Unknown: My name is William McLain.

I'm the new music director and conductor of the MDSO.

So Millikin Decatur symphony orchestra I grew up in Washington DC, I was raised by two loving parents is an interesting story because both of them were in the civilian military, it was very well disciplined household, right?

I grew up in a Baptist church.

And I even remember as a young person, just really loving the choir.

Even then I was learning about, you know, how a composer or writer might put together different styles, different nuances and feelings and emotions to get across a message.

African Americans are underrepresented in the world of classical music growing up in a big city metropolitan area, it was definitely a little bit of an anomaly to see people who look like me on the TV, playing violin, or conducting orchestras.

I also grew up learning music in public school.

And I'm so glad that I was able to have music in the public school because it got me my start in music, believe it or not, I was actually playing trumpet and marching out in the bands before I even picked up a stringed instrument.

But eventually, I started playing the viola, which is my main instrument, many will ask about, you know how a conductor gets started.

And my mentor was the one who encouraged me to continue with performance, to be the best player that I could be.

Finding that emotion, finding that story behind the music, if you can somehow reflect that, even when you're working hard and fixing notes, and you know, faster, faster or too fast, just that that level of re discovery and energy into music, I think is what I really gained from my, my first conductor slash mentor.

And, and it was after that, that I said, this is what I want to do.

There's a connection and a confidence that that I bring to the podium, because I've been down there with the violas.

I know what it feels like when rehearsal goes really well.

I know what it feels like when things are kind of tense, and we're not sure and how can we fix this, a lot of people will comment I, you know, have very long arms.

And so this, this really gives me an opportunity to just, you know, allow the audience to be in on it.

If you watch the great conductors, you know, no matter if you could see their face, or you're watching from the back, you can really feel and see the energy and the music.

I consider myself very, very blessed, very fortunate to be the new director of the India.

So in a relatively, I would say middle part of my career.

The MDSO is a great example of performance learning, because it is an orchestra that is composed of professional players, faculty, who are also professionals, and students.

Even as this pandemic continues on, I'm holding on to these really positive lessons, particularly when it comes to live streaming, and shorter videos and using social media.

I mean, these are things that we've always been aware of, but I don't think we could have ever imagined that we would use them to this degree.

And it's really off of that moment.

When you're standing on a podium when the musicians are gathered to work with each other.

I like to remind the musicians without actually saying it, like how joyful This music is, or how passionate the music is, it might not always be joyful, it might be really intense.

I pay a lot of attention to detail.

And I expect that, you know, from the orchestra that you know, not to ever let a minute or to go by where you're not specifically conveying something.

It's a lot of work.

And I like to say if you're slightly exhausted at the end of rehearsal, then you probably did it right