This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

Meyer Music is a family-owned band-and-orchestra instrument house founded in Blue Springs in 1966 by Ted and Betty Meyer, two school teachers who opened the store with roughly $6,000. Sixty years on it operates three metro stores — Blue Springs, Kansas City North, and Overland Park — with a third generation of the family in the business, serving school music programs across the metro with instrument rentals, repair, lessons, and piano sales.

Description

Meyer Music is a Kansas City metro band-and-orchestra instrument house, family-owned since its founding. Ted and Betty Meyer — both teachers, Betty a traveling music teacher and Ted a high-school band director — opened the first store in Blue Springs, Missouri in 1966 with about $6,000 in capital, at a time when Blue Springs was a town of roughly 1,500 people. Their first commercial account was the Blue Springs School District, and that school-program relationship became the spine of the business.12

Sixty years later the company operates three stores in the metro: the original Blue Springs location on Highway 40, a Kansas City North store on NW Barry Road, and an Overland Park store on West 135th Street that also serves as the company’s piano center.34 The business has stayed narrowly focused rather than diversifying into general music retail — its center of gravity is band and orchestra rental, repair, and servicing school music programs, with a stated reach across 84 school districts as of 2026.2

Three generations of the Meyer family work in the business as of the company’s 60th anniversary, and local coverage has profiled the family under the label “First Family of Music.”25 Betty Meyer died on August 23, 2023.6

Goods and services

  • Band and orchestra instrument rental — the company’s core school-program offering12
  • Instrument sales — band, orchestra, and marching instruments1
  • Instrument repair and servicing2
  • Pianos, including grand pianos; the Overland Park store is presented as a piano center4
  • Music lessons3
  • School music supplies and sheet music “ — commonly listed but not confirmed against a first-party page in this pass

History

The Meyers were school teachers looking to supplement their income when they decided to start a business in Blue Springs; by the family’s own telling the choice came down to an ice cream shop or a music store.1 They chose music, opened in 1966, and signed the Blue Springs School District as their first account.2 Growth followed the metro’s school districts rather than retail foot traffic, and the store added locations north of the river and across the state line in Johnson County over the following decades.

Betty Meyer’s career in the music-products trade was documented by NAMM’s oral history program.7 She died in 2023.6 In 2026 the company marked 60 years in business.2

Sources

Footnotes

  1. City Lifestyle — “The Sound of Something Lasting” — asserts: Ted and Betty Meyer opened the store in 1966 with about $6,000; Betty was a traveling music teacher and Ted taught at Paseo High School then Van Horn High School; Blue Springs had roughly 1,500 people at the time; the founding choice was between an ice cream shop and a music store; family ownership continues. (Accessed via search 2026-08-13.) ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  2. KSHB 41 — “‘First Family of Music’: Meyer Music marks 60 years serving Kansas City’s musicians” — asserts: 60 years in business as of 2026; first store opened off 40 Highway in Blue Springs; founders were Kansas City-area school teachers; first account was the Blue Springs School District; business focus narrowed to band and orchestra rentals and servicing school programs; three locations; three generations of the family working together; trusted across 84 school districts; third generation preparing to lead. This is the primary currently-operating proof. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  3. Meyer Music — official site — asserts: band and orchestra instrument rentals and lessons; three Kansas City-area locations (Blue Springs, Kansas City North, Overland Park); family history from 1966. Location index: meyermusic.com; contact page: meyermusic.com (Accessed via search 2026-08-13 — see note on direct-fetch failure below.) ↩ ↩2

  4. Meyer Music — official Overland Park location page — asserts: Overland Park store at 11890 W 135th St, Overland Park, KS 66221, presented as a music store and piano center. Companion pages: Kansas City North at meyermusic.com (6312-14 NW Barry Rd, Kansas City, MO 64154). Blue Springs address 1512 SW Highway 40, Blue Springs, MO 64015. ↩ ↩2

  5. Kansas City Magazine — “Mike Meyer of KC’s Meyer Music talks about his family’s music enterprise and giving back” — asserts: Mike Meyer as a family principal of the Meyer Music enterprise; family philanthropy tied to music education. ↩

  6. Meyers Funeral Chapel — obituary, Betty Meyer — asserts: Betty Meyer died August 23, 2023. ↩ ↩2

  7. NAMM Oral History Program — Betty Meyer — asserts: Betty Meyer’s recorded oral history within the music products trade; Meyer Music category index at namm.org ↩

Categories

On the record — ks.city/registry/meyer-music · record updated 2026-08-13