We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Darrell Leffler a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Darrell, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most rewarding and enjoyable projects I have ever done was the children’s television music show, Maestro Darrell’s Music Workshop. The project started over 15 years ago where I produced, directed and starred. We aired over 120 episodes for CreaTV. In 2012, our television show won the CreaTV Excellence Award Director Award. At that time, my two sons, Jordan, eight and Matthew, seven, were often co stars on the show. Today, we are now relaunching Maestro Darrell’s Music Workshop and Jordan is now a co host. Coming back are original characters like Billy Bass Clef, Tina Treble Clef, and Music Note Hunter. The original Music Note Hunter as well as Maestro Darrell’s Music Workshop can still be found on Youtube. Our goal today is to bring the joy of music to children all over the world, for free. Not only will our young audience learn how to play the piano, but also music theory, music history, geography and math, all which are part of music education. As my career starts to end, it a great to have a meaningful and passionate project with my son Jordan

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My dad was not in favor of me studying music and going into the music teaching business. Only my mom gave me the full support to become a music major. But I do understand how concerned my dad was because the music teaching business is difficult to survive. But what gave us our success of the last 35 years is how fun our music lessons are for our young students. We incorporate laughter and games to keep our students inspired. Of course the children think the games are for fun, but we as teachers use the games as a tool to sharpen the skills of the class. With a little competition among students. they have a tendency to pay attention a little more because they want to do well in the games. But the key is how much fun they have and the friends they make, with the common good of learning music together.

How did you build your audience on social media?

At this time, both music schools that I operate are at it’s highest success and popularity since the beginning days over 35 years ago. But it was not by accident. Prior to the Covid years, I would put out street signs to bring in more students. I would also do free music assemblies for the schools nearby. But after covid, I hired a social media director, who organized our Facebook Page and website. We then brought on an SEO company. The SEO company coached me on how to advertise smartly as well as get our names on top of Google Searches. Even today, we still use the services of the Social Media Director and SEO company. With their help, I left the old fashioned way of advertising and started a new modern campaign.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

When I was working on my Master’s Degree at San Jose State University, my late teacher, Marina Grin new that I was not the most talented performer among her students, but was very passionate about bringing the joy of music to the next generation. She once told me, “Your Mission in life is preserve and bring the art of music to the next generation.” I have never forgotten that day. I still think of her and how she inspired me to do what I do.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://leffleracademy.com
• Facebook: LefflerAcademy
• Youtube: Darrell Leffler’s Academy of Music

Image Credits

This is a photo of me and my son Jordan during a performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at San Jose State University.