NIU’s School of Music invited five high school orchestras to perform and be critiqued by School of Music faculty Wednesday.

“This is the first year NIU is sponsoring the event,” said Deborah Booth, director of external programs for the College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Though this is the first time NIU sponsored String Day, it has done similar events in the past involving high schools.

Sycamore, Maine South, Leyden, Addison Trail and Neuqua Valley were the five high schools that participated.

The day’s activities included a warm-up session for each school and a 35-minute performance. Critiques were offered at the completion of the performance.

After each high school finished its performance, students were broken into groups by instruments for a workshop.

The day included a small performance by Richard Young, professor of viola and member of the NIU faculty Vermeer Quartet, with two string quartets from Sycamore and Neuqua Valley high schools.

“One of the most important things to always keep in mind in studying is to make sure you’re instilling a certain discipline in the work, but not at the expense of the inspiration and enthusiasm,” Young said.

The NIU Philharmonic also performed a selection from “West Side Story.”

Junior Sarah Kloster of Sycamore High School said she looked forward to the Philharmonic performance.

“It was interesting to find out different techniques and points of view,” Kloster said.