Mobile Music’s Tim Chaapel awarded Lifetime achievement Award. | Arts And Entertainment

CANANDAIGUA — What began as a humble endeavor turned into a lifetime of service to communities in the Finger Lakes.

It all started out of the back of a van in 1981. A young man passionate about fixing musical instruments drove to the music departments of Finger Lakes schools to fix instruments for orchestra and band students.

Forty-five years later, the Ontario County Chamber of Commerce honored Tim Chaapel of Mobile Music in Canandaigua with a Lifetime Achievement award.

The annual award, presented earlier this month, recognizes a single individual who has “demonstrated exemplary service to the greater community and its people, over and above what can be expected of one person,” according to a press release from the Chamber.

In those early days, Chaapel was dating a woman who would become his wife and long-time business partner. Denise Chaapel remembers Tim working in his van out back at her parents’ house. The van had a workbench in it with an assortment of Tim’s tools. She recalled that during the winter he would swing the van’s back doors open to let the fumes from his kerosene lamp exit the workspace.

“Forty-five years ago, when Denise and I were just dating, I told her what my dream was — and she still married me!” Tim mused.

Within eight months of starting to work out of his van, it became apparent to the couple that the music service needed to become a brick-and-mortar store, as well as continue as a mobile service.

They started in a small, 600-square-foot space in the back of an appliance store. “It was a place were we could sell people reeds and other supplies at the store instead of the parking lot,” Denise recalled.

The store took off, and they eventually settled into the spot the store is in today, at 163 S. Main St. The space enabled them to have the repair shop, a retail operation, and music lesson studios under one roof.

“Forty-five years ago we started out servicing eight schools. We were doing about 20 lessons a week that I taught, and we had a few band and orchestra rentals,” Tim said. “Forty-five years later, we provide over 300 lessons a week, we have 10 teachers on staff, and we are servicing 50 schools. We are No. 2 in the nation as a rental affiliate with music and the arts.”

Mobile Music holds recitals on weekends for children and adult students. “Doing a recital isn’t mandatory,” Denise said. “It is meant to provide a positive experience to those who participate. It is so cool to see these students, 25 or 30 of them, standing on stage with their teacher after they just performed.

“I have to be honest. For us, it gives us goosebumps.”

Over the years they have given back to the community in countless ways. “We both thrive on people and what we can give back to our community,” Denise explained.

The duo has contributed to Motion Junction and the Fort Hill Performing Arts Center. Once, they bid to buy a whole warehouse of well-used instruments from the Rochester City School District.

“Those instruments were not in good shape,” Denise remembered.

Tim fixed them all up so that they could get them into the hands of schoolchildren.

For many years, Tim would service instruments on the fly during the Gorham Pageant of Bands and for the New York State School Music Association.

“(The award) is a little difficult for Tim because recognition was never something that was an agenda for us,” Denise said. “For us it was more about community, making sure people were turned on to music and able to have quality opportunities to engage with music.”

The Chaapels sold the store to longtime employee Jason Leach in January. While Tim still repairs instruments and tunes pianos about 30 hours a week, he is freed up to play with jazz bands and other groups. Denise is also freed up since she used to be the person overseeing, scheduling, and training staff and dealing with orders, among many other tasks at Mobile Music. And, Denise remains active with Canandaigua’s Business Improvement District.