It’s not uncommon for guests at Westford Academy to be met with the sounds of students practicing their guitar chords in the nooks and crannies of the halls, the rousing beats of the band tuning up, or the sweeping voices of violins preparing to play. Each and every day, students with a passion for music are encouraged to reach for the stars, some achieving great heights, among them Westford Academy Chorus members Marie Levandier, a senior and Soprano leader in the chorus, and Victoria Andrews, a junior and Alto leader.

After performing with the Handel and Hayden Society, a Boston-based performing arts organization, in the Young Women’s Chamber Choir for the past 2 years, Levandier and Andrews tackled a new type of performance this October, singing not only for family and friends on a school stage, but for hundreds of listeners on National Public Radio’s weekly From the Top broadcast.

“It’s for youth prodigies normally but sometimes they let on groups,” Levandier said. “And you can’t just get a group of prodigies, you have to find a group that’s a prodigy together.”

Going into the performance, Levandier and Andrews were not unfamiliar with the piece, “Early Spring,” a Canadian folk song that they had performed in the past with the Handel and Hayden Society.

“We worked on it a little to touch it up from last year,” Levandier said. “I was feeling pretty good about it. Normally I get a little jittery before a performance, but this time, we’d been doing it for so long that I knew we had the song down. It was just a matter of doing it right the one time we had to do it.”

Upon arriving at Jordan Hall in Boston on the day of the performance, Levandier and Andrews found that performing for a radio broadcast was unlike any live performance they’d ever done before. Their dress run was recorded and saved in case mistakes in the live performance needed to be covered up, and recording equipment took up a great deal of the stage.

“It was kind of funny because it was still a live performance, so as people were clapping they would go on introducing the next part,” Levandier said. “It was interesting.”

On top of adapting to singing for the radio, Levandier and Andrews were also surrounded by the unfamiliar faces of musicians from across the state who had come to perform with them.

“Everyone was so good,” Andrews said. “There was a woman who had all of the music out and she would mark all of the mistakes that everyone would make during the dress run. I just thought it was so cool that she could pinpoint those moments.”

Back in Westford, Levandier and Andrews were met with the praise of friends, family and faculty, including choral director Karen St. George.

“I am so proud of Marie and Victoria and the commitment they have to singing,” St. George said. “It shows in their daily work within the choir classes at WA.”

“I didn’t tell a lot of people. I do have some friends that do music and they thought it was really cool,” Andrews said.

For Levandier and Andrews, though, this experience runs deeper than a single performance or praise from friends and family. For them, it’s about strengthening and sharing their lifelong love of music.

“I love music so much it’s just a part of me,” Levandier said. “It’s something you work for but have fun doing. I feel accomplished when I see all of these people coming together to make music together and it’s really nice to be in a chorus.”

Levandier and Andrews will, along with fellow classmate, senior Jack Crossley, perform in the All-Eastern Music Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey this April. As they advance in their musical careers, they hope to draw attention to the power music has to bring people together.

“We’ve committed a lot to it. Other people commit to other things, and I hope that they see that there are parallels,” Andrews said.