Story & Lesson Highlights with Jeff Costello of Downtown Zeeland

Jeff Costello shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Jeff, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned about your customers?
Perhaps the most surprising thing I’ve learned about my customers is also one of the things that makes my job of teaching music lessons incredibly interesting. It’s that my customers are all different. They all bring in their own set of experiences and ability levels and it’s always a fun challenge trying to reach them where they are and to provide them with instruction that suits their current situation.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
My name is Jeff Costello. I own and operate Zeeland Academy of Music in Zeeland, MI. We opened our doors in January of 2020, spent most of 2020 teaching remotely via Zoom, and we now have four teachers with about 100 total students studying Voice, Piano, Guitar, Drums, Bass, Violin, Viola, Cello, Woodwind and Brass instruments.

At ZAM we strive to make learning music fun! All of our teachers are highly qualified and experienced and we all love teaching.

In addition to my in person students (about 30 per week) I have several Voice students in various locations in the US and abroad who study with me via Zoom. Over the years I’ve taught students from all over the US, Canada, Mexico, Columbia, England, Germany and Australia!

Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world tapped me on the shoulder and said, “hey, you’re going to be a teacher,” I was in a regional touring A Circuit rock band after college. During our most successful period (1991-1994) Paris Blue typically played six nights/week about fifty weeks/year, or about 300 shows per year. We had a 26′ former U-Haul truck full of sound and lighting equipment that we’d load in and out of every venue we played. Sometimes, multiple times per week in multiple venues.

We consider ourselves very fortunate to have been able to be a part of the last great chapter of the A Circuit rock scene in the US Midwest. We played several venues that by the mid-late 90s were no longer live rock venues which was sad to witness. It was a great ride while it lasted.

I have to admit that becoming a teacher, in the same town I grew up in, was a bitter pill to swallow at first because it meant that I’d given up on my initial dream of being on MTV and the radio someday. I later realized that teaching was truly where I belonged.

When did you stop hiding your pain and start using it as power?
I don’t know if I can really call it “pain” but as a middle school choir director, I wasn’t satisfied with the status quo. As a result, I wasn’t truly happy as a music teacher at first. I’m not sure I realized that for several years, but I eventually did. I realized that I was not the stereotypical public school choir director who had a strong desire to take groups to competitions to win trophies. At heart, I was a pop-rocker!

In 2009 I made a conscious decision to stop taking my groups to Choral Festival and to start programming more Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) for our performances. Not only did the kids appreciate that, but the parents REALLY appreciated it.

From there the choir program at my school grew by leaps and bounds. We were interviewed two years in a row by a local TV station because of how out of the ordinary our Choir Rock Concerts were. Shortly thereafter, I presented How to Stage a Choir Rock Concert at the Association for Popular Music Education conference and also contributed a chapter to the book, Action-Based Approaches in Popular Music Education published by F Flat Books: https://fflat-books.com/product/action-based-approaches-in-popular-music-education/

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. Is the public version of you the real you?
I believe it is.
I mean, everyone’s social media presence tends to lean toward only positive things so I supposes I’m as guilty of that as most folks. As Brad Paisley sang, “I’m much cooler online.”

What really bugs me is when people appear to take on some sort of a persona on social media. It’s like a game or an act to them I guess, and they enjoy playing a character. That’s just not me. I always try my best to be the most authentic ME online and in public. Heck, I taught middle school choir for 24 years. One cannot be “fake” and survive a minute in that environment because the kids see right through it.

I’ll never forget, years ago at a conference for voice teachers, some folks I’d known on FB for years but only just met in person complemented me for being the same in person as I am online. I believe “positive and upbeat” were what they said.
That meant a lot to me then and I try to live by that to this day.

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. When have you had to bet the company?
When we first agreed to lease space in a downtown storefront, it suddenly became very real because we barely had enough students to make rent. Then, the covid shutdowns hit and we pivoted all lessons to Zoom. We were extremely fortunate that the majority of our students decided to try the Zoom platform for music lessons and most were satisfied to the level of wishing to continue.

Then, something we never could’ve predicted happened: We blew up.
I believe in February of 2020 I had about twelve total students and by June of 2020 I had THIRTY students. Parents were signing their kids up left and right because they couldn’t do soccer, little league or dance but they could take music lessons from me via Zoom! It was shortly after that my wife Sherry and I decided I could retire from my public school teaching gig and teach basically full time at Zeeland Academy of Music.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://zeelandacademyofmusic.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zeelandacademyofmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MrCostello1000

Image Credits
Susan Park