Gearing up to perform at the Missouri Music Educators (MMEA) Conference on Jan. 30, the Symphonic Orchestra played a preview concert for friends and family on Thursday evening. 

Clayton’s Symphonic Orchestra is one of just five orchestras in the state set to perform at MMEA. Every three years, the Symphonic Orchestra has the opportunity to apply for a spot to perform at the conference. They have been accepted every time in the past 12 years.

“It’s very selective,” Orchestra teacher Daniel Henderson said. “We have a very strong program”. 

The preview concert prepares musicians for MMEA by getting everyone into a performance mindset.

“Even if some members of the orchestra feel like we haven’t done our best, we know how to work towards something even better,” orchestra student freshman Sia Girivaru said.

In the end, nothing compares to the experience of playing for a live audience when it comes to perfecting a piece of music. 

“When you’re performing music, there’s no substitute for a live audience to make you really understand where you might be a little shaky, or where you get nervous, or which spot is not as secure as we thought it was,” Henderson said. “We do [the preview concert], in essence, to allow us to experience those feelings, so that when we go next week to the convention, we just feel excited”. 

This preview also allowed family and friends to experience the result of the orchestra’s  hard work for the past few months, as most will be unable to attend their MMEA performance in Lake of the Ozarks on Thursday. 

“Even if some members of the orchestra feel like we haven’t done our best, we will know how to work towards something even better,” Girivaru said.