Strains of violin music thread through the many paned windows of the gray and white building.  It is admirable music but not for skilled bowing and fingering or lovely phrasing.  Clearly it is not the work of an experienced violinist.  Instead, it is obvious the instrument 

     But the interest in flying never got in the way of the music.  Gottschalk remained first and foremost a teacher of music and sometimes he found ways to combine his two interests.  For example, he initiated a part of his teaching strategy to reward individual progress.  One reward he gave students was a ride in an airplane.

     Gottschalk devoted as much time as he thought necessary to his students.  He arrived at school one to two hours early every morning and stayed at school for several hours after class so he could give individual lessons to his students.  According to Clayton, he often said your band is only as good as your weakest player.  He was determined to have no weak players.

     Even though the elder Gottschalk died in 1980, the music store he founded in his front room in Michigan and moved to Modesto 50 years ago, continues to flourish and now has four full-time and three part-time employees.  There has been a renewed emphasis on music instruction which matches that when the center first opened in Modesto, and Clayton and the others are looking for interesting ways to attract young people to music.  For example, the Center has started sponsoring a summer band specifically to march in the Fourth of July parade in Modesto.  This year the summer band had 48 musicians, a drum majorette and banner carriers.  The young people commit to an intense period of study and practice for at least two hours a day to prepare for the event that will end in their dissolution -- the Fourth of July parade in Modesto.