Founded in 2005, Springfield Drury Civic Orchestra, as known as SDCO, is southwest Missouri’s local community orchestra.

There are three concerts in every season. For 2014-2015 season, the first concert has passed. The second concert will be Nov. 2 in Clara Thompson Hall at Drury University (900 N. Benton Ave. ). The third concert will be May 4 in Juanita K. Hammons Hall at Missouri State University (901 S. National Ave.). 

Dr. Christopher Koch, associate professor of music and orchestra and wind ensemble, is currently a conductor of the orchestra. The Scoop talked with him to learn more about the performance group. 

It was actually two separate ensembles before it was founded in 2005. 

When Dr. Koch started teaching in Drury University in 2005, the university had its own orchestra, and there was another small local professional ensemble in Springfield whose members were residents.

At that time, his predecessor had an idea of having a community orchestra but never had a chance to put his idea into an action. So Dr. Koch decided to combine two orchestras.

“Instead of trying to cultivate this other sort of the professional group, we would form a large orchestra that would be students, faculties, community members and all kinds of people, so that we could play a large orchestra literature.”

The reason for forming a big orchestra was to give more opportunities to students. It gives more opportunities not only to students but also professional musicians who cannot find the place in the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.

Until this year, everything that SDCO had done was free.

It is normal to charge an admission fee from the audience. However, Springfield Drury Civic Orchestra was able to be maintained without it.  “We provided more than 35 free concerts and played for more than 2,000 people in last nine seasons,” Dr. Koch said.

Before it started to collect an admission fee from audiences, it relied on grants from groups like Missouri Arts Council and the Community Foundation of the Ozarks, and also got money from Drury University. However, the money from Drury that has been available for the orchestra had not been much, so it had to find another way to fund itself. “Although we are not presenting the free concert anymore, we are still producing the concerts that are different from other concerts,” Dr. Koch said.

Funds from SDCO benefit all Drury Music Department students.

Funds raised by SDCO make orchestra seasons available. Furthermore, it not only benefits the orchestra itself but also benefits students in the university’s music department.

“If we buy instruments for SDCO, we can also use them for students in other Drury ensembles,” Dr. Koch said. Also, SDCO benefits other ensembles and students by helping them to buy musics and to acquire equipment such as music stands. Since this is the case, he said, “By keeping SDCO healthy, it helps many other ensembles to be maintained as well.”

Choosing music for concert is not a simple process.

“There are lots of things go into choosing music,” Dr. Koch said. He considers many factors:

“Sometimes it is just simply how one piece might interact with other pieces, so flow of the program and the mixture of energy levels and styles are one of considered factors.”

Also, there are many outside factors that affect the music of the orchestra.  For example, if there is a student concerto competition winner, the orchestra has to accompany with the student. Furthermore, when it is able to find a good music that is in public domain, it is another reason for deciding what to play because it is much cheaper.

Springfield Drury Civic Orchestra has students’ best interest in mind.

“The most important purpose of Springfield Drury Civic Orchestra is to provide students an opportunity to play in the big orchestra,” Dr. Koch said. This is helping not only people who are playing music but also people who are listening to the music.

Said Jonathan Smith, Drury University student: “It provides the community with the opportunity to see a professional orchestra for an extremely low price and raises awareness for the arts.”