Music Instructor

Jeffrey Luna-Sparks graduated with a B.S. in Humanities from Heritage University in Greenwood, Indiana in 1979. He taught music 6th to 12th Grade for three years and then was an interpreter, teacher and counselor for the Deaf at Indiana Vocational Technical College. Then he returned to his love of music and received his B.S. in Instrumental Music Education from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana in 1990. He then received a Masters of Music Education with a Kodaly Emphasis in 1996. Jeff has taught general classroom music, band, and choir for 23 years. He was the director of music at B. Gale Wilson Elementary in Fairfield, California for 10 years where he directed more than 30 children’s musicals and led the school to the California Distinguished Schools Visual and Performing Arts Award.

During his tenure in Fairfield three of his students were selected for the Kodaly National Honor Choir, two show choirs were selected by audition to perform at Disneyland in Anaheim, California and numerous students received First Place Awards at the California State Solo & Ensemble Competition and five students were awarded the Command Performance Honor. For the last 10 years Jeff has been the musical director of Jingle Jamboree Music Studios in Berkeley and Albany where he has taught Kodaly Music classes to children ages 6 months to 10 years. His music classes receive rave reviews from the children and parents who attend. Jeff is also currently the music teacher at Gay Austin School, Duck’s Nest in Berkeley, Berkeley Hills Nursery School, and Humingbird Montessori School. Jeff’s preschool students have been selected by the teachers from the Liszt Academy in Budapest, Hungary for the last five years to be the featured group at the International Kodaly Teacher’s Conference at Holy Names University. His choirs have also performed at the Bay Area Kodaly Choral Festival. Jeff also created the Bay Area’s First and only Kodaly Summer Music Camp for Elementary Students of which several Crestmont students have attended and Crestmont alumni return to perform for the elementary campers.

Jeff believes that laughter, playfulness, and happiness is the key to inspiring young musicians to music literacy. Through singing in-tune and folk music games children learn to read and write music with the Kodaly method. Jeff is thrilled to be teaching music at Crestmont School. For more information see: www.jinglejamboree.com and kodaly.hnu.edu.