In tune with our dreams: the music store reverberates with possibilities

Gentle curves accent the beauty of a violin at Dr. Dave s Band Aide.

A saxophone is captured in the light at Dr. Dave s Band Aide in East Toledo.

See these guitars, horns, violins, and drums?

Each one has a story that has yet to be told. Each one is waiting for just the right hands to come along and coax sounds from it that reveal the instrument s true nature.

That s what makes browsing through a store that sells musical instruments so addictive and, in a way that is quite unlike shopping for anything else, mysterious.

Pick up that guitar over there, strum it a few times and it just doesn t fit; maybe the sound is too quiet or too loud and it doesn t feel right cradled in your arms.

But grab that one in the corner, play the exact same chords, and all of a sudden

you ve found something that could become a part of your creative identity. This is the one you could take home and be drawn to over and over again.

Sit down at a keyboard and start moving your hands over the keys. How does it

feel? How does it sound? Do you want to take it home, or is there something missing that you can t articulate, but definitely feel?

Where else can you beat on drums you could never afford or strum a guitar that a rank amateur just isn t worthy of?

There is a seductive quality to browsing through a music store, with the colors, the shapes, and the sounds forming a sensory adventure that ends with an auditory reward and a promise:

Gentle curves accent the beauty of a violin at Dr. Dave s Band Aide.

This could be the violin that brings you closer to Itzhak Perlman, to understanding

just a little how it feels to play something beautiful. Or this is the guitar that helps you

figure out how Jimmy Page crafted some of the most memorable riffs in rock and roll history.

Each instrument has its potential, just waiting to be realized and you could be the

one who makes it happen.

Rod Lockwood