Kelsey Wiggin’s single, ‘Lucid Dream’ has been released this month.

Kelsey Wiggin. Photo credit: Siena photography

Submitted

Fifty years ago, legendary Sedgwick Middle School band teacher Rodney Wiggin was imparting his love of music to West Hartford’s youngest residents. Today, his great-granddaughter Kelsey Wiggin continues the family music legacy with the release of her first single “Lucid Dream” now available on streaming platforms including Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.

“It feels like a full circle moment to be debuting my first single in the same town where my great-grandfather shared his love of music with his students,” said Wiggin, a West Hartford resident and senior at Watkinson School in Hartford. “‘Lucid Dream’ is about our generational family lake house – a place not only special to me but also to my great-grandfather, grandfather, and father.”

Written and performed by Wiggin, “Lucid Dream” highlights her vocal range and poetic songwriting. The ballad imagines a future version of Wiggin returning to the lake house after a long absence. In her lyrics, Wiggin shows how the sacredness of a place can transcend time and generations.

Kelsey with her father, Matt Wiggin, at Lake Winnisquam in New Hampshire. Courtesy photo

“The people from the pictures, stand in front of me much bigger. Past and present generations, making future declarations. This place is like a lucid dream, the kind no one would believe. I can hear and I can see, I can feel the reality. Of everyone who was here, it makes the story so clear. That I am meant to be here in this lucid dream.”

“The Wiggin music legacy continues with Kelsey, and her family is so proud of her pursuing her passions, and for immortalizing a place that has shaped generations of our family,” said Wiggin’s father Matt Wiggin, also of West Hartford.

Wiggin also hopes to inspire others through her love of music to start writing at an early age. She started singing and making up lyrics as soon as she could talk and began songwriting at 9 years old.

“Watching Kelsey’s musicality and creativity evolve over the past six years has been a joy,” said Rob Thomas, Watkinson School music and ensemble teacher. “The release of ‘Lucid Dream’ marks the culmination of her talent, hard work, and artistic ambition – and as an educator, I could not be prouder.”

Kelsey Wiggin in the recording studio wearing her Lake Winnisquam shirt. Courtesy photo

At Watkinson, she is a member of the chorus, and she recently earned a spot in the 2026 Connecticut Music Educators Association’s (CMEA) Northern Regional Choir. Earlier this year, she performed with the 2025 Northern Regional Choir and the prestigious All-State Choir. Wiggin got her start in the Morley Elementary School Choir and 2018 and 2019 West Hartford Inter-Elementary Music Festival. She was also a member of the Connecticut Children’s Chorus.

Wiggin is a student of West Hartford’s renowned voice teacher Kate Hardman. This past summer, she traveled to Paris with Hardman and a small group of West Hartford students as part of The Ultimate Paris Summer Art Festival, (now The Paris Performance Experience). During the two-week music intensive, she received instruction from talented artists including David Lee Brewer and Dr. Tiffany Renee Jackson. She even performed in the famed Fox Théâtre in Paris.

Currently enrolled in Watkinson’s Creative Arts Program (CAP), a rigorous two-year dual diploma track for aspiring artists, Wiggin plans to pursue songwriting, composition, and performance in college.

In a 2002 Hartford Courant op-ed, a former student of Rodney Wiggin’s Jan Penfield wrote, “to say that he made us love music is inadequate – he loved music, and he loved teaching with all his heart, and it was contagious.” The same love and contagious feeling holds true for his great-granddaughter and the house he once lived in inLake Winnisquam, New Hampshire. Rodney Wiggin was a band teacher at Sedgwick Middle School from 1952 to1974.

“Lucid Dream” was recorded, produced, and mixed by Koby Nelson of Serif Sound in Middletown.

Koby Nelson of Serif Sound in Middletown record “Lucid Dream” with Kelsey Wiggin. Courtesy photo

Music enthusiasts can now listen to and download “Lucid Dream” on streaming platforms: Lucid Dream – song and lyrics by Kelsey Wiggin | Spotify and ‎Lucid Dream – Single – Album by Kelsey Wiggin – Apple Music.

Follow @kelsey_wiggin_music on Instagram for updates on future releases.

Like what you see here? Click here to subscribe to We-Ha’s newsletter so you’ll always be in the know about what’s happening in West Hartford! Click the blue button below to become a supporter of We-Ha.com and our efforts to continue producing quality journalism.