David Eisner:
A Life of Musical Traditions

By Sarah dean

It's Monday night at the St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Rockville and the crowd is on their feet calling for an encore. Crooked Still, an upcoming alternative bluegrass band, has just finished playing their set for the Monday night concert series hosted by the Institute of Musical Traditions. The series is the brainchild of David Eisner, owner of Takoma Park's House of Musical Traditions. As usual, Eisner is in the back working the sound booth with the crew. "Part of me doesn't like to be in the audience," says Eisner. "I like to be helping to make the thing work."

Eisner has always liked helping to make things happen. In high school he logged over 700 hours volunteering as a member of the Leaders Club, helping with gym and swim classes. And as an active member of the Democratic Republic of Maryland at UMD, Eisner says he was idealistic about ending Vietnam. "I realized years later that if you want changes, you need to go local." Disturbed by the nation's dependence on fossil fuels, he began running his three vehicles on biodiesel. And when he wanted the Silver Spring YMCA he frequents to make building improvements, he decided to join the board. "If I start complaining about something, I join an organization to start a change."

This ongoing desire for positive change has led Eisner into a number of community initiatives. In addition to the running the store and the Monday night concert series, Eisner hosts the "Musical Traditions" segment on the cable access show "Coffee House," serves as Vice President of The Old Town Business Association in Takoma Park, and coaches youth basketball for The Barrie School in Montgomery County. He was awarded the 2005 Excellence in the Arts and Humanities by the Arts & Humanities Council of Montgomery County. He was also recently named Executive of the Year for his work with the Institute of Musical Traditions as well as Best Live Sound Engineer at the Washington Area Music Association Awards.

Eisner's store, The House of Musical Traditions, acts as a sort of nexus for his many community arts endeavors. When Eisner bought the store in 1972, it was just a shop front in a loft apartment in the East Village of New York City. He had heard about a couple that was making lap dulcimers, and he went to check it out. They happened to be getting ready to move to L.A., and they sold the instrument side of the store to him. Six weeks later he moved the store to Takoma Park.

The store has since grown to offer instruments ranging from the guitar to the bouzouki, and offers lessons, rentals, repairs, books and workshops. There's a bulletin board to advertise local music events and a large selection of traditional music recordings--but only those by local artists.

As with most of Eisner's initiatives, the Monday night Concert series grew organically out of his love for community and music. He held a concert in the store for a visiting musician friend back in 1981 and 21 people showed up. It was so much fun that he began holding a concert every Monday. The concerts grew more and more crowded. Eisner laughs as he remembers people sitting on laps and behind the counter. "We used to ask our friends to go lock some of the guitars in their cars [to make room]." Finally, a concert for Karen Ashbrook that drew a crowd of 105 drove them out of the store. They moved the concert series to Takoma Café until it outgrew that, and then to various Unitarian churches until it eventually landed at its present home at St. Mark.

Writing his father's eulogy last March brought clarity to Eisner about his motivations for sharing music with the community. "I realized my father had spent his entire life making people feel good." His father was a dentist, but his first love was music. He played violin in the New Jersey Symphony for years and at the age of 66 started a quartet with his wife and two others. Growing up, Eisner was always around music and musical people. "Going out and making people's lives better seemed like the right thing to do."

Eisner says the human condition keeps him inspired. There's a sixth grader he's coaching in basketball who initially didn't really want to play. Now, says Eisner, he sees him getting into it, and getting better. "That inspires me," he said. "Watching Rushad [Eggleston] play the cello tonight--seeing a musician open up the possibilities on an instrument--that inspires me."

After the concert, he's still energized by Crooked Still's performance. "This is the whole idea--to bring a band that's not so well known--and to see them get a standing ovation." But he's equally energized by the excitement he felt from the crowd. He's thrilled that the community was able to come together and hear the band before they start playing at larger venues. "It's a blast," Eisner says, as he says of many of his endeavors. "The spirit of keeping a community together is extremely important."

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