Acoustic Wilton is one of our town’s most special and amazing secrets. Celebrating its fifth anniversary this year, the group showcases incredibly talented teen singers and musicians, most of whom are at the high school level. These singer/songwriters and musicians perform together onstage with Wilton adults who themselves want to stay active in the local music scene.
And as the group’s founder, Scott Weber, puts it so well, “For people who think Acoustic Wilton is a kids’ talent show, you’ll be blown away.”
Objectively, it’s completely fair to say he’s right. The 20-30 teens who comprise the group are as passionate about music as they are talented. Watch any of their YouTube channel videos–including the ones embedded in this article–and you’ll see for yourself.
You can also–no, you should absolutely–get tickets to their benefit performance next Saturday, March 22 at 7:30 p.m. at the Little Theater at Wilton High School. The performance benefits the Wilton Education Foundation and the Wilton Youth Council.
Five years ago, Acoustic Wilton was started as an outlet for adults who themselves had been musicians in high school and after, who wanted to reconnect to the music scene again as grown ups.
“The spark was, I started to find people in town, adults who were singer/songwriter/musicians like myself, who had all done that in college, and were all looking for opportunities to do it again. When we started to get together to play, the idea of playing bars and clubs–we’d been there, done that, so what else could we do?” Weber explained.
Yet as adults, Weber and the others wanted to add another layer. “Working with musicians who were moms and dads in town and for me personally, it made sense to use the music as a way to give back to the community and raise money and start creating this ‘play it forward’ concept–you play music, give back to the community, the money that comes in goes to support local causes and concerns, and it’s a great way to share your gifts,” he said.
What started as an outlet for grown up musicians, however, eventually morphed into something else, something with a deeper purpose that involved high school students.
“I was at Relay for Life one year, and heard Morgan Denslow singing with a band. In the band were Andrew Sakamoto and John D’Elisa, and I started to realize the students in town are really talented! Then I’d go to Starbucks and there were students jamming in that little corridor walkway where the acoustics are great. I started to think, if you’re a football player you wear your jersey and everybody knows, if you’re a lacrosse player, a cheerleader, the same thing. If you’re a musician in town, a singer/songwriter, where do you go with it–other than Trackside, which is great, but what else–and how do you let your peers know what you do? I was that kid in high school–we never had a place to play music, but that’s what I did every day. So it started to feel like we had all these great students that were performers, not only would they do covers but they’d do their own songs, and the lyrics just blew me away. How could there be so much unknown talent.”
As Weber started to take Acoustic Wilton in a new direction, the chemistry, he said, was magic, and the benefits many.
“We put them together with the adults. Not to create a ‘student talent show’ but match them up with adults so that you’ve got a completely different vibe onstage. What ends up happening is the blend is such that the students forget they’re playing with people their parents’ age and the adults forget they’re playing with a bunch of 15 year olds. It’s a level playing field. The goal in the beginning was simply to raise money. then as the students became involved, it became about enlightening them and getting them to start thinking about community at an early age. Not in the context of writing checks to give back, but using your talents. That just evolved.”
There was something else that naturally developed out of the group that was sort of a side effect, but also very powerful.
“At one event, Justin Thomas, one of the original students, was sitting shyly with his guitar next to a girl with this big voice who said to him, ‘Justin! What are you doing here? I didn’t know you played guitar.’ Then he did this song, ‘Across the Universe,’ and it was gorgeous, his voice was just beautiful. She starts crying and by the end of the song is sobbing. She’s like, ‘All these years, I sat with you in class and I had no idea.’ It was this profound moment, and everyone in the room was choked up. These kids are forming connections in completely different ways than the social hierarchical structure of high school and middle school–it transcends all of that. When they get in there, it doesn’t matter if you play lacrosse or you’re in the chess club or Honor Society. You’re a musician and you love music and that’s the connection.”
Simultaneously, as Weber became more involved in the Wilton Education Foundation as co-chair, he started to make a natural connection between the two groups.
“WEF has done such an amazing job supporting continued professional development for the teachers, science and technology with SMARTBoards and the iPad institute, but music and arts is always under fire no matter where you are in this country, so we’ve got to find a way to nurture these students and keep a spotlight on what’s happening with them. We have amazing teachers and incredibly talented students and there was no reason music and arts shouldn’t be included in the WEF mission. So we pushed for that and it became a natural part of the WEF mission.”
It also complimented the part of the group’s mission that seeks to provide enriching experiences outside the classroom, and he sees that as a perfect fit with Acoustic Wilton.
For the show on Saturday, March 22, there are about 30 people who will be onstage, including some new students as well as returning favorites like Ellie Mendola and Nicole Smirnoff, who graduated but will be back for this performance.
“We’re covering everything from blues to folk to pop and zydecajun–we’ve got all bases covered. There will be two sets of music and an open house reception before the concert with some food and drink to help the Wilton Education Foundation and the Wilton Youth Council raise some money.”
Tickets are $20 apiece and are available via the WEF website.
Editor’s note: While I’m on the board of the Wilton Education Foundation, it’s important for me to stress that we’re making this a GOOD Morning Wilton ‘Recommends!’ pick because this is such a worthy, entertaining event. I’d say the same thing if I were not affiliated with WEF. You will be awed by the talent you see onstage and you will be humbled to know these are Wilton kids. –Heather Borden Herve