By While most students occupy themselves with learning materials for their classes, Anne Marie Runco occupies herself with teaching materials for her music studio.
Runco, a sophomore double major in music education and music performance, has worked with former Chapman University student Ryan Pino and senior geography major Josh Shuttlesworth to start a business: Orange County Creative Studios (OCCS).
“I had considered getting a business degree, so I could open up my own business, but [the studio] presented an opportunity to do so without actually taking business as another major,” Runco said.
OCCS, a student-run music studio and school located in Orange, Calif., opened in June. The school, which is currently run out of Pino’s house, has two recording studios and a garage where lessons are held with students.
Runco said that OCCS had only a few pieces of musical equipment when it first opened, but the studio and school have expanded inventory as business picked up.
“The idea was to do recording during the week and hopefully, eventually, get big name labels to come in and record, so we got the highest top-level equipment we could,” Runco said.
At the music school, students aged 12 to 20 can learn or practice music production, music recording, music theory and songwriting, according to Runco. Students can also learn how to DJ and use Logic Pro X, a songwriting, editing and mixing program.
Runco said Pino played a major role at the start of OCCS by bringing many connections from Chapman University, along with his own work as a musician and teacher.
Prior to opening OCCS, Pino taught music through another program, and some of his students, such as 12-year-old Gigi Copeland, followed him to the studio in Orange.
“Being taught by college students is great because they are so fun,” Copeland said. “And they can relate to us … At OCCS, they make us feel like they are our friends, not just our teachers.”
Runco said she is more involved with the school than the studio, where she teaches classes on musical theory, songwriting and piano. The lessons are taught on a one-on-one basis, something that senior percussion and education major and OCCS teacher Matt Olson said he enjoys.
“At OCCS we’re allowed to cater our teaching to what the kids want to do more so than what the State wants you to do,” said Olson, who has taught privately and as a substitute teacher for the Long Beach Unified School District.
When OCCS started, the focus was geared more toward the school, but Runco said she hopes they can move to a better location and have a more professional studio, making the school a smaller portion of OCCS.
Runco also said a new location would create a better learning environment for the five teachers and 14 students, who find themselves shifting around the house constantly.
“Right now one person will be in the studio learning how to run recording sessions, while another kid will be in the garage learning how to DJ, and someone else will be in the living room learning how to play the guitar and write songs,” Runco said.
OCCS students can learn percussion, voice, ukulele, piano and guitar, but Runco said she does not want a lack of certain lessons to discourage anyone from joining the school and studio.
“Even if you think that one of us may not know how to play the instrument you want to learn, somebody would pick up that instrument and learn it to the level they can teach it,” Runco said.
The CSULB student said she is trying to network and promote her studio with the goal of expanding OCCS and making it a professional and profitable business.
OSSC charges $30 for a half-hour session, $40 for a 45-minute session and $45 for a one-hour session. The music school runs from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
For more information, visit the OCCS Facebook at www.facebook.com/occreativestudios.
