On Thursday, February 19th, the Steinbrenner Orchestra students went down to Robinson High School for their yearly Musical Performance Asessement (MPA). 

In this yearly assessment, players perform as usual in front of three judges, and do a sight read (where they get a new piece and must learn it within a time limit). The orchestra is then judged by the quality of their performance and how well they worked all together. Visuals are another key part of the show. 

This year, the Orchestra students got “‘superiors’, except the sight read, where we got one ‘excellent’ in the symphonic orchestra”, said symphonic violin player and freshman Nam Nguyen. “Superior” and “excellent” are the two highest scores players can receive in MPA. 

Besides their outstanding performance, students also enjoyed their time at the conference. “It feels so great after a concert, knowing you just did your best and the sound you made was all worth it,” said concert bass player and freshman Amari Daniels. 

Of course, the event wasn’t without stress. As it was a scored event, there was a bit of pressure on the players to impress the judges. “It was really stressful, really nerve-wracking” says Nguyen. But in the end, many found that it paid off to perform. “We played well and knew we tried our best, and at the end of the day, it was all worth it,” said Daniels. 

Overall, everyone did an excellent job and had a great time playing. Around the end of the day, everyone headed back to Steinbrenner in high spirits, many excited for next year.