Westhill marching band brings home gold
STAMFORD — After a season of hard work and dedication, the Westhill High School Marching Band came out on top, winning first place in their category at USBands New England State Championship, and placing fourth at the nationals.
In past years, the Westhill marching band competed in the Group IIIOpen. Open class groups have historically been for more established programs.
While in this show, the band performed music which included “Miss Saigon,” “Immortal Beloved,” and “The Mask of Zorro.” All programs ranked highly throughout their competitive seasons and had the opportunity to perform at MetLife stadium.
Last year, however, they competed in Group IIIA, reserved for bands who have recently grown in size.
The band’s program titled “Camelot” made strides throughout the season. They even won the “Best Percussion” award at the USBands National
Championships, and placed second at the state competition.
Blair Roberts, the current band director at Turn of River Middle School, has worked with the Westhill Marching Band for the past six years. She has made it her duty to create a strong foundation of middle school students who are ready and eager to join the marching band once they enter high school, or even before. This year, there was a total of 11 middle schoolers who were part of the band.
“This was such an amazing year. The crazy part is that we were nearly 50 percent rookies so nobody was expecting us to do so well every week. It was such an awesome year, and everyone grew and improved so much,” said Helena Dougherty, a junior.
Throughout the season, the saxophone section had ample growth in size and skill. There are a total of 10 saxophone players this year.
Zoe Harris, the band director at KT Murphy Elementary School, provides specialized saxophone training for the musicals. These musicians talents were featured heavily in the performance, from a swing jazz feature, with all ten saxophone front and center, to a saxophone duet which opened the shows finale.
“It was an awesome experience to have the saxophones featured. We worked really hard and by the end of the season we were a whole new section. It was an amazing thing to be a part of,” said Savannah Madar, a junior.
In addition, the percussion section has continued to make strides throughout the entire season. The band was thrilled to win “Best Percussion” at the New England State Championships, which were hosted at Stamford High.
“Winning percussion at states was a dream, and hearing the percussion judge say in his critique tappe that we were demonstrating skill and consistency that far outweighs other groups in our class, was really fulfilling to hear,” said Ben Sisco, a junior.
Their program “Misfits,” depicts the story of a person who did not fit in. As the performance goes on, they learn how to accept themselves and be content with who they are.
In the program, there were many aspects that were made “out of the ordinary,” to further portray the theme of the production, whether it be the conductor dancing on the podium, the color guard member becoming a conductor, a drummer becoming a dancer.
These stylistic choices were created by Michael Wyatt, Westhill’s band director.
The performance concluded with “This is Me,” from “The Greatest Showman,” bringing the show to a close.
With continued guidance from the entire creative team, and staff members, the marching band is constantly growing and improving. As these talented artists continue their hard work and dedication, the marching band hopes to thrive for years to come.