PHOTO PROVIDED Guitars line the wall at Robert M. Sides Family Music Center.

Music is something that people feel a strong connection with, and for nearly a century, Robert M. Sides Family Music Center has been a focal point for the Williamsport area.

“My grandfather, Robert, moved to Williamsport in the late 20s, and took a job as an accountant at AVCO, but he was always a musician, a sax player and a singer,” said Peter Sides.

“His father-in-law and his two brothers-in-law were piano tuners, and they taught him that business,” he said, adding that his mother’s first teaching job was as a string teacher at the former Roosevelt Middle School, he said.

Robert began transitioning from accounting to tuning and selling pianos, ultimately founding Robert M. Sides in 1937.

In 1986, the business settled into its current location, 201 Mulberry Street.

Today, Robert M. Sides is a full-line music retailer, with five stores across the state, and one near Elmira, N.Y., all catering to a variety of musician types and skill levels.

“Whether you are picking up your very first instrument in third or fourth grade, or you’ve been playing for years, chances are we can get you what you need,” Manager and piano consultant Nathan Fulkerson said.

To help foster an early interest in making music, the center offers tours of their historic Williamsport store.

“We always welcome groups, and we’ve had daycares, YMCA groups and some homeschool groups come through and do tours of the Williamsport store,” Sides said.

“If somebody has a group that would like to see the store, we’d welcome the chance to schedule that and bring them in, because you can only see about half of what we do is open to the public. All the repair shops, everything else that’s kind of behind the scenes,” he said.

“What we include in that tour is some of the more interesting things, because the building we’re in is a three story structure that was a textile mill built in 1904, and the one street on the side of the store is called Canal Street because that was literally one of the canals that fed into the river,” Sides explained, adding that the building still displays little metal hooks on the brick wall inside where people tied their horses up while they worked.

The music center not only offers a large variety of instruments for sale, but they also service around 12,000 instruments a year, Sides said.

Piano, guitar, voice and some woodwinds and string lessons from beginner to advanced are offered at the Williamsport location, while brass, percussion and other lessons are offered at their other locations.

In fact, up until recently, Fulkerson had been providing voice lessons to a 102-year-old man, who first began about ten years ago.

“That shows that music can be a lifelong pursuit. It doesn’t matter what age you start,” Sides said.

“It’s never too late to start learning how to play or sing, and it’s something that can carry you through your entire life,” he said.

That life-long impact of music has been one of the most rewarding aspects of the family business, Sides said.

“Families, customers, music, teachers still find us relevant, and we’re able to still provide value and something meaningful for people involved in music,” he said.

“It’s really cool when somebody comes in that bought a piano from my dad or my grandfather, and I’ll see their handwriting,” Sides said.

“My grandfather passed away in 1981, and I still occasionally get a receipt or something that has his signature on it, or a piano that he initialed when he tuned it, because musical instruments get passed down through families,” he said.

“So our family gets to have some multigenerational connections with families,” Sides said.

That familial connection extends to those employed by the music center, Sides added.

“Nathan’s wife and mom also work at our Williamsport store. So, there’s families within the family at Robert M. Sides,” he said.

Asked what makes Robert M. Sides the go to for music needs, Sides stressed that music is a passion for those that work at their various locations.

“Our staff are consumers, listeners and enthusiasts of music, but a lot of them also perform and have education backgrounds, and that really brings a different level to the customer experience,” he said.

That devotion to their customer base leads the staff to a preservationist mindset, a rarity, Sides said.

“A lot of industries look at things as disposable, but a good, well made musical instrument deserves to be maintained, preserved and passed down,” he said.

With an eye on the personal and generational value of being involved in music, Robert M. Sides also offers rental and financing options for those looking to dip their toes into the water.

“The number one fear of people when they’re getting into music is, ‘I think I’m interested, but if I buy it and find out I don’t like it or I need to quit, I’m going to have this used instrument in my closet forever,” Sides said.

“So the ability to try something before you buy it brings down that barrier of being scared of making that investment,” he said.

For more information on all that Robert M. Sides Family Music Center has to offer, check out their website at www.rmsides.com or reach out to 570-326-2094.