Fitch High School band on a march to greatness
Group will compete Sunday for national title
Groton — The Robert E. Fitch High School Falcon Marching Band will compete with 18 other bands in the USBands national championship on Sunday at Delaware State University, and is ranked number 1 going in.
The Falcons won the state championship and the New England championship among seven bands in their class on Oct. 31 during the USBands competition in New Britain.
The class in which Fitch competes includes bands of 45 to 55 students, but Fitch also scored the highest of 28 bands of all sizes — up to 200 students — receiving a 92 out of a possible 100 points.
The Falcons also took home the cadets of excellence award, which recognizes a band for creativity, performance and overall affect.
“It’s a great achievement,” Fitch Band Director Andrew Lefebvre said. “For the group it was a great season because we were undefeated (in competition). The school loves to have success for their programs, so it’s a great success for the school and the Groton Public Schools in general.”
Bands at the national competition are seated in order of their scores, with the top band ending the show, he said.
“The kids are so excited,” Lefebvre said, adding, “So we ended up having for nationals the highest scores this season, so we are closing nationals. So we are very excited. So to finish out the competition by going on last, regardless of whether they win or not, it will be great to perform in front of that many people.”
“This is an amazing experience for the kids,” said Laurie Lewis, whose son, Aaron Lewis, 17, is the section leader for the drum line and plays the snare drum. Her older son also played in the drum line.
The band is taking today off, the first day they’ve had off since mid-Au-
gust.
The students attended band camp, practicing from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, and 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturdays the last two weeks in August.
Once school started, the band practiced Tuesday and Thursday nights, with competitions on weekends along with home football games and the pep rally.
One of the keys to winning competition is designing the right show for the students, Lefebvre said. Fitch’s show is EccentriCITY, a continuous program about nine minutes long.
It tells the story of a day in the city, from waking to the hustle and bustle of the streets to a stroll through the park and nightfall.
One writer penned the drill or visual moves on the field, and another wrote the color guard work, or flag moves and tosses.
“The kids learned probably 80, 85 sets of drill and we ended up setting it to music and it looks like seamless motion,” Lefebvre said.
The students also give a strong musical performance.
“The sound of the group and the performance level for a group of their size is just really high,” he said. “They march very well, but musically they sound like a band almost double their size.”
Robin Shinn, whose son, Brett Gullickson, 15, has played baritone saxophone since seventh grade, said the students’ professionalism is striking.
“Just how committed they are, how determined, how focused, how much they pay attention, how well they get along with the band director and each other. They’re just all committed to this,” she said.
The band leaves Sunday morning and is ranked number 1 going in.
“I think this year they just caught a vision of how good they really are and how much better they could even be,” Lewis said. “And they just went into every competition determined to do the best they possibly could.”