ASM Music Schools

ASM Music Schools has been teaching music lessons in South Florida since 1964, and it advertises itself as the oldest music school in the region. The Cooper City location sits on Griffin Road, in the same commercial corridor as several of the city’s other independent arts businesses, and it remains a family operation more than sixty years after founder Leslie Ray started the school. Today the business is run by Leslie’s daughter, Karin, which gives ASM a kind of continuity that is unusual for a small private music school still operating in its original form rather than being absorbed into a larger franchise chain.

The teaching model at ASM combines private, one on one lessons with small group classes the school calls “bands.” Students can study keyboard, guitar, drums, voice, ukulele, or bass, and the school provides the instrument and sheet music as part of the program, which removes one of the bigger barriers families run into when a child wants to try an instrument before committing to buying gear. New students typically start with a four to six week trial period rather than signing a long term contract right away, a structure that fits ASM’s stated approach of teaching because the instructors genuinely enjoy it rather than pushing students through a rigid curriculum.

Group “band” classes are a distinctive part of the ASM model. Rather than keeping students isolated in private lessons only, the school pairs private instruction with group sessions built around familiar, popular songs, on the idea that kids progress faster and stay more motivated when they get to make music together with peers rather than practicing entirely alone. It is a practical, kid focused approach to music education that leans toward accessibility and enjoyment without giving up on real instrumental technique.

ASM keeps regular studio hours, open weekday afternoons and evenings from 2 to 9 p.m. and Saturday mornings from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., a schedule built around school pickup times rather than a typical retail day. That scheduling, along with the studio’s location directly on Griffin Road, makes it a convenient after school stop for Cooper City families rather than a destination that requires a special trip.

Florida’s Division of Corporations lists ASM Music Schools, Inc. as an active corporation, consistent with the school’s own description of itself as family owned and family operated rather than any kind of chain. Between its multi generational ownership, its decades of continuous operation, and its active state registration, ASM is about as clear an example of an independently owned Cooper City arts business as this research turned up. For families in Cooper City looking for a straightforward, long standing option for instrumental or vocal lessons, ASM Music Schools is a well documented and easily verified choice.