Greenville students produce holiday jingle for Greene County shopping

GREENVILLE, N.Y. (NEWS10)-- For nearly seven years, the Buy in Greene initiative program has been creating a holiday jingle to promote local shopping during the holiday season, with high school students in the background. This year's jingle, a reworking of Frosty the Snowman, includes singers and instrumentalists, who also produced the track, from Greenville High School.

The Buy in Greene initiative was started in 2008 to encourage people to stay in Greene County and support local retailers and establishments. Since its start, it has grown into a large business marketing campaign.

Mark Gustavson, the executive vice president of strategic development at KathodeRay Media, is also the creative lead for the campaign. As a former musician himself, he wanted to create a musical aspect for the campaign when he stumbled upon Greenville High School Music Teacher Jon Meredith and the students in his Music Technology Program.

"I stumbled upon Jon's program at my nephew's play production and was astounded by the overall production," Gustavson said. "I pitched him the idea and asked him to produce a 60-second clip each year."

Meredith uses his music technology class with chorus students to create the track. Gustavson sings the lead vocals, while students record the backing vocals and instrumental parts, then students will mix it all together.

According to Greenville High School senior Amara Thompson, her teacher starts the process by coming up with different parts and sections for the students to work on, students begin recording their parts in October.

"I think Mr. Meredith starts working on it and he will come up with sections for us to work on then the radio company will come in and that's when we will start with practice sessions," Thompson said. "It takes about four or five days to get it finalized and if there is anything that needs to be fixed or changed the radio company will send it back; we usually start recording in October."

Student Michael Semaska said the jingle is tracked over a tune everyone knows but with words to promote buying in Greene County.

According to Teri Weiss, director of business marketing at Greene County Economic Development, Tourism & Planning, the jingle's goal is to encourage local community members to support small businesses throughout the county.

"The goal for the jingle is to bring awareness and support to our local businesses, but it also gives us the opportunity to showcase some amazing young talent that’s right here in Greene County," Weiss said. "The jingle does exactly what it’s meant to do, it’s catchy and every year people are looking forward to hearing it and it brings awareness to support our local businesses."

For Scarlett Coons, being a part of the jingle is something everyone is excited about each year.

"It's kind of become a tradition at Greenville at this point because I know when I got into high school, it was something everyone was excited about and it's a really nice opportunity for us as a small school to be a part of something like this in our community," she said.

Coons, Semaska and Thompson alongside Finn Brownsell, Emma Diehl, Aurora Hostash, Anjali Keenan, Rachel Domanico, Jorda Catlin, Claire Schelling, Jasmine Ellis, Hanna Tanner, Karl Houlihan, Alex Buquet, Lucas Bender, Chloe Casper, Brody Shaver, and Cecilia Bucci, all contributed into the making of this year's jingle.

"It’s great to have them involved and they have so much fun helping to create it," Weiss said. "They can actually hear their results of their hard work on our local radio stations, and I know that’s very rewarding to them."

Junior Cecilia Bucci said hearing the jingle on the radio or in a commercial while watching television is a special experience.

"You don't think you'll hear it, you just think this is something to do during school," Bucci said. "It is really a special experience for a lot of kids because it's something they can all participate in. Our (high school) choir incorporates all ages so its freshman year to senior year and it's something that all the kids can participate in whether they're singing in it or doing the technology side."

Coons reiterated Bucci's thoughts, saying this is an inclusive opportunity for the school. "I think it's a good opportunity because even if you think you're not the best singer or anyone in the choir or in the school if they ask Mr. Meredith, I'm sure they could be a part of it and it's really inclusive to everyone."

For Semaska, hearing the jingle on the radio highlights how the hard work done in the music industry, pays off.

For the students, it's not only a fun experience but also a learning experience. According to Thompson and Bucci, music is something a lot of the students involved would like to pursue after high school and learning how to cut tracks or mix the tracks teaches them all sides of music production and the industry.

"A lot of us want to go to college for music so we are probably going to learn how to record and do stuff in college but doing this setup of singing in front of people, recording it, mixing it and editing everything, that would really help with college," Thompson said.

It's also a way to ease yourself into the music production and music program, Bucci added.

The Jingle is currently played on 97.9 WRIP station, of Windham, 98.5 The Cat, of Poughkeepsie and on commercial ads for Buy in Greene. The song is also available on the Buy in Greene website.

"I’m so happy that our jingle is working for and bringing awareness to our County and the reminder of the importance of buying local and supporting our smaller businesses," Weiss said. "Shop local and support your smaller businesses, they are the backbone of our economy."