Recently, Jeff Zupfer was trying to teach a group of elementary students a dozen detailed verses to a song about Minnesota.  Each of the song’s stanzas is packed with facts about mosquitoes and Prince and the Twin Cities acting like siblings. But his class at Normandale Hills Elementary in Bloomington kept jumping ahead to the chorus. He held it back, moved to the next verse, and they broke into it anyway.

“O-N-E M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A,” they sang.

They just couldn’t help themselves. “ONE Minnesota,” a love letter to Minnesota he wrote during the historic winter polar vortex of 2019, is pure ear candy.

For three decades, “Mr. Z” has written melody-first, call-and-response pieces about gratitude, empathy, and belonging. He teaches them to kindergartners through fifth graders to sing in the classroom and at all-school gatherings.

Now he’s hoping “ONE Minnesota” finds a life beyond his classroom.

“It’s great when you’re from somewhere, and you are someone, to be able to define that,” he says. “This song is a little quirky; it’s fact-filled. There’s also pride about who we are and all the places we come from, and this tapestry of people who are here and making that a cause for celebration.”

One of his favorite parts of teaching the song to students is seeing the reactions to the video he created for “ONE Minnesota.” When the clip rolls in class, his Somali students light up at the mention of Somalia nestled among the Minnesota facts.

“What excites me most about writing is creating songs that have the functionality of building community and bringing people’s voices together, both kids and grown-ups, whether you consider yourself a singer or not,” he says. “We humans need more of this.”

Engagement, engagement, engagement

Zupfer has been a music teacher at Normandale Hills for 30 years. He was a college vocal major who eventually found his songwriting voice after picking up a guitar.

“I’ve definitely grown into the job and matured into the job,” says the St. Paul native. “[Normandale Hills] has been a wonderful place to be nurtured in this environment where I can be creative.  I feel fortunate to be in a job where I can conceive of something creative and teach it to the kids. It becomes real. We get to share it. It becomes part of them.”

Ask him what a teacher needs and he doesn’t hesitate: “Engagement, engagement, and engagement. That’s the guiding star.”

That philosophy drives a community-building repertoire Zupfer created called Our School Matters, in which students and/or teachers lead the school in a responsive reading that ties together a theme. After a class learns one of his original songs, they bring it to an assembly and lead the rest of the school in a sing-along with the lyric video. It’s an experience built on social and emotional learning foundations, including empathy, gratitude, belonging, service, and friendship, giving every student a voice in the room and a chance to lead.

“A lot of what I write is for kids, but it’s for myself and for the adults around me just as much,” he says.

In “Okay/Alright!” he sings “okay,” and then the kids enthusiastically answer “alright.” It builds back and forth until he lands on “we’re going to be okay,” and they respond, “we’re going to be alright.” “You Belong,” also written by Zupfer, is a tune that is revisited throughout the year. It begins at the first gathering of a new school year when Zupfer invites students to come up and teach the group how to say “You Belong” in their first language, including sign language.  

“You can talk about belonging,” says Zupfer, who received an Inclusive Educator Award from Intermediate School District 917 during the 2024-25 school year, “but kids need to feel like when they show up, there’s someone there who wants to see them.”

Zupfer presented the Our School Matters template at the 2025 Minnesota Music Educators Association conference and hopes other schools will adopt it.

“I feel like a lot of what happens here could happen other places,” he says.

The dream lineup

“ONE Minnesota” was released in early 2019 during a polar vortex that saw the coldest temperatures in Minnesota since 1996. Its accompanying YouTube video was aimed at teaching students some local facts to celebrate the frozen state while everyone was hunkered down.

This year, Zupfer was inspired to revive “ONE Minnesota” when Normandale Hills’ six-year Festival of Learning cycle — in which students explore a different continent each year — returned to North America. Zupfer dusted it off and started teaching the verses. The timing felt right for reasons beyond the curriculum. 

Now Zupfer has a vision for the song’s next life, and he needs some help to make it happen. He is inviting Minnesota musicians to take part in a new collaborative music video for the song. He pictures a cross-section of the Minnesota music community joining in simply with a guitar and a voice, the way artists stripped things down when the world went remote during the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Zupfer hasn’t made any official requests just yet, his former students include brothers Stephen and Erik Paulson in local indie rock group Remo Drive. The verse about the Twin Cities as siblings practically has their name on it. Beyond that, Zupfer says he follows local artists like Cloud Cult, Annie Mack, Trampled by Turtles, Jeremy Messersmith, J.S. Ondara, and Charlie Parr.

“Of course,” he says, smiling, “I’d be happy to let Bob Dylan take a verse as well.”

When the collaboration comes together, Zupfer says he wants to donate proceeds to charity.

“The song belongs to Minnesota,” he says. “I’d be happy for it to help our state in any way.”

Beyond the classroom

For someone who describes himself as “just a music teacher in Bloomington,” Zupfer has influenced thousands of children through his songs over a three-decade career. In addition to teaching them state history, he has focused on approaches that help them manage their emotions, build a strong community, and many other timeless lessons – all through music.

Zupfer also has a side gig centered on music and community at MetroNOME Brewing in St. Paul. The mission-based brewery’s name stands for Nurturing Outstanding Music Education, with proceeds supporting access to lessons and instruments for underprivileged children.

“One of my favorite things is when music creates community,” he says. “You go to a special place together.”  

At Bloomington’s Jefferson High School, Zupfer takes part in an annual tradition. On graduation day, seniors return to their elementary school for a visit. When the Normandale Hills alums show up, Zupfer pulls out his guitar and plays the school song he wrote more than 20 years ago. They still know every word.

“You don’t get to choose what kids remember, and so it’s nice when they’re remembering this,” he says. “Earworms can be used for good.”

To connect with Jeff Zupfer, email him at jzupfer [at] gmail.com, or follow him on Instagram and YouTube.