Steven Deluca
- Adjunct Professor Cali School of Music
Biography
Steve DeLuca has been a professional musician and music educator for forty years. As a teacher and performer, Steve wears many hats. He has taught at Maywood Avenue School in Maywood, NJ for 21 years, where he is the general music teacher and choir director, including starting a jazz choir at the middle school level. In 2010, the Maywood Board of Education honored him with their Teacher of the Year Award. Steve is the percussion and pit instructor for the Glen Ridge Marching Band. The band was selected as US Bands’ National Champions in 2021. Steve also instructs at the university level as adjunct faculty at Montclair State University, teaching the course Rock and Rap as Cultural Phenomenon. Since 2007, he has been on staff at the Glen Ridge Summer Arts Academy, teaching private drum lessons, music theory, and songwriting as well as directing percussion, vocal, and theatre ensembles. He also co-directs the Glen Ridge High School Jazz Band. He has authored several musical and philosophical articles that have been published in Tempo magazine and Modern Drummer, as well as offering solo transcriptions in the latter. Steve has been a private drum set instructor since he was 19. As a performer, Steve has been a member of the wedding/special event band Platinum for 20 years and often leads his own jazz trios and quartets, which frequently feature Steve’s compositions and arrangements. His current trio can be found performing often in the summertime on the patio at The Bloomfield Steakhouse. In the past, he has indulged his vocal and acting chops a bit, performing the role of Caiaphas in the 2008 and 2010 NJ Theatre Workshop’s production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Recently, Steve was asked to co-host the podcast 30 Albums for 30 Years created and hosted by Jay Sweet. Steve received his BM in jazz performance from Temple University and his MA in music education from Montclair State University.