CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas —
88-year-old Ruby Melton has been playing the piano for quite some time and she’s not keeping any of that knowledge to herself.
Music has been a part of Mrs. Melton's life for as long as she can remember. It all started when she stumbled across an old piano after her Sunday school sessions at her childhood church in Brenham, Texas.
“There was an old piano in the back of the church that we weren’t using anymore, and I would go by that piano and try to play it," Melton said. "My daddy saw that I was interested in music and playing the piano, so he asked me ‘You want to take lessons?’ I said ‘Yes, dad!’"
Not long after taking those lessons, at just 11 years old, Mrs. Melton became the leader of her church choir. After moving to Corpus Christi in 1971, she began teaching at what used to be the Chula Vista Academy of Fine Arts on the city’s West side.
After a while, she started what is now known as Melton's Music Makers, the longest running Black-owned music lesson business in Corpus Christi.
Starting in second grade, Sammy Darden is just one of the many students Mrs. Melton has taught.
“I started going to lessons at her house every single Monday after school and that continued all the way through high school,” Darden said.
Now as a police officer in Houston, he takes what he’s learned from Mrs. Melton to take a break from life’s everyday stressors.
“You’re just in another zone, so when I get to come home and play that thing and the new ones I have and just really let go, it’s like taking a thousand pounds off your shoulders," he said. "No matter what, it just takes me back to those Mondays I was with Mrs. Melton.”
Mrs. Melton understands the impact she's had on students like Darden. Although they may carry on with other interests, her wish is that they always hold what she's taught them close to their heart, just as she's held them close to hers.
“I just hope that they have this love for music, and they can continue the rest of their lives with music," she said. "Don’t give your music up because music is a great thing to have in your life."
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