Sessions Songwriting and Music, Santa Monica

Lauren Bruns began singing in an oldies cover band in her early teens before branching out in college as a solo artist on Austin's Sixth Street. After four years in Los Angeles—during which she won V05's Red Hot Rising Star contest and signed a deal with Sony—Lauren decided to focus on working with children. She realized that kids had no access to music programs with songwriting components, so she spent three years teaching youngsters at in-home lessons and schools, all the while shaping a curriculum that encouraged kids to express themselves with original lyrics, finely tuned eyebrow raises, and music.

In 2011, Lauren opened her kids-only songwriting studio where expert teachers imbue children aged 4 and up with sight-reading, improvisation, and music-recording fundamentals. Music makers can learn basic guitar chords at private or group lessons, record an original song in the recording booth, belt out a tune on the performance stage, and practice for life on the road in the hotel-room trashing simulator. Youngsters can also experiment with different rhythms and vocal effects at GarageBand tutorials and learn a new instrument or write a new song at one-week summer-camp sessions.