The Villages Daily Sun

THE VILLAGES — Sylvia Gilbaugh plays to an exclusive audience when she tickles the ivories.

On occasion she lets her husband, Darrell, listen to the gospel that emanates from her Roland Atelier digital organ. Most times, however, she plays alone in her room for the benefit of the Good Lord.

There’s no grandiose aspiration about playing music halls for this resident of the Village of Briar Meadow North. It’s good enough for her to play her favorite music — she loves American classicists Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and George Gershwin — within the comfort of her home. Not bad, she said, for a 70-year-old who started playing the piano only about a year and half ago.

It was about then that Gilbaugh bought into the message that Joe Carter preaches. This son of a Kentucky Baptist preacher, and a pretty good musician himself, is on a crusade to persuade Villagers that they, too, can learn how to play music. It’s the central theme in a business plan that has produced considerable success for Carter’s company, Showtime Music Inc.

“Most of them are unbelievers,” Carter said about many of the Villagers who walk into his store in the Mulberry Professional Plaza on County Road 42. “They think they’re too old to learn and wish they had done it earlier. We preach, ‘You’re never too old to learn.’”

Giving back

It’s about 10 o’clock on a Wednesday morning and more than a dozen prospective customers have gathered in one of the showrooms inside the new 6,000-square-foot store Carter has built.

These Villagers came to see Chuck Wright, a former member of the gospel group The Imperials. Once upon a time, that band backed Elvis Presley during his Las Vegas days.

While still an active performer, Wright works on contract for Roland Corp., which produces the line of pianos and organs that Carter sells exclusively in his store.

Right now, Wright is on tour with a Johnny Cash tribute show, “I Walk the Line.” Wright treated the Showtime Music customers to a rendition of the song, while demonstrating some of the features on the high-tech digital keyboards that Carter sells.

Such musical presentations are a savvy element in the Showtime Music marketing plan. Carter and his business partners — wife Staci, the company’s education director, and former retail competitor Bill Meyer — invite musicians to demonstrate their musical skills on the exclusive brand of keyboards, guitars and other instruments sold in the store. Usually on the night of the demonstration, Showtime Music promotes those musicians in concert at the store’s expense in Mulberry Grove Recreation Center.

Just recently, for instance, Grammy-winning guitarist Wayne Johnson played. He frequently accompanies the Manhattan Transfer, a popular light jazz vocal group.

On Dec. 13, Grand Ole Opry performer Doyle Dykes will visit the store and play a concert. Some in the music industry compare him to the legendary guitarist Chet Atkins.

“We pay for the artist to come here,” Carter said. “But all the proceeds go to The Villages Philharmonic Orchestra. It’s our way of giving back and promoting music in The Villages.”

Having fun

About 17 years ago, Carter moved to Florida to pursue a degree in business law and accounting at the University of Central Florida.

While there, he happened upon a music store and started playing the piano. They hired him, and he became their top piano seller.

Meanwhile, Carter joined bands and combos that played on The Villages circuit. They played requests — everything from jazz to big band to Southern rock — at Katie Belle’s on Spanish Springs Town Square and other local venues.

In 1996, Carter decided to open his own retail store. He knew the Roland representatives for Central Florida and pitched an exclusive deal to sell their products in Lake, Sumter and Marion counties. A year later, he opened a store in Fruitland Park.

“They jumped right on the bandwagon, and I was able to acquire my first lease,” Carter said.

To keep the Roland distribution rights, Carter opened a store in Summerfield across from Wal-Mart and another one in Ocala. He has since consolidated them, with Roland’s permission, into the new store.

During the early years in the company’s formation, Carter made a decision that has played an important part in the company’s success today. He hired his wife, Staci, then his girlfriend, to teach music. They married in 1998.

Today, Staci has earned recognition as the Roland Corp.’s national “Teacher of the Year” for three consecutive years. She oversees a school of about 250 students.

There’s a secret to the success Staci has brought to the business. She keeps it fun.

“Customers come in here thinking it’s going to be a lot of work,” Staci said. “It’s not, absolutely not.”

These older students learn in groups of about 10-17 people.

“They like the group lessons a lot better,” Staci said. “It’s less stressful. It’s a friendly way of making music together. Just by having so much fun, you learn to play, and sometimes not even realizing it half the time.”

Then, three years ago, Carter made a strategic decision to bring Bill Meyer, a former competitor, into the partnership.

Years earlier, Carter and Meyer sold competing brands of pianos in stores across from each other in the Ocala mall. They had developed a mutual respect for each other’s individual musical abilities.

Meyer brought a diverse background to the company. With a degree from Bowling Green State University, Meyer found a job as a musician at Disney/MGM Studios.

Over time, Meyer worked as a high school band teacher, then as a music retailer. That’s how he became familiar with Carter. He liked what he saw in Carter’s stores.

“Showtime has an established name in the community, with a reputable manufacturer,” Meyer said. “I had always known The Villages, based on demographics, was a good business model for what we do, which is recreational music-making for The Villages residents.”

There’s another attribute about the company that Meyer also liked.

“It’s a down-to-earth, family-owned concept, which has kind of lost its identity in today’s business climate,” Meyer said.

David R. Corder is a reporter with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9066, or david.corder@thevillagesmedia.com.