Our Story • Sounds of Color Studio • Orange County, California
Our Story.
Sounds of Color Studio is the realization of a dream that started back in 1990. Bri Harb had recently graduated college and decided it was time to apply her passion for music and started her own business teaching piano lessons from her home. At first, her students were mostly neighborhood kids, but word quickly spread, and families started signing up from all over Orange County. People were tired of traditional piano lessons filled with repetitive exercises and strictly playing classical genres. From the beginning, Bri’s approach to teaching piano was to focus on what the student wanted to accomplish, helping them foster a lifelong passion for music and learning.
2007 marked an exciting addition to Bri’s home-teaching business as she opened her first group art class in her garage that had been converted into a fully functioning art studio classroom. The student-driven approach to learning continued in her art classes, and at any time students could be found enjoying working on a variety of different projects and art mediums. As the business began to reach new heights, so did the accomplishments of her students. Each year, Bri’s students collected awards from Orange County’s most prestigious youth art competitions including the Laguna Beach Festival of Arts and the OC Fair’s Imaginology. Students who had also started art or piano classes at a young age were now applying to Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) for middle school and high school. The high acceptance rate among her students made Bri the “go-to” teacher for helping students prepare to successfully audition to OCSA.
In 2016, Bri realized that her business had outgrown her home and that it was time to open her first studio location. The decision to open in Santa Ana, and in the heart of Orange County, was an easy one. Not only did the city have a vibrant downtown arts and culture scene, but Bri’s home business, and many of her families, were based in Santa Ana for the past two decades. Opening her first studio in Santa Ana was a way for Bri to help serve even more students and give back to the community that had given her so much over the years. The studio’s grand opening was a heartwarming celebration, with appearances from the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, and many past and present families and students, including Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido, whose own children took piano and art lessons with Bri at her home.
When Sounds of Color Studio first opened its doors to the public, only three classes were offered: piano, art, and French language classes. Today, over 10 different classes are available for students of all ages and experience levels. New classes including yoga, kids’ dance, fashion and sewing, musical theater, creative writing, digital art, and much more have made Sounds of Color Studio the only school in Orange County to offer the largest variety of music and creative arts classes. As the list of classes grew, so did the team of teachers working with Bri to help support the mission of inspiring creativity and a passion for the arts in every student. Sounds of Color Studio remains a family-owned business, with every member of Bri’s family helping support different aspects of the studio.
At the heart of it all remains the same passion and sense of purpose that started back when Bri taught her first piano lesson in the living room of her home. The belief that anyone, regardless of their age or experience level, is capable of learning something new. Sometimes, all that’s needed is the right teacher, or team of teachers, to help inspire creativity, potential, and joy within all of us.