Fox C-6 Music Programs Celebrate the Holidays

In November we made a plan to shoot holiday music videos with all of the secondary music programs in our District. The goal was to shoot video of jazz bands, regular band, and choirs performing once song apiece at their choosing. We went to each school, recorded video of the performances with three different cameras, and edited them together. We then posted those videos in the couple of weeks leading up to Christmas. The engagement that these videos received on social media was more than we could have ever imagined.

Purpose: The goal of this project was to promote the music programs from the six secondary schools within our District, all while celebrating the holidays. It was part of an effort throughout the school year to highlight more than just the main athletic programs. We did not have any specific numerical goals attached to this initiative, only to simply bring more attention to our music programs at the secondary level.

That is the beauty of this project, everyone was targeted. Holiday music is a beacon to many, many people – and it’s especially cheerful when you see that the musicians are children.

Right before Thanksgiving we came up with the idea. We wanted to highlight the students in our secondary music programs, all while getting people in the holiday spirit. After getting approval from our Superintendent, we then reached out to each secondary building principal and the leaders of their respective music programs. We set up 7 different recordings, and we were surprised with an 8th. They videos were then edited and posted in the 2 weeks leading up to Christmas.

Dr. Paul Fregeau – Superintendent
JP Prezzavento – Chief Technology and Communication Officer
Dr. Tammy Cardona – Asst. Superintendent, Secondary
Jeff Krutzsch – Seckman High School Principal
Dr. Ryan Sherp – Fox High School Principal
Lydia Hill – Fox High School Choir Director
Ben Kendall – Seckman High School Choir Director
Tommy Perry – Fox High School Band Director
Craig Coleman – Fox Middle School Asst. Principal
James Schroyer – Fox Middle School Band Director
Lisa Brake – Antonia Middle School Asst. Principal
Dr. Pat Schwalbe – Seckman Middle School Principal
Joe Simino – Seckman Middle School Band Director
Lauren Romano – Antonia Middle School Choir Director
Nicole Wise – Antonia Middle School Band Director

All of these individuals worked together to help me schedule out the video recordings of every single school. We had a spreadsheet with my open availabilities, and they utilized that to schedule everything out.

We used three different cameras including a Canon M50 and two GoPros. We used tripods, microphones, and Adobe Premiere Pro to edit the videos.

We posted the edited music videos on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and included them in our monthly e-newsletter that is distributed to families, staff members, and community members. We also mentioned it during a school board meeting in December. By word of mouth, it spread very quickly and we ended up reaching 215,000+ on social media alone.

Little to no cost. All of our equipment was already in house. The only thing that this project required was time.

None. The plan worked extremely well.

Fox High School Choir
Reach: 70,905
Engagements: 3,904

Antonia Middle School Choir
Reach: 58,758
Engagements: 2,764

Seckman High School Choir
Reach: 26,458
Engagements: 1,274

Fox High School Jazz Band
Reach: 25,888
Engagements: 1,283

Seckman Middle School Band
Reach: 9,519
Engagements: 343

Fox Middle School Band
Reach: 9,401
Engagements: 326

Fox High School Band
Reach: 6,101
Engagements: 240

Antonia Middle School Band
Reach: 6,094
Engagements: 173

TOTAL REACH: 213,124
TOTAL ENGAGEMENTS: 10,307

These numbers speak for themselves. The initiative was HIGHLY effective, and everyone loved it. Which is why it is something that we will be doing for years to come.

Outcome: Four of the eight holiday music videos were in the top five best performing posts of all Fox C-6 social media channels in 2023. On top of that, this series of videos won the 2024 Best of School Social Media ‘Program Highlight Award’ from SocialSchool4EDU – further bringing attention to our wonderful music programs.

Work very closely with your building admin and music teachers. The more that you communicate with them, the easier the project will be.