Elm Place Middle School's orchestra recently participated in a lab setting at the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Conference on Dec. 15 at McCormick Place in Chicago.

The orchestra worked with guest clinician Terry Shade, who is the orchestra director at Issaquah Middle School in Issaquah, Wash.

The Elm Place orchestra, under the direction of Daniella Valdez, performed "Symphony No. 25 in C Major- Finale" by Joseph Haydn and "In the Steppes of Central Asia" by Alexander Borodin.

The Midwest Clinic began in 1946 when approximately 120 directors from the Chicago area assembled in a YWCA gymnasium on Chicagos West Side for a six-hour clinic and new music reading session, according to its web site.

In 1963, the clinic expanded to its present format of four and a half days. Over the years, the focus of the Midwest Clinic has remained on bringing music directors into contact with not only the best published music, but also with new and established teaching techniques, and the latest products and services for the music educator.