Leif Hall is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Music with a Bachelor of Music Education Degree. His graduate studies were in Educational Organization and Leadership at the University of Illinois. He has taught music for 23 years in the states of Texas, Illinois, California, and Indiana. Most recently, Mr. Hall was Director of Bands at West Briar Middle School in Houston where he worked closely with Mr. Joey Brunson, former Director of Bands at Westside High School. The bands Mr. Hall has directed in the past have earned UIL Sweepstakes Awards and performed at the Orange Bowl Parade in Miami, FL, New York City’s Veteran’s Day Parade, the Peach Bowl Parade in Atlanta, GA, Walt Disney World in Orlando, FL, and New York City’s Carnegie Hall. Mr. Hall’s family is full of musicians with his daughter as an oboe player, his son as a french horn player, his sister as a french horn player and former drum major, his brother as a percussionist and former performer with the broadway show STOMP, his father as a tuba player, and himself as a trumpet player.

Educator and performer Zachary Luftop has been teaching in the Houston area in different capacities for the last ten years. He attended the University of Houston as a Tier One Scholar where he graduated magna cum laude with a degree in music education and music performance. From there he went on to teach at Bellaire High school as a band director and a class piano teacher until 2022 when he began teaching at Kerr HS. Outside of public education he has been active as a private teacher, teaching classical and jazz piano as well as theory to adults and children since 2018.