Grove Sale Would Let Music Go On : School: A deal involving the Van Nuys institution, which had lost $1 million and a large number of students, is expected to be finalized next week.

The Grove School of Music is back on key.

For months, the Van Nuys school faced closure unless it could find a last-minute savior. In the first six months of this year, Grove lost $1 million and more than 25% of its student body; its future was next.

But now its future appears bright. Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts, a Florida-based arts school, has agreed to purchase Grove, according to Todd Ferguson, Grove’s administrator. Full Sail will manage the school, which will keep its academic programs intact, Ferguson said, adding that the sale is expected to be final next week.

“It’s the ideal marriage,” he said. “Now we get business expertise and marketing expertise, the two things that we needed here. That leaves us to concentrate on the teaching.”

The relationship was forged by a combination of economic factors. Due to a state law that took effect in September, Grove was required to refund an additional $200,000 to students who terminated their studies in the middle of the session. Coupled with declining enrollment and the recession, the school suddenly found itself in trouble after a steady three-year climb toward solvency.

“We were right on course for the turnaround when the bill hit,” said Ferguson, referring to the student refunds. “It happened to come at a terrible time.”

The school had implemented short-term solutions, reducing operating expenses, advertising and wages for its 80 instructors. But the cuts in advertising only made it more difficult to attract students. Enrollment is down about 45% from July, 1990-- from 125 to 70 students. Grove’s total enrollment is 350 students, down from 470 last year.

An earlier plan for the University of Dundee, Scotland, to purchase Grove fell through in mid-June when funding couldn’t be arranged.

After that, things turned desperate, with Grove officials contacting professional musicians in their search for an investor.

“We went through the phone book, but it was a tough sale,” Ferguson said. “They’d like the place, but looked at the books and weren’t interested.”

All seemed lost until, by coincidence a few months ago, the school interviewed a Full Sail graduate who was applying for a job. Grove officials then contacted the Florida school, which was considering expansion, Ferguson said.

Negotiations began, and an agreement was reached when Grove raised the money to cover its immediate debts. Full Sail officials contacted by The Times confirmed that negotiations are under way to purchase the Grove school, but declined to comment further.

Full Sail, established in 1979, offers programs in video and film production, as well as recording engineering. In 1989, the school moved into a 28,500-square-foot multi-studio complex in Winter Park, an Orlando suburb.

Both Ferguson and Dick Grove, the Van Nuys school’s president and founder, say they expect no substantial changes under Full Sail’s stewardship. Ferguson said a small sales staff will likely come in to manage business affairs. School officials hope a renewed national and international advertising campaign to attract new students will pay off soon.

“We got a new lease on life,” said Grove, 63, who started teaching classes in 1973 after a successful career as a composer, arranger and jazz pianist. He’s also written a number of music books.

As a regular lecturer at universities in the 1960s, Grove said he became alarmed at the quality of musical instruction.

“They were teaching theories on what music is,” Grove said, “but not enough about how to apply the music to each individual. You have to learn how to hear and how to relate to it. There was a big void, like an unexplored world. At the end of the road, the students didn’t have the skills.”

Gradually, Grove School of Music developed out of his classes and, in 1979, was accredited by the National Assn. of Schools of Music as a non-degree-granting, private, post-secondary institution.

Since 1988, the school has occupied a 38,000-square-foot building that once housed the Daily News.

Students pay about $8,500 a year in tuition to take classes in songwriting, singing, sound engineering and various instruments. All forms of music are taught, from funk to heavy metal. Jazz, because of its harmonic construction, is the most popular form used to develop a person’s ear. Most classes run for one year.

Grove requires that all teachers be working professionals in the music industry. The faculty includes famous composers Bill Conti and Henry Mancini.

When Grove realized that his school was in danger, he feared that students would hold him responsible.

That fear soon dissolved. When students learned of the school’s financial situation, Grove officials were surprised by the immediate positive response.

“Not one student walked out,” said Grove, adding that students raised $25,000 in a few days. One student, he said, brought in a check for $5,000. In addition, Rachel Pollack, a Grove student and daughter of Academy Award-winning director Sydney Pollack, has started a fund-raising campaign with her father’s support. Without Full Sail’s involvement, however, those efforts would not have saved the school in time.

Grove, who teaches 34 hours a week, insists that the school has made a huge impact on many lives. And some students agree.

“I was an illiterate musician before,” said Doug LeBow, a recent Grove graduate who works as a recording producer. “I learned how to really analyze and hear any type of music in your ear before you ever have to write it down.”