As she diligently practiced each piece on her violin, sophomore Abby Goodman hoped they would be ready in time for her upcoming Musical Performance Assessment.

The orchestras will play in MPA on Monday at Heritage High School. During the event, musicians play three pieces they’ve prepared in front of judges, who assign them a score based on technique, musical effect and tone. After musicians play their pre-prepared pieces, they sight-read. Orchestras can receive a score of Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair or Poor depending on their performance.

“I think we’re going to do OK. I’m expecting probably Excellents to be honest,” Goodman said. “As long as we go and we just try our best, I’m fine with that.”

This year, the Philharmonic and Symphonic orchestras will perform together, while the Symphony Orchestra, which consists of both wind and string instruments, will perform separately.

“We have been practicing our pieces every day, and we have recently come together as full groups to practice the pieces all together,” freshman violinist Emily Hendrickson said.

Freshman cellist Eva Rogers said she believes that playing with the younger orchestra will be beneficial.

“I think our orchestra working with the younger one makes us sound confident and powerful,” she said. “I feel nervous because I have never played in front of judges before but I think we will do well.”

Rogers’ orchestra did run into problems this year, however.

“We had to change one piece recently because we were not allowed to play it at MPA,” she said. “However, we changed the piece.”

The Philharmonic and Symphonic orchestras will play “Jupiter,” “Stone Mountain Stomp,” and “Toccatina” while the Symphony Orchestra will play “Rhosymedre,” “Bacchanale” and a piece by Brahms.

By Chloe Seifert