benefit that I’ll mention that Schmitt offers and many local music stores do are lessons that are offered in store. So if a parent is looking for a music teacher for piano or flute, you know, whatever the instrument is, I know on our website you can go and search by location and by instrument for teachers who are available because as we mentioned, we’re not just in this one location here at our headquarters. We are in multiple locations. And so lessons are offered in store. We mentioned the concerts, but we also have sort of these hybrid events that are sort of quasi concerts but also master classes. A great example is the sax day that we held recently. Can you just tell us a little bit about some of the offerings that were a part of that event?
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:28:46] Sure.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:28:46] So something kind of the phrase was coined of Twin Cities Saxophone Day. This is really in partnership with the University of Minnesota and the saxophone Professor Preston Duncan, a good friend of Schmitt. Music. There’s a saxophone camp that Preston had been developing, and this is kind of the exclamation point at the end of that camp. So having national and international artists like Doug Lawrence and Leo pee on site, it really there’s a human element to this. When you see so much content and history and YouTube videos that make these people such large figures to be able to have a 10th grader have a conversation with Leo and ask him how he’s doing this and get to hang with them, it kind of brings it down to reality and just inspires these who attend. Many students attend Preston’s camp and many saxophone players from really across the region attend something like the Twin Cities Saxophone Day because it pulls together the instruments, the mouthpiece makers, some of the brightest people performing in that space right now and wrangles it all under one roof or in one place for people to have access to that community.
Mindy Peterson: [00:30:00] Well, what are some ways that listeners can be made aware of events like Saxophone Day or the Free concerts or some of the other events that are happening at Schmitt Music and just ways that listeners can fully utilize the benefits of their local music store for their particular situation. I guess starting out, remind listeners of where Schmitt music stores are and how listeners can, if they’re in proximity to one of the Schmitt music stores, how they can be made aware of our offerings, and then we’ll talk about what are just some general ways of finding a local music store in your area if you’re not by Schmitt Music Sure.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:30:38] So we do have quite a few locations. We welcome this. Consider this an open invitation to come in and visit us and ask any questions that you have, whether it’s about events, instruments, trying them. We want to be there for you. Our locations in North Dakota, we are in Fargo, South Dakota. We are in Sioux Falls. We are in Omaha, Nebraska. We are in Denver, Colorado, and focused specifically on pianos and digital pianos at that location in Denver. We in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, we are in Duluth, Minnesota. Virginia, Minnesota. Rochester, Minnesota. Apple Valley, Minnesota, Bloomington, which we’ve been referencing quite a bit on this call here. Anoka, Minnesota. And Woodbury and Pete and Ted, Did I miss any I.
Peter Schmitt: [00:31:21] Think you covered all of them, Jerry. Only thing you didn’t mention is we do also have some affiliate locations.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:31:26] So affiliate locations. This is where you can access some of our programs to get started in an instrument. Those are located in Grand Forks, in Bismarck, Lincoln. Those would be our three primary affiliate locations at Wells Fargo. Excuse me. Yep. Headwaters and Bemidji forgot a very important one. It’s Headwaters School of Music certainly has access to a myriad of products within that. And also a great lesson. In studio inside of that facility. So coming into one of our locations is certainly a way to access us directly and the products that we carry. If you are already an instrumentalist, I would encourage you to go onto your normal channels, whether it’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and search out those specific instrument areas. If you’re a flute player, look for a flute gallery on Instagram. Follow them. If you are a low brass player, find Keith Hilson, Arch Low Brass, director of sales on YouTube. He has I think he’s just over 5000 subscribers there and putting out content specific for you as a low brass player. So we’re just about on every channel out there and specific to the instrument and interests that you have playing those instruments. So our website is and I’ll just.
Mindy Peterson: [00:32:42] Jump in real quick and clarify that. Schmitt Music has its own profile on the different social media channels, but then in addition to that, the different Schmitt locations often have another profile. So you can also specifically follow, say, for example, Schmitt, Bloomington. And then in addition to that, as Jeri mentioned, some of the different instrument families within Schmitt have their own social media platforms or channels as well. So like the flute gallery, you can follow that specifically as well. So you can really follow Schmitt very generally, or you can get pretty specific to your area of interest or your geographic location.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:33:22] Yeah.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:33:22] And just for a, you know, kind of that large overview of our website. Schmitt Music.com, there is an events calendar and to see if something’s happening in your area, that’s a great place to keep tabs on it. And if you’d rather not visit the site, but rather have that information sent to you, you can certainly visit Schmitt Music.com and sign up for our newsletter that is sent out on a on a monthly basis. It’s called Noteworthy, and it’s a recap of everything that we are involved with sponsoring in the musical community over the past month. And then it’s a look forward. What is happening next month in our different areas that we’re involved with. So a great way to keep a pulse on what’s happening in your area, in the musical community.
