ROCK CAMP DATES
DANIEL H. LEFLER
Danman's Music School Founder & Owner
FREE REPORTS FROM DAN LEFLER
Dan Lefler has been performing, recording, and teaching music in the Southern California area for over 30 years. Today, Dan's Music School has 25+ instructors, 8 studios, over 10,000 alumni, and hundreds of happy kids and parents!
Dan has also published numerous CD's of his original and favorite classical melodies.
Our History
A journey of music, passion, and persistence — since 1987.
Danman’s Music School was founded in 1987 by Daniel H. Lefler, a local musician with a dream to make music accessible, fun, and community-centered. What followed was a decades-long adventure of gigs, lessons, cartoons, retail shops, dreams, failures, comebacks — and above all, thousands of students empowered through music.
Here’s how we got here:
Timeline of Milestones
-
1987 – Danman’s Music Co. is founded; Dan teaches lessons from home and performs live nightly
-
1988 – Wins local talent show and begins weekly gig at Dana Point Wine Bar & Café (now StillWater)
-
1990 - Creates musical cartoon characters Danman and Clef for animated lessons
-
1991 – Moves into first retail location in Dana Point
-
1992 – Business closes; returns to private lessons and performing
-
1992–1998 – Records 9 original and classical music CDs
-
1992–2002 – Performs 300+ live shows per year
-
1999 – Incorporates Danman’s Music and moves into a larger retail space with partners
-
2001 – Dissolves partnership; returns to home-based teaching
-
2002 – Opens Danman’s Music School in its current location at 24699 Del Prado
-
2003 – Adds full-service retail music store
-
2005 – Expands into upstairs teaching space for kids and adults
-
2006 – Launches Danman’s ProTools Recording Studio
-
2007 – Opens Danman’s Dance & Children’s Theater
-
2008 - Founds the Dana Point Children’s Theater & Music Co., a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
-
2008 – Produces 8 children’s musicals including Annie, Charlie Brown, and Grease
-
2009 – Closes theater, recording studio, and nonprofit due to economic shifts
-
2010–2011 – Survives the recession and celebrates 22 years in business
-
2012 – Hosts 60th student concert; Dan’s 24-year weekly performance run ends after an arm injury
-
2013 – Hired as the Sound Engineer at StillWater, running live audio for weekend bands
-
2014 – Celebrates 25 years in business
More On Danman
Dan Lefler – Musician, Mentor, and Founder of Danman’s Music School
Dan Lefler started Danman’s Music School in 1987 as a young, self-taught multi-instrumentalist with a unique gift: he had a knack for collecting students. While performing at festivals, art shows, senior centers, and community events, it became clear that Dan didn’t just love music — he loved teaching it.
In 1988, after winning a local talent show in Dana Point, Dan was invited to play a weekly gig at the Old Dana Point Cafe & Wine Bar — a venue that would later become the Renaissance, and eventually StillWater, the iconic live music venue next door to the school. That one-night booking turned into a 24-year residency, with Dan playing every kind of shift imaginable — Tuesdays, weekends, Sunday brunches, and his signature Wednesday night show with The Danimals — until an unexpected arm injury in 2012 brought the incredible run to a close.
During those years, Dan produced several original CDs, taught hundreds of students, and built a legacy in the local music scene. In 1999, he moved his teaching business into the building where Danman’s Music School still proudly operates today:
📍 24699 Del Prado, Dana Point, CA 92629
Fun Facts About Danman’s
-
Dan Lefler has performed at 5,600+ live events (1987–2013)
-
Danman’s has taught an estimated 100,000+ private music lessons
-
Produced over 7,000 video music lessons between 1997–2013
-
Logged 11,000+ hours coding the Danman’s Online Music Library
-
YouTube channel surpassed 14 million views and 12,500 subscribers by 2014