Gloria Chang remembers when music students came to her family’s Irvine home when she was a little girl.

Those days were the humble beginnings of what grew into Irvine Art & Music, a one-stop music shop in Culver Plaza celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

“I grew up with some of the kids,” says Gloria Chang, who manages the family business while also working as a nurse practitioner. “But I don’t think we’d recognize each other anymore because we’ve changed how we look.”

Irvine Art & Music has changed and grown, offering not only music lessons but instrument sales, repairs, rentals and a special program called Scholars in Arts and Sciences for students in grades 8 through 11.

Realizing the American dream

Chang’s parents, Jennifer Wang and Howard Chang, came to Irvine from their native Taiwan hoping to start a business and achieve the American dream.

They partnered with musicians who taught the lessons while Howard Chang employed his skills repairing instruments and Wang, who plays a little bit of piano, managed the business operations.

After a couple of years, they moved the business to the Culver Drive location.
When the recession hit in 2008, Chang’s parents became the sole proprietors of Irvine Art & Music, working 12 hours a day, six days a week to stay open.

The hard work and connection made with students and their families paid off: Irvine Art & Music provides weekly lessons to some 400 students – from ages 5 to 80 – and employs more than a dozen instructors, all accomplished musicians themselves.

A family affair

Chang stepped in when her mother began to express how tired they were becoming, along with worrying about how to grow the company. Chang’s younger brother also helps when needed.

Chang, who spent her youth at the business, learned five instruments.

Where growth in the past was by word of mouth, this is the first year the business will do outreach and marketing with an aim to meet the needs of schools that want to expand their music education.

And for schools that need instruments repaired, Irvine Art & Music is available.

It helps that Irvine is a community where music education is mandatory in grades 4 to 6.

“There is a lot of hope because music is such a niche industry,” Gloria Chang says. “We’ve been just really successful. People know that we have exceptional customer service.”

Often, students would come to the safe space of Irvine Art & Music and stay for hours playing music in the rooms. Working parents appreciated that.

Now in their mid-60s, Howard Chang and Jennifer Wang are regularly greeted by young adults who took lessons as children and come by to say hello.

“They always ask for my parents,” Gloria Chang says. “They say ‘Uncle Howard’ or ‘Auntie Jennifer.’ It always just brings back such good memories.”