A visitor to John Robbs’ apartment in the rear of what was once his father’s auto parts store walks a narrow pathway through a maze of rooms filled with piano keyboards, drum sets, guitars and various kinds of sound equipment.

John Robbs plays on one of the drum sets that with other musical instruments and sound equipment fill his apartment in a downtown storefront. The Baker University senior has be selected to be a member of an all-collegiate band that will perform in March in Nashville.

Robbs apologizes for the clutter, saying he’s supposed to be working on that. But the collection of musical instruments and sound equipment reveals what truly consumes his time.

“I’ve always been into music,” he said. “I played the piano and guitar since I can remember.”

He still plays the guitar at his church and added the French horn later as a school band instrument, but drums would become his go-to instrument.

“I like the independent aspect,” he said. “I like that all your limbs are busy while making music.”

You might think that the apartment is a drummer’s exile from the family home. That’s not the case. Robbs said his parents, Ken and Jill Robbs, have been fully supportive of his musical pursuits. His parents gave him a drum set to replace a makeshift one he pieced together while in junior high from the gift of a bass drum, some snares he bought cheap off the Internet and cymbals converted from a hand-held marching pair.

“My parents never discouraged me,” he said. “I had a drum set in the family room of our house, which was nice.”

Ken Robbs, who still runs an auto repair shop next door, has made available the closed parts store as a rehearsal and recording studio and proudly tells visitors of his son recently finding $1,000 of recording equipment on the Internet for $40.

Robbs said much of that purchase duplicated equipment he already had and with which his alternative rock band Dirigible Squared, which includes fellow Baldwin High School graduates Fred McClenahan and Max Combest, used to record two albums in the storefront.

Robb doesn’t live in the apartment because of the studio, but because of its proximity to the Baker University campus a block away, where he is a senior majoring in art history with dual minors in music and business.

Baker has also provided additional musical outlets. He’s a member of the school’s concert orchestra and percussion ensemble. They have enhanced his musicianship because they require a different approach than the music he plays with his friends.

“It’s more complicated,” he said. “As a percussionist, I’ve been able to play the marimba and xylophone. They’re more melodic than drums, which I like, but I’m not as good at it.

“Steve Riley, my percussion instructor, has been very supportive. Last year for the percussion recital, he let me do a full-on fusion rock piece.”

His talent hasn’t gone unappreciated. Last week, Robbs was selected to play percussion in the National Small College/Community College Intercollegiate Band. He will travel from March 25 through 28 to Nashville, Tenn., to join students from other American and Canadian universities. They will rehearse and perform under the direction of Ray Cramer, professor emeritus from Indiana University.

A press release from university said the selection was based on Robbs’ application and Baker band director Frank Perez’s evaluation and recommendation.

The trip will take him back to Nashville, a musical mecca.

“I’ve been there three times, actually,” he said. “It’ll be fun to go back. It has one of the coolest drum stores I’ve ever been in. We’ll be pretty busy rehearsing and playing. I don’t know how much time we’ll get on our own. I hope we get a little time to look around.”

Set to graduate in May, Robbs has no intention of stepping away from music. He plans to further adapt the old storefront into a studio, although he concedes it’s not large enough to be a full-fledged recording studio.

He’s open to giving private teaching lessons or anything that keeps him involved in playing and producing music and is mulling the possibility of graduate school.

“If I do, it would be to study audio engineering somewhere,” he said.