by Natasha Khairullah
Staff Writer
Riverside Avenue will soon be getting a taste of the 1800s.
The Grand Renaissance Piano Salon, which opened last month on the corner of Riverside Avenue and King Street, will serve as a 19th century European-style piano salon within one of the oldest mansions in Riverside.
According to owner Jim Volk, the setting for the salon is almost as important as the pianos inside.
“This is the perfect place for an operation like this,” said Volk. “The hardwood floors and the high ceilings ... It just feels like a salon.
“We knew it had to be somewhere where those inside could feel like they really were in a salon, a real musical environment. That’s why we knew this was the perfect location right when we came across it.”
The mansion, known as the “yellow house,” was built in the early 1900s when grand mansions lined Riverside Avenue and the street was known as “The Row.” Only a few of those mansions remain, the yellow house being one of them, according to Riverside Avondale Preservation. The Grand Renaissance Salon is located on the first floor of the house, which was previously home to a local iron sculptor.
Although a New York native, Volk knew Jacksonville well and had seen the house many times before opening the salon.
He moved to Jacksonville with his wife Jean in 1980 after graduating from Queens College in New York, where he studied music education and performing arts. He was offered a job as a piano instructor and he said the thought of relocating to sunny Florida attracted him.
The idea of getting into the music business came after a conversation he had with Yamaha executive Sam Black. Black advised Volk to start to venture into the business.
“I’ve been a musician for as far back as I can remember, “ said Volk, “and music is my passion – but I’m no businessman, so I was a bit apprehensive.”
But, after years of teaching and also performing gigs at restaurants around the city, the Volks opened a business that started off as Main Street Piano Gallery and then went on to become Main Street Music.
Eventually, ideas for the salon started to brew.
“We’ve been in business since 1999 and with this, we wanted to try something different,” he said.
“Old Piano salons offered a place where pianists could just sit down and play and make up music and improvise and get together and bounce things off each other. I thought this would be the perfect place to recreate that type of atmosphere.”
Opened for business at the beginning of January, the Grand Renaissance serves as a Piano Salon as well as a Piano service house and shop.
The Volks brought in their Daughter, Veronica Miller as a piano instructor.
“We want people to hear a tune and be able to create an accompaniment.” said Miller. “Some kids are just limited to reading notes.”
The Volks previously worked as brokers helping retailers import used pianos from Japan. They had a repair room and showroom – two things that will still exist at the new salon’s location.
The showroom displays various pianos that Volk considers to be “Eurasian Hybrids.” The Steigerman brand piano, a piano modeled after the figures of German scale designer Loather Schell, is their signature piece, although the salon sells virtually any brand a customer is looking for. He said those interested can order a certain piano online or right off the salon’s show floor.
Grand Renaissance also offers virtually every other piano service available, in addition to retailing and lessons including delivery, tuning and resurfacing.
The salon holds monthly pianist symposiums for community pianists who are interested in improvising and play extemporaneously.
The symposium will feature guest performers and will take place at the salon the first Tuesday of every month. For more information on the salon, visit www.welovepianos.com.