This is Mr. Mello’s eighth year teaching in the Cresskill Public Schools.

During his tenure in Cresskill, he has been privileged to create the CETE (Cresskill Elementary Theatre Ensemble) Spring Musical with the fourth and fifth graders at Bryan and Merritt Schools. He has also enjoyed bringing the Elementary School Choir members to the American Young Voices performance at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ.

Mr. Mello also started a third grade recorder program to prepare students for playing wind instruments before entering fourth and fifth grade band. He has also been given the opportunity to begin a ukulele program that introduces fourth and fifth graders to strummed string instruments, in an extension of their multicultural music curriculum. As Mr. Mello guides his students through rehearsal and performance opportunities like VIP Day, International Day, Winter Concerts, Spring Concerts, MMS Primary Arts Showcases, Recorder Recitals (States Fair), and end-of-year shows, he draws upon his own performance experiences.

Before coming to the Cresskill School District, Mr. Mello graduated from Montclair State University with a Bachelor of Arts Degree and K-12 Certification in Music Education. He then took some time to pursue a performance career, and continues to perform in such professional vocal groups as the Cathedral Choir at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Newark, NJ. He has also performed leading roles in numerous Off Broadway, Touring, Regional and Community Theatre productions such as “Les Miserables,” “West Side Story,” “Grease,” “Guys And Dolls,” and “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

Mr. Mello’s teaching career began as music teacher, choral director, drama director, and band director at Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, NY. While there, he had the opportunity to create and build a “Christian Rock” Band and Musical Theatre Program, as well as an AP Music Theory course.

Mr. Mello is a member of the New Jersey Music Educators Association, National Association for Music Education (formerly the Music Educators National Conference), as well as the Cresskill Education Association, the Bergen County Education Association, the New Jersey Education Association, and the National Education Association.