In a world where social media can catapult almost anyone to stardom, juniors Barbara Vasilyeva and Jeremy Huang have captured the spotlight with Instagram reels of their musical instrument practice sessions and performances. What began as casual posts two years ago quickly garnered thousands of views gaining attention from followers and music enthusiasts alike for their exceptional talent.
Huang (@jeremylovesquads) has been playing drums for three years, focusing particularly on quads. He is part of multiple ensembles, including the marching band, percussion studio, Symphonic Wind Ensemble (SWE), winter percussion and the Blue Devils B drum corps. To track his progress, Huang began to post reels of himself practicing on his account starting his freshman year, and people on social media have enjoyed watching Huang’s progress over the years.
Huang was introduced to percussion at Redwood Middle School through Percussive Fundamentals, a class taught by Sean Clark, the percussion director at Saratoga High. This class introduced students to pitched percussion instruments and basic rhythmic techniques. In his freshman year, Huang officially began his music journey by joining the marching band and Freshman Band.
“I get ideas to post because the art form has a lot of different percussion ensembles, and it’s fun for me to cover the piece [or the] beats [they play],” Huang said. “I would like to show to the world what I can do with my own cover version.”
Compared to several other Instagram reels that gain popularity, Huang’s reels are relatively simple to produce; they consist only of an unedited take of him playing the drums, paired with a clip of the original ensemble he is playing along with. Huang will take about an hour to record something he would consider a “good enough” take to post. Editing the videos takes about 15 minutes, he said.
Huang’s most-viewed reel, shows him playing quads with the caption “RCC 2009 Closer Quad Feature.” It had received 90,000 views as of late January.
Courtesy of Jeremy Huang
Huang plays the RCC 2009 Closer Quad Feature.
“I think of [becoming] viral as a side thing. Honestly, seeing my videos getting popular on social media and people knowing about who I am is cool. But I think the main purpose of it is just to share my progress,” he said.
After posting on Instagram for nearly two years, Huang noticed an interesting pattern in the algorithm: Whenever the music he plays is well known or considered to be a high level of difficulty for drummers, he finds videos getting more attention. His most-viewed reel is a prime example, as the RCC Quad Feature is known for being notoriously difficult.
As Huang is often caught up with junior year school work and extracurriculars, he posts practice videos on Instagram less often than in the past.
“Sometimes, I just feel I don’t feel the motivation or the need to post something. These days, I slowed myself down from posting, and I think I made a good decision,” Huang said.
However, Huang finds that social media is a great outlet to build connections with those interested in percussion or the world of music.
Barbara Vasilyeva’s saxophone videos gain traction
Vasilyeva (@jamiiebarbiie) plays in multiple ensembles, outside of and within the schoo. As part of the marching band, SWE, Saratoga Symphony Orchestra and the 2025 California All-State High School Jazz Band, her passion for music has deepened in high school, where the various opportunities and ensembles offered by the music department allowed her to fully immerse herself in music.
She began playing the clarinet in fifth grade after being convinced by her music friends. However, Vasilyeva was attracted to the baritone saxophone’s full sound, since her fifth grade band instructor for clarinet, Lidia Rodriguez, played the instrument. Since switching instruments in fifth grade, she has played the baritone saxophone for the past six years.
Vasilyeva started an Instagram account in her freshman year to complete a famous #100daysofpractice challenge for classical musicians, where musicians post themselves practicing for 100 days.
Vasilyeva runs the account with James Lee, a friend and senior at Lynbrook High. While they don’t often collaborate, the two musicians post videos of themselves practicing or playing in a concert separately.
“Compared to other reels out there, my reels are very low-effort. The only editing that I do is to put sheet music on the video to follow along, and that’s it,” Vasilyeva said. “Nothing takes too long. I’m practicing or in a concert, so I just press the record button and that’s it.”
Vasilyeva’s reels were only gradually starting to gain attention when a reel of her sight-reading “Sleigh Ride” during last December’s band concert went viral, gaining around 469,000 views as of early February.
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Courtesy of Barbara Vasilyeva
Vasilyeva plays Sleigh Ride alongside SWE.
“Honestly, I never expected that it would go viral,” she said. “But I’m even more embarrassed that that specific video blew up. The video’s just so bad. There are a few seconds where I just stare blankly at the screen. I’m happy for all the people cheering me on, but personally, if I had a choice, it would not have been that video.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she wasn’t as invested in music because of the format of online school where students would play on mute while their director conducted on spotty WiFi. After the pandemic ended, however, her perspective changed.
“The amazing music department and the summer camps I have attended made me realize that music can be a career,” she said. “This can be a profession. I wish I could be a musician when I grow up. I’m not sure why, but there’s something so magical about it.”
Looking at her reels that became viral, she realized they were videos with a “kick” in them, such as a point-of-view video (a trend in which a video shows the viewer’s perspective of a certain situation), a famous piece of music or a difficult one. However, she doesn’t consider these factors when posting her videos on Instagram, as her main purpose — like Huang — is to track and share her progress with the world.
Vasilyeva specifically enjoys getting to know the jazz community through Instagram, especially since making connections is essential if she becomes a jazz musician.
“The jazz community is tight, and it’s nice to have support from people,” Vasilyeva said. “It also kind of shows you how small the field of music is. Especially with the recent video that blew up back in December, I gained so many followers that were mutual of a mutual or someone I knew somehow. This touched me because I didn’t know how large of a reach social media has, and how that can change your life.”
