To most eyes, sheet music is a bunch of nonsense: lines, bubbles and notations stretching across a page, somehow translating into beautiful noise. And to the untrained eye, or ear, it may seem that one edition of a particular piece is the same as any other. But musicians will tell you that’s not the case. While finding a store in Chicago that sells guitars or keyboards isn’t so difficult, finding one that specializes primarily in sheet music can be a chore. It’s not impossible, though, and these four stores are among Chicago’s leaders.
Performer’s Music, 410 S. Michigan Ave., Suite 904, 312-987-1196 This store’s greatest claim may be that staff members once found a piece of sheet music for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. However, it can also lay claim to the finest, most dignified atmosphere among Chicago’s sheet music stores. Located on the ninth floor of the Loop’s gorgeously stoic Fine Arts Building, Performer’s Music — with its wood floors, antique wood and glass store front, soft, wafting classical music and small bunch of calm, articulate people milling about — is perfectly situated to support its claim to be the finest authority on classical sheet music.
The selection helps, too. Though it’s a small store, the selection is healthy, delving into bassoon, oboe, cello, guitar and plenty of piano. Plus, owner Lee Newcomer claims to have more sheet music for recorders than any other store in the city (they also sell fabulous wood recorders).
And the staff is politely helpful and patient. When a guitar novice came in looking for a fairly easy piece of music to cut his teeth on, one staff member flipped through every book, picking out two or three and explaining the value of each. He didn’t even complain when that customer walked away without a purchase. Okay, fine, so that customer was me.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Carl Fischer Music, 312 S. Wabash Ave., 312-427-6652 Absolutely massive, Carl Fischer Music boasts five stories of sheet music that, stretched end to end, measures almost two miles. Chicago’s Carl Fischer Music, part of a national chain, claims to carry the world’s largest selection (610,000 titles) and store manager Gary Sigurdson is “prepared to take on any challengers.” He said the staff annually measures the length of its sheet music with 50-foot tape measures, and at its smallest, has measured 1 3/4 miles.
The selection is expansive (on a given day, 10 Grateful Dead songbooks were available) and, like other sheet music stores, most anything existing but not on hand can be ordered. The first floor contains the most popular stuff: vocal, keyboard and guitar music, both in books and sheets. Whether you want Foo Fighters, Stevie Wonder or LeAnn Rimes, it’s there. On the second floor is music for bands, orchestras and instrumentals. A trip to the third floor yields choral music and children’s musicals, plus maybe a side dose of music-seeking exhaustion. The other two floors are off limits to wanderers, but allegedly also packed with sheet music.
What do they specialize in? “Everything,” Sigurdson said.
Not much else to say, except it has an elevator. How many sheet music stores can boast that?
Hours: 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday
Coulson’s Music Matters, 77 E. Van Buren St., 312-461-1989 Somewhat reminiscent of “The Little Engine that Could,” Coulson’s stands just a few blocks from Carl Fischer, and, like Fischer, boasts selection as its strength. Even though Ray and Bette Coulson cram all their music selections into one not-so-large room, their store has stood at its downtown location for 17 years.
The two stick to what is most popular: classical, rock and jazz played on the piano and guitar. However, when a woman walks in looking for “organ church music,” Bette springs up and leads her to a small section containing tunes of that very type.
A nice selection of contemporary rock music greets customers, including a fine collection of Beatles books and even something as relatively obscure (but worthy) as a Tori Amos B-sides songbook. With the rest of the selection ranging from Latin pop songbooks to, yes, organ church music, Coulson’s seems to have a little bit of everything, except for works they purposefully ignore: choral, band and orchestra arrangements. Ray has been in the business “for years” and his knowledge and insights alone are worth checking out.
Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Lyon & Healy, 168 N. Ogden Ave., 312-786-1881 Unique in that it carries only music for the harp (the company also manufactures harps), Lyon & Healy’s selection of more than 3,500 titles makes it one of the leading harp music stores in the country.
Staffer Moya Wright says she and other staff members try to “get our hands on everything we can throughout the world,” which includes music ranging from pop to jazz to Celtic to Christmas songs to, of course, classical. Plus, Lyon & Healy has on display an ornately decorated harp nearly 100 years old that was manufactured for the Chicago World’s Fair held near the turn of the century.
Hours: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.
