Under a single roof, kids with the most tentative piano fingers have mingled with the seasoned and celebrated pros of Seattle's symphonies and opera companies. With the directors of both quiet and booming church choirs. And with recreational guitarists in search of ear-wrenching riffs.

For 20 years in its current location on Virginia Street, and for 87 years total, Capitol Music has served as a massively stocked musical mecca for those among us who can pull a song from the pages of sheet music and a woeful wail from a well-lipped reed.

I say "served" because, patiently and with passion, its staff of musicians and music teaching clerks did so much more than ring up receipts. A child with her first recorder and "Wee Sing" book got the same measure of attention as a maestro.

On any given Saturday -- but not this Saturday or the Saturday after that -- the store has been an epicenter and melting pot. On the left side, and high up into the rafters, serious musicians searched for that elusive score that would pull their performance or weekend gig together and make the audience whistle and stomp for more.

On the right, the novices, dabblers and rec room crooners grazed for tunes. And through their midst would burst a line of students -- some still in muddy soccer gear -- streaming in a beeline to the "back room" for lessons. Johnny Jessen, perhaps Seattle's premiere sax teacher, taught there. His students included Kenny G.

In this location, and in others around town since 1919, Capitol Music has been a hands-on haven of musical pursuit unlike anything else in the city and certainly in the suburbs. So it's with a truly bluesy sense of loss that its regulars will see the windows go dark Saturday after the last score, instrument and Elvis songbook have left the building.

Musical Seattle is distraught and singing a hopeful hymn for a resurrection.

Developers have bought the building and land. Capitol Music's lease was to run until March, but current management was told to have everything out by Saturday. That means all the fixtures, counters, computers and "product" down to the last B flat.

A new location in Belltown is being pursued like a combination lover and life raft.

The business is for sale and manager Steve Shields hopes to land at the new address as co-owner and manager. But no contracts have so far been signed.

Meanwhile, everything must be warehoused while devotees hope for the best.

"Everyone except the owners are musicians," Shields told me, meaning lingering like a note. "We need to nurture Seattle's musical community. We do a lot for schools. So many things make this a special place. Kids come in and then hang around all day long."

The Beatles and "Love Story" were big when former owner-manager Paul Leaf, a music teacher, was brought here from Kansas City to take over the store back in '69.

At first it was mostly a sheet music and books department within Sherman Clay music store plus a wholesale business warehoused in Seattle's ominously named Terminal Sales Building. Then it moved to Third Avenue and Pine Street, then to its current location.

That's when Leaf added musical instruments to the inventory. He sold the business 15 years ago but continued to run it for a total of 30 years, with his wife, Pat, working there, too.

Loyal regulars accumulated, drawn by the attention and expertise of a staff that could hear a song whistled or hummed over the phone, name that tune and mail it. "What would you recommend for my Christmas program?" probably was the most frequently asked question, followed by what to play for a wedding, graduation and funeral.

Workshops and reading sessions were held in the back where directors of choirs huge and small came to "walk around" in a piece of music and see if it fit their audience and the skills of their singers.

No title was too obscure. Someone on staff would sit at a piano and play through hundreds of pieces to come up with the 60 or 70 chosen for a read-through session.

"I went there religiously, no pun intended," says Chris Vincent, who directs the choir at Mount Baker Park Presbyterian Church. Music publishing companies sponsor read-through sessions in order to sell their music but, without Capitol Music, he would have had to travel as far as L.A. or Miami to attend.

"It's a wonderful thing they did for the city. They knew what materials you needed, what was popular and what would work for your audience. And there was the luxury of having almost everything you needed right there on the shelf."

Not everything -- certainly not a finely tuned ear, a helping hand and a long-term collaborative relationship -- can be found on the Internet or in a big-box store in the burbs. Let's keep our musical fingers crossed that Capitol Music has not just a long past but a promising future in Seattle.

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