WESTFORD — Westford Academy on Saturday hosted the school’s first regional marching band competition.
Students at the academy previously competed under former band director George Arsenault in the 2000s but as the Westford Academy Ghostwriter reported, never hosted a competition through the New England Scholastic Band Association.
Students began performing again under Director of Bands Adam Shekelton, who began teaching at the high school in 2021.
“Before I got here, they did a football band just performing at half time and so we decided we were going to go into the competitive circuit in the New England Scholastic Band Association,” he told WestfordCAT. “That just takes traveling to other schools and [hosting] shows like we have here today.”
Community support
He said that the undertaking has taken support from the school, town and community “to make sure that we’re prepared.”
“It takes more staff and it takes more time. The Town of Westford has certainly been supportive of that,” he said. “The schools have been very supportive.”
Before he took the job at Westford Academy, he said he gauged the community on their support for the arts.
“Our first show was video game music. The next we did music from Studio Ghibli and then this year we’re doing a conceptual-based show, which is the next level for competing bands,” he said. “We’re still a very young band. We’re still learning what it takes to be truly excellent to perform at a very high level.”
To Shekelton, marching band is about community.
“Historically, what happens is division five groups are slated to perform at the end, they show up at the end perform and then go home. So the smaller groups do not have as big of a crowd to play for,” he said. “Andover reached out and said ‘can we come early because we want to support the smaller bands, we want our kids to be in the crowd for them.'”
He added, “That type of mindset is what’s great about the activity.”
15 groups signed up to perform at the academy, including colleges such as Worcester Polytechnic Institute and the University of Massachusetts Lowell. The academy partnered with Patel Brothers, a Nashua-based Indian grocer to provide samosas.
“When I signed up to do a show, I expected there to be six or seven groups. As a director if a new place is hosting, I would go and try it out, I would test out the logistics,” he said. “Something important to me for this is representing our community.”
Buy-in from students
For Shekelton to motivate students, he said there needs to be “buy-in” from performers, including allowing students to give input on pieces they perform.
“Anybody can submit an idea for a show,” he said. “I read this book called the Disney Way, which I guess back in the day Disney would allow anyone to pitch a movie.”
He added, “Everybody’s voice matters. There have been several instances throughout the years where we’ve used student shows because they’re just really great ideas.”
After the performance, Westford Academy Principal Daniel Twomey said he was proud of the students.
“It’s a wonderful night and a huge crowd, they did great,” he said.
