Mr. Jeff: From Preschool Teacher to Performer

Jeff Klemm went from playing in a rock band to writing and performing children’s music after the birth of his first child in 2016. He knew that constant touring and late nights in clubs didn’t go with being a dad, so he decided to make a career change and be home more with his family in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. His first gig after quitting the road was to work as a preschool teacher since he’d always loved entertaining his younger siblings and cousins. “Teaching became my passion and I earned my CDA® so I could be more effective in the classroom,” Jeff says. Though he wanted to focus on his new career, a friend at the school encouraged him to bring his guitar to class. Soon Jeff went from playing for his class to performing for the whole school. “Parents began asking me,” Jeff recalls, “when I would be giving my next public performance.”

That would happen after COVID shut down Jeff’s school and inspired him to live stream his own songs. In the years since then, he’s gained fame under the stage name Mr. Jeff, what the children had called him at the preschool. Viewers from around the world tuned into his YouTube videos, and by the beginning of 2024, Jeff was performing live on stage. His appearances at schools, libraries and concert venues have attracted thousands of attendees and Jeff has earned numerous awards for his videos and albums. Both children and adults love the songs he writes and performs because they’re silly and fun to hear while providing serious lessons. “The secret sauce of my songs is that they cover the social, emotional and cognitive areas that I learned about while earning my CDA,” Jeff says. “My songs make an impact because I address issues that matter to children and help young learners validate their feelings.”

The songs Jeff performs and records draw on solid evidence to guide children through the ups and downs of life. “I research what children are feeling, what they’re most stressed out about and what their struggles are,” Jeff says. “Then I use my findings to write my songs. If you put messages into music, it makes a bigger impact on children than if you simply conveyed a message in spoken words. When children begin singing and dancing along, a life lesson becomes concrete to them.”

The importance of music and movement is also an area covered in the CDA and when Jeff is writing a song he often goes back to the notes that he took while earning his credential. He also draws on the lessons he learned from his CDA instructors. “For example,” Jeff says, “I have a song called ‘Relax’ that reflects self-regulation techniques I learned from my CDA classes and from a CDA instructor who talked to me about breathing techniques. Another song, ‘We Hear You,’ is about listening to children and standing up for them,” Jeff says. “That’s a component of the CDA, and it emphasizes the value of respecting children for who they are.”

Jeff also passes on that message in his album “Big Kid Stuff,” which he released last year. “One of the album’s songs, ‘Picasso,’ is about being unique in a society that sometimes tries to mold people to be the same,” Jeff says. “I sing about how Picasso had the sense of vision as a Cubist to paint in a way no one had ever done before and I encourage children to also embrace their creativity and uniqueness. With patience and persistence, as I tell young children, they, too, can do hard things that no one has ever done.”

Jeff also wants children to feel good about everyday achievements. ‘For example, I have a song about learning the ABCs and a song about brushing your teeth alone for the first time,” he says. “I call these steps big kid stuff and children smile when they hear songs like this congratulating them on the small steps they’re taking to grow up.”

Jeff wants to inspire children, and he also draws inspiration from them as well. “One of my first children’s songs ‘Playin’ on the Playground’ came out of my experience as a preschool teacher,” he says, and it’s silly while addressing a serious responsibility that all early childhood teachers face. “The children and I would go outside every day to a playground, and I asked them what part of the playground they liked best. When they told me it was the slide, I wrote a song about the importance of going up the steps first and then down the slide, not the other way around, so the children would be safe when they were playing outside.”

Another activity that caught Jeff’s attention during his years in the classroom was the importance of keeping children safe during meals. “The children would often get up when they ate, and that could cause problems because they might spill something hot or fall backward in their chairs,” Jeff recalls. “So, I wrote a song called ‘We Have a Seat While We Eat.’ The children and I would sing it together and it was a smash hit in my classroom.”

Jeff’s songs are also appealing to adults because the songs have a lot of substance. “I often model behavior in ways that show adults how to help their children. For example, I have a song called ‘Stressed Out’ that I wrote with Juniper, my four-year-old daughter. It shows adults how to initiate a breathing exercise to help children calm down when they’re feeling overstimulated or upset. The chorus of the song includes the reassuring words ‘You’re not your anger. You’re not the mean things you said. You can take them back.’”

There’s research behind messages like this and Jeff wants to impart them to early childhood teachers, so he has begun giving professional workshops based on the competencies set out by the Ohio Child Care Resource & Referral Association. Early childhood teachers can get credits that count toward their professional development and have fun while Jeff shows them how to use songs in the classroom.

“I encourage educators to become artists by writing their own songs, even if they’ve never written a song before,” he says. “And they come to realize they can use songs to address issues they’re having in the classroom. For example, they could sing a song to help children transition from the classroom to the hallway or get ready for naps,” as Jeff explains. His workshops also help teachers use music to support language, literacy, math, motor skills and self-regulation. “I want to empower teachers to use music in their classrooms because I know music helped me when I was in the classroom, too.”

If the teachers need ideas, he encourages them to get help from the children they serve, like he did when he began writing children’s songs. Jeff also draws inspiration from his family, and he considers his work a family project. “My wife, Jillian, is a high school teacher and graphic designer who does all the visual work for my CDs, albums, T-shirts and posters,” Jeff says. “Then there’s Jonah, who’s two, four-year-old Juniper and Silas, who’s 10. Juniper and Silas help me write my songs, and Silas is a special source of inspiration because his birth launched me on my career in children’s music.”

Jeff is grateful that he made the change because making music for children is far more fulfilling than being in a rock band. “Playing rock was fun and a kind of therapy for me because it helped me get out my emotions, but making music for children is better because it’s not about me. I’m serving children by helping them deal with their emotions. I’m serving teachers by helping them perform better in the classroom and I’m giving the community both education and entertainment. I love singing joyful songs that make young learners and their families happy,” Jeff says. He knows that having a way to help others really rocks.