‘Building strong minds and caring hearts.’ Luyben Music is closing after 70 years

I have great affection for Luyben Music. For years, the beloved sheet music and instrument store sponsored programming on classical radio station KXTR where I worked. Annette Luyben, the proprietor, recorded her own commercials, which she would always end with the tagline, “Where music is not a luxury but a necessity in building strong minds and caring hearts.”

After more than 70 years of doing just that, Luyben Music, a Kansas City institution, will close its doors June 20.

“We knew this was coming,” Luyben said. “We couldn’t go on. Business has dropped off so much. People just go online.”

Luyben, at 4318 Main St., is one of only a handful of sheet music stores in the country selling more than just basic piano instruction manuals. Luyben sold the good stuff: high-end, expensive editions sought by serious musicians. Even many large cities no longer have dedicated sheet music stores.

There is one instrument that looms large in the history of Luyben music: the clarinet. Luyben’s grandfather, who emigrated from Holland in the early 20th century, was a clarinetist and founding member of the Kansas City Philharmonic. So was his son, Robert. After graduating from Westport High School, Robert studied clarinet with Daniel Bonade, who was the principal clarinetist with the Philadelphia Orchestra and the father of the American clarinet school.

“My father gained quite a reputation as a clarinetist and played clarinet with the Navy band during World War II,” Luyben said. “When the war ended, (Leonard) Bernstein, who was stationed at the Navy Yard, asked my dad to move to New York and be his clarinetist. But my mom said there was no way she was raising a child in New York City.”

Annette Luyben is also a clarinetist, but before she took over Luyben Music in 1980, she enjoyed a varied career as a high school history teacher and was also hired by Jack Steadman to start up the Kansas City Chiefs first-ever cheerleading squad. Luyben was on the sidelines for the first Super Bowl.

But she says, after that excitement, she was thrilled to be able to take over the family business.

“My parents never asked me to take over Luyben Music,” Luyben said. “It was totally my choice.”

For years, Luyben Music has been an integral part of Kansas City’s classical music scene. Besides catering to local luminaries like Marilyn Maye, other big name stars often made their way to the store. They included Doc Severinsen, John Tesh and the Osmonds. Joyce DiDonato was a regular customer when she was in high school.

Luyben always made a point of hiring students and young musicians, helping them earn money while nurturing their talents and dreams. One of those employees was J. Kent Barnhart, artistic director and founder of the Quality Hill Playhouse.

“Kent was one of my boys,” Luyben said. “He would practice piano on his lunch hour and I got serenaded by him every day. It was wonderful.”

For the past seven years, cellist Eman Chalsotori has worked at Luyben Music, where he takes and processes orders. He started when he was working on his master’s degree at the UMKC Conservatory.

“Annette is like a second parent,” Chalsotori said. “She’s been very supportive, not only by employing me, but also coming to concerts I’ve given. You can’t say that about a lot of bosses.”

Bob Walzel, dean of the school of music at the University of Kansas, has been a customer of Luyben Music since he was a beginning clarinet student in Texas in the early 1970s. He played with a clarinet ligature, the device which holds the reed to the mouthpiece, that was designed by Robert Luyben.

“I still have that ligature and I still play it today,” Walzel said.

While Walzel lived in Texas, he was strictly a Luyben mail order customer. He didn’t get to visit the store in person until the mid-1990s.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said. “To have so much music in one place and be able to browse. I found music that’s been long out of print. You don’t have the opportunity online to find those treasures. And the feel of the place. It just exudes music. It’s going to be a loss for Kansas City.”

Luyben says that she intends to open a small outlet just for clarinet music in North Kansas City after the store closes. The present building has been sold, although the deal hasn’t officially closed, so Luyben can’t disclose the new owner. She speculates the building where so many memories, friendships and music have been made will be torn down by the end of the summer.

“It will probably be replaced by something nice,” Luyben said. “This old farm building has seen its day. All the people who have come through the door will always be a part of me. I’m sure it’s going to be hard the last day I walk out of this building, but I made the right decision.”

You can reach Patrick Neas at patrickneas@kcartsbeat.com and follow his Facebook page, KC Arts Beat, at www.facebook.com/kcartsbeat.