Lisa Stawasz, fundraising director for the WHS BOP (Band and Orchestra parents) and Patrick Kennedy, lead music teacher at the secondary level for Westfield Public Schools. Stawasz and Kennedy are busy with arrangements for upcoming band shows. (Photo by Amy Porter)
WESTFIELD – Patrick Kennedy, secondary level lead music teacher for the Westfield Public Schools is busy.
On Saturday morning, he will accompany three of his Westfield High School band students to an audition at Shrewsbury High School for the All-State Music Festival in Boston. The students auditioning are senior Kayla Roskey, All-State Jazz Ensemble Tenor Sax II; sophomore Matt Kiefer, All-State Concert Band Trumpet I, and senior Ginny Svec, All-State Orchestra on Timpani. Senior Reiley Ledoux, a member of the WHS Choir led by Korey Bruno, will also be auditioning for All State Chorus.
Then Saturday night, Westfield High School Band and Orchestra Parents (BOP) will be holding the first WHS Band Comedy Show at the East Mountain Country Club as a fundraiser for the band. Doors will open at 6 p.m., dinner will be served at 6:30 and the show will be at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35, dinner included, and are still available, although WHS BOP fundraising director Lisa Stawasz would like to have a reservation before 9 a.m. Saturday. Stawasz may be reached at 579-5475, or at [email protected]. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door.
On February 8, the Westfield Technical Academy band has been invited to perform at the annual Pinning Ceremony for the Class of 2016 Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) students at 12:30 p.m. The band was invited due to its outstanding performance at the Mayor’s Inauguration Ceremony on January 4, where it was joined by members of the Westfield High School band honor society and North and South Middle School band members who were chosen to participate in the MMEA Music Festival.
“Kids down there are working real hard. I think it will grow as we go and become something really special,” Kennedy said of the newly-formed WTA band. He pitched the idea of starting the band last year when he was named lead music teacher at the secondary level and the technical school was renamed.
“Everyone at the school has really welcomed me in. They’re really supportive,” he said. “Before, when a kid went to WTA, they hung up their horn and never played anymore. If I do my job right and I build the enrollment, you’re going to see two great high school bands in Westfield.”
Other upcoming events include WHS Band night at the Springfield Falcons on Feb. 13, where the band will be playing in the stands. A portion of the ticket sale of $18 will go to the band. Contact Kennedy at [email protected] for more information.
The 63rd annual Pops Concert will be held on March 4 & 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Westfield High School gym, which started “way back in the day with Doug Ward,” according to Kennedy, who graduated from the Westfield music program himself. This year’s theme will be “Give Our Regards to Broadway,” and include music from Westside Story, Sound of Music, The Music Man, Wicked and the Phantom of the Opera.
“I think the band parents have as much fun as the kids on this magical night,” Kennedy said of the annual fundraising event. Every year the Dixieland band, a group of seniors backed up by the full band also perform a traditional medley in a gym which has been transformed by the parents’ decorations.
Then on April 30 at North Middle School, Westfield Public Schools will host their very first “It’s Band-tastic Band Festival.” Band students in grades 5 -12 will participate in workshops and mentoring programs that will culminate in a citywide “It’s Band-Tastic” performance at the 2016 Into the Arts Festival.
“Grades 5-12, every kid together, playing together,” Kennedy said. Kennedy received a grant from the Westfield Foundation for Education for both “It’s Band-tastic” and to buy instruments for the Westfield Technical Academy band.
Kennedy sees his role as lead teacher as “the three c’s -curriculum, collaboration and connections.”
“I’ve tried to collaborate and connect more,” Kennedy said, noting the importance of all the band programs. “You can’t have a beautiful tree without the roots.”
“All of us love to play the music,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
