When the temperatures drop and the first snowflakes begin to fall, music teachers everywhere begin to feel the pressure of the upcoming winter concert season. The annual winter concert is a tradition that brings together families, faculty, and community members, offering students a chance to showcase their talents. However, the default to a holiday-themed concert often feels limiting, repetitive, and culturally narrow.
Here’s a fresh perspective for music educators who want to go beyond the holiday concert. With thoughtful, inclusive, and creative programming, the winter concert can be both artistically rewarding and deeply meaningful for students and audiences alike.
Why Go Beyond the Holiday Theme?
While there is nothing inherently wrong with performing music related to Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or other winter holidays, leaning too heavily on these themes can unintentionally exclude students who do not celebrate them. Moreover, repeating the same holiday standards year after year can become stale for both performers and audiences. Broadening your concert theme allows for more creativity, better representation, and richer musical experiences.
Center the Season, Not the Holiday
Winter itself offers a beautiful thematic backdrop. Programming pieces about snow, ice, warmth, reflection, and renewal can maintain the seasonal connection without tying the program to specific religious or cultural celebrations. Try some of these:
- Winter from The Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi
- Snow Is Falling by Ruth Elaine Schram
- Frostiana by Randall Thompson
- Sleigh Ride by Leroy Anderson – often associated with holidays but not religious
- Glow by Eric Whitacre
You might even consider naming your concert something like Songs of Snow and Sky or Winter Soundscapes to emphasize the seasonal theme.
Explore Global Winter Traditions
If you want to include festive pieces, take the opportunity to represent a wide array of cultures and traditions. Use this as a teaching moment about diversity and global musical practices:
- Ose Shalom – Jewish prayer for peace
- Taimse ’Im Chodladh – Irish lullaby
- Shchedryk – Ukrainian carol, better known in English as Carol of the Bells
- Uji River – Japanese winter folk song
- African drumming or choral arrangements tied to seasonal rituals
Frame these pieces with student-led introductions explaining their origins. This encourages cultural literacy and ownership.
Build a Thematic Narrative
A strong concert theme can tie diverse repertoire together and create a sense of journey. For instance:
Theme: Light in the Darkness
- This Little Light of Mine – traditional spiritual
- Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre
- Do You Hear What I Hear? – peace-focused seasonal song
- Feature a student poem about finding light during winter
Theme: A Winter Journey
- Movements from Frozen Suite (if licensing allows)
- Over the River and Through the Wood
- Excerpts from The Snowman by Howard Blake
- Narrated interludes connecting pieces
Theme: Reflections and Dreams
- Use music to explore introspection, imagination, and hope—important feelings in the winter season
Incorporate Student Composition and Creativity
Give students a chance to create their own winter-inspired music or poetry. Have your ensemble perform student compositions or arrangements. This empowers students’ voices and fosters original thinking.
Other ideas:
- Set student-written winter poems to music
- Feature improvisation sections in a jazz ensemble
- Create a soundscape with body percussion, Orff instruments, or found sounds that depict a snowy night
Encouraging original work makes the concert more meaningful and memorable.
Focus on Emotion and Community
Winter is often a time of mixed emotions: joy, nostalgia, loneliness, hope. Choose music that explores these emotional landscapes and builds community connection:
- You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen
- Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel
- Lean on Me by Bill Withers
- Somewhere Only We Know
Encourage students to reflect on what these pieces mean to them. Consider including a moment of silence, candlelight, or a communal song to foster unity.
Use Interdisciplinary Connections
Partner with art, drama, or English teachers to expand the winter concert into a multimedia experience:
- Display student artwork inspired by the music
- Collaborate with drama students to narrate poems between songs
- Project visuals that complement musical selections
- Create a winter-themed backdrop or simple staging elements
These integrations deepen student engagement and elevate the performance.
Make It Interactive
Get your audience involved in more than applause. Depending on your comfort level and context:
- Invite the audience to sing a verse of a familiar winter song
- Use body percussion or simple instruments distributed to the audience for a group piece
- Host a post-concert talkback or Q&A with student performers and composers
Interactivity turns a concert into a communal event, enhancing its emotional impact.
Don’t Fear the Nontraditional
Who says a winter concert must include traditional songs or even choral music? Especially in secondary or alternative programs, pushing creative boundaries can lead to stunning results. Consider:
- A concert entirely featuring film or video game music with wintry themes
- A jazz night called Cool Nights, Hot Sounds
- A looping, ambient concert in a darkened room using synths and voices to evoke winter dreams
- A concert titled Stillness exploring minimalist and meditative works
These ideas might not suit every school, but they offer new inspiration to break free from tired patterns.
Reflect the Community
Let your students’ lives and your community’s culture guide your programming. Include:
- Local composers or arrangements
- Interviews with students about what winter means to them
- Songs in different languages spoken in your school community
- Family traditions—shared through a slide show, narration, or short videos
Rooting the concert in your community’s identity makes it both inclusive and heartfelt.
Consider the Venue and Atmosphere
If your concert is in a traditional auditorium, great. But could it be:
- Held outdoors in the early evening with lanterns and hot cocoa?
- In the round, with the audience surrounding the performers?
- In a gym or cafeteria decorated like a winter forest?
Atmosphere sets the emotional tone for your program. A thoughtful setting can help even familiar pieces feel fresh and magical.
Bringing It All Together
Reimagining the winter concert isn’t about abandoning tradition—it’s about making room for more voices, more creativity, and more joy. When you build a program that reflects the diversity, emotion, and imagination of the season, your students will rise to meet the moment.
As music educators, we have the unique opportunity to shape how students experience this time of year. Let’s use our concerts to celebrate not just holidays, but humanity, connection, and the power of sound in a season of stillness and wonder.
