While most students were stuck in classrooms taking their final exams last month, members of Saratoga Strings, the elite string orchestra, were gallivanting around the Windy City, visiting “The Bean,” eating at local diners and most importantly, participating in The Midwest Clinic Conference.

Saratoga Strings qualified for the prestigious conference last year after they sent in a CD recording of one of their performances. The conference committee thought highly of it and invited Saratoga Strings to participate.

Once there, the students listened to other high school orchestras from around the country, put on their own  two-hour performance and watched several helpful presentations. Also in attendance were several scouts from music-oriented colleges, and students were able to speak to them.

Saratoga Strings performed a variety of classical pieces, such as Haydn’s Symphony No. 93, and contemporary pieces, like Strauss’s Don John, and felt that their performance went well, despite minor setbacks along the way.

“I learned that accidents can happen and we must be prepared for it,” said junior Felicia Hung. “For example, bows kept breaking, but the teachers were able to go out to shops and get new bows. There were a couple of bad nose bleeds, but we were all able to handle it well.”

The students, 42 orchestra members and four percussionists, left the Tuesday of finals week, meaning that many of them had to take their finals a weekend early. As daunting as that sounds, teachers tried to make the experience as stress-free as possible.

“It actually wasn’t that hard to take our finals so early. It didn’t stress me out at all,” said sophomore violinist Alisha Luo. “Actually, it was nice to be able to finish all of our exams and get them out of the way. We got to start break early.”

The students had been preparing for the conference since late August.

“We have been practicing for a really long time and everybody’s put in a lot of effort,” said junior cellist Nicole Chiou. “It all came together really well and it was overall a great performance.”

The students especially enjoyed a performance from a group of Japanese musicians.

“They were absolutely mind-blowing because at the end they all got up and danced,” Chiou said. “It was [really] cool.”

When they were not performing, the students went sightseeing, visiting Lake Michigan, aquariums and museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago.

“We got to go to the lakefront of Lake Michigan. It was really pretty but super cold,” Luo said.

The trip was a reward for  a lot of hard work.

“We would usually get together as a whole group and then we would eat dinners together, which was kind of nice,” Chiou said. “So, there were times where we were together as a group and times where we could branch out on our own.”

And there wasn’t a boring minute.

“It was just overall a really great experience,” she said.