Mindy Peterson: [00:34:04] One thing I’ll point out, too, I forgot to mention is this the concert hall at our Bloomington location, and I know some of our other locations have something comparable that is available for music teacher associations to use. It’s available for music educators to use, depending on the group that’s using it and the purpose, it could be free. There could be a rental, a very minimal rental fee applied. So that’s another benefit that the store provides to the community. It’s a great recital venue and something that a lot of educators take advantage of. So if that’s something that your music teacher is not aware of, it’d be great to just make them aware of that. And that’s something that they could use for studio performances or music teacher groups, things like that. Any other points of connection that you want to mention to listeners? For Schmitt Music, you talked about the email newsletter, the website, the different social media platforms. Anything else for Schmitt music specifically, and then we’ll go on to people who may not be close to a Schmitt music, what recommendations you may have for them.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:35:14] Yeah, certainly. What I mentioned first is we’d love to welcome you into our stores, you know, And if there’s one near you, come on in. And if there’s an instrument that you have questions about, we’d like to try bringing your instrument. If it needs a repair. We have repair facilities and work with some of the best technicians really in their instrument types. If you’re not able to come into one of our stores and you hit those, all those normal channels that you would find, go to there. We are active on those places. That’s where you can learn more about us and what we’re doing in your communities.
Mindy Peterson: [00:35:43] And TikTok, too. And that’s one that I still have not quite gotten into. But it’s huge. And we’re on TikTok.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:35:51] Yes, we are. We are active on TikTok.
Mindy Peterson: [00:35:53] What about people who don’t live near a Schmitt music? There’s other independent local music stores in lots of areas. How can they find one that’s near them if they’re not already aware of one who hopefully now they’ll be inspired to check out more what that store offers so they can really take advantage of those gems that are right there in their area. But what if they’re not sure where their closest music store is? What do you recommend?
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:36:17] There’s certainly kind of a there’s a organization called National Association of Music Merchants. They certainly have listings there. You would find that at by doing a Google search for org and certainly just doing a search who’s around? Where can you go in and visit? What are their store hours and that conversation in store with whomever it is, you’re going to learn quite a bit about all the different ways that they’re involved in their community.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:36:44] Love it.
Mindy Peterson: [00:36:45] Well, this has been so fun to talk with you guys about all of the things that our local music store offers, which is so much I’m sure there’s. Anymore that we didn’t have time to cover today. I’m like I said, I’m always learning more just by following Schmitt music on social media and also getting those monthly email newsletters, which I love getting. I highly recommend those because it’s it’s not it’s only once a month, so it’s not like you’re getting it all the time and it’s so informative. It’s really a great way to stay. Just like keep your finger on the pulse of what Schmitt music is doing and what the opportunities are. I ask all of my guests to close out our conversation with a musical, ending a coda by sharing a song or story about a moment that music enhanced your life. I’m sure between the three of you, one of you has some song or story about a moment that music enhanced your life that you can share with us in closing. Anybody want to jump in?
Peter Schmitt: [00:37:45] Sure. I’ll share a story. Well, of course, having grown up as a Schmitt and having had music in our family for the last 125 years, it’s been integral to our lives. It’s provided us with a job and it’s provided us with a community and friends and co-workers and all sorts of stuff. But most recently, my daughter, my little girl fell in love with the song Blackbird by the Beatles. And every night I would put her to bed and we’d listen to that song. And now when it comes on, it reminds us of those times. And it’s been really fun to have that connection with her through a song.
Mindy Peterson: [00:38:22] How old was she when she first fell in love with that song?
Peter Schmitt: [00:38:25] Oh, probably four.
Jeremiah Babcock: [00:38:27] Okay.
Mindy Peterson: [00:38:27] Yeah. And she’s how old now?
Peter Schmitt: [00:38:30] She’s seven.
Mindy Peterson: [00:38:30] Now. Okay. And still a special connection. That.
Peter Schmitt: [00:38:34] It still is. Yeah. Whenever that song comes on, on the radio, it always, you know, gets a look from her or does, you know, gets her excited.
Mindy Peterson: [00:38:42] Oh, someday you’ll be playing at her wedding.
Peter Schmitt: [00:38:44] I know. Yeah.
Transcribed by Sonix.ai