About
Music Around offers private lessons, group classes, room rental, and live music. Students can study Early Childhood Music Education, classical voice, jazz vocals, pop vocals, RNB vocals, saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, violin, viola, cello, double bass, piano, guitar, bass, and drums. The program also includes Kids Bop Tots, Youth Improvisation Class, Youth Woodwinds Class, Youth Performance Class, Adults Latin Jazz Combo, Adults Repertory Ensemble, and Adults Standards Combo, along with access to piano practice rooms and a drum room.
• Ages: 0–18 years old
Music Around serves as the welcoming entry point for students of all ages, providing private lessons, early childhood programs, and a pathway into the Academy’s deeper contemporary and jazz studies. The program combines a traditional curriculum with jazz pathways into contemporary and improvised music under one roof, which is described as rare in Orange County and Southern California. Music Around serves as a gateway for children and youth across Orange County, offering early exposure to a wide range of instruments, musical styles, and learning formats, and students who show interest and readiness are guided into the Academy’s more comprehensive curriculum emphasizing improvisation, harmony, ensemble playing, and the living language of jazz.
Each teacher brings at least two decades of professional and teaching experience. Piano practice rooms are equipped with regularly tuned and serviced Kawai and Yamaha upright studio pianos, and the drum room has professionally tuned and setup Ludwig and Gretsch acoustic kits with pro-level and reduced audio cymbals. Complimentary trial lessons are offered as a courtesy and are limited to one trial per child or family, all trial bookings require written email confirmation within 24 hours or the trial lesson time is released, and if a trial lesson is rescheduled more than twice, the organization reserves the right to decline scheduling any additional trial lessons for that family.
In 2019, the organization formally became SoCal Jazz Academy LLC and launched its first website at socaljazz.com. In January 2025, SoCal Jazz Academy and Music Around merged and found a new home at Dana Plaza in Lake Forest under the umbrella of musicaround.com, operating as SoCal Jazz Academy DBA Music Around LLC. The program grew quickly, fueled by a community need for a neighborhood hub dedicated to jazz education at the street level, and built a strong, trusted presence in the community in Lake Forest. Dr. Karim was involved in the founding and early teaching of the program. Live music is available for private parties such as wedding receptions, birthday parties, house concerts, and celebrations of life, as well as for corporate events including cocktail receptions and thematic or seasonal events such as Valentine’s and Christmas.
Last updated July 16, 2026.
• Ages: 0–18 years old
Music Around serves as the welcoming entry point for students of all ages, providing private lessons, early childhood programs, and a pathway into the Academy’s deeper contemporary and jazz studies. The program combines a traditional curriculum with jazz pathways into contemporary and improvised music under one roof, which is described as rare in Orange County and Southern California. Music Around serves as a gateway for children and youth across Orange County, offering early exposure to a wide range of instruments, musical styles, and learning formats, and students who show interest and readiness are guided into the Academy’s more comprehensive curriculum emphasizing improvisation, harmony, ensemble playing, and the living language of jazz.
Each teacher brings at least two decades of professional and teaching experience. Piano practice rooms are equipped with regularly tuned and serviced Kawai and Yamaha upright studio pianos, and the drum room has professionally tuned and setup Ludwig and Gretsch acoustic kits with pro-level and reduced audio cymbals. Complimentary trial lessons are offered as a courtesy and are limited to one trial per child or family, all trial bookings require written email confirmation within 24 hours or the trial lesson time is released, and if a trial lesson is rescheduled more than twice, the organization reserves the right to decline scheduling any additional trial lessons for that family.
In 2019, the organization formally became SoCal Jazz Academy LLC and launched its first website at socaljazz.com. In January 2025, SoCal Jazz Academy and Music Around merged and found a new home at Dana Plaza in Lake Forest under the umbrella of musicaround.com, operating as SoCal Jazz Academy DBA Music Around LLC. The program grew quickly, fueled by a community need for a neighborhood hub dedicated to jazz education at the street level, and built a strong, trusted presence in the community in Lake Forest. Dr. Karim was involved in the founding and early teaching of the program. Live music is available for private parties such as wedding receptions, birthday parties, house concerts, and celebrations of life, as well as for corporate events including cocktail receptions and thematic or seasonal events such as Valentine’s and Christmas.
Last updated July 16, 2026.
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