Tapping to the beat were a pair of black stiletto heels, tight on the feet of a cellist.

Nearby were two young violinists, one in white sneakers, the other in Ugg boots.

All around them, a variety of footwear tapped to the same beat as the 81 members of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Symphony Orchestra warmed up before rehearsal began on Nov. 18.

This wasn't your mother's Meyerhoff.

First, there was the group's striking ethnic diversity: 40 percent of the performers are Asian or African-American.

Then there was the age range. About 75 percent of the group are college students, the other 25 percent seasoned community members.

The sound that their detached preparations created in the university's Fine Arts Recital Hall made one feel like he was floating in an apartment air shaft, listening to music drift in from different units and collide -- the string instruments whining through heavier moans from the brass section and all of it accented by big, bowed yawns from the bass players.

Then conductor Michael Richards, an associate professor and chairman of the UMBC music department, took command and asked for tuning.

There was a short count for everyone to catch, and then...

Beethoven. Big, booming, beautiful Beethoven.

Fingers danced along cellos.

Violin bows danced up and down in unison.

Richards danced in jolts of his own on the small, carpeted conductor's stand.

"It's gotta be dance," he would later tell the orchestra as he urged smoother transitions.

Last Sunday, the orchestra performed Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, Bizet's "Carmen," Ravel's "Mother Goose Suite" and Sibelius' "Finlandia."

The men were in tuxes, the women all in black for the Nov. 23 concert, which was free to the public.

For 35 years, UMBC's orchestra has provided such free concerts -- a rare offering in the world of classical music -- by culling students, alumni and neighbors into a powerful body of musicians.

The orchestra practices once a week, and is open to anybody by audition, said Richards, who lives in Catonsville with his wife, Kazuko Tanosaki, a piano instructor at the university.

"There have always been community members involved," said Richards, who has conducted the orchestra since the fall of 2007. "It's great for the students."

Rich Sigwald, who lives off Wilkens Avenue in Arbutus and grew up in the town, said he has played the trumpet since he was 10 years old.

He joined the orchestra while studying music performance at the university.

When he graduated in 2003, he wasn't ready to stop playing.

"It's something I have to do. It's a part of me. If I'm not doing it, I'm not happy," he said.

The orchestra's open invitation to alumni provided the perfect solution, he said.

"It's a way to keep playing, stay fresh and continue to be challenged by new material," said Sigwald, now a circulation assistant at the Catonsville Library.

"People graduate and land a real job and don't get to do exactly what they want, but this is my opportunity."

Tim Meushaw, who graduated from the university in 1997 with a computer science degree, has played the viola in the orchestra for 17 years -- since he was a junior at Woodlawn High School.

A computer programmer for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory now living in Silver Spring, Meushaw grew up in and around Catonsville and Woodlawn.

He looks at the orchestra, he said, as a way to stay connected with the instrument he has played since fifth grade and the community in which he was raised.

"Being in an orchestra is the only way I can keep up my skills.

"It's a way to stay creative and experienced with different kinds of music," he said. "It also helps me stay familiar with the area."

The structure of the orchestra is also a big draw, Meushaw said.

"I haven't found many community orchestras where amateurs can get together," he said. "It's either college students or professionals. This is a nice environment, to have a mixture of everybody."

Michelle Ko, a junior studying flute performance, and Jacob Jensen, a senior studying clarinet performance, agreed.

"I think it's a good camaraderie," Ko said. "We're pretty well merged."

"Yeah, the community members -- you really get to know them," Jensen added. "And it's interesting to find out their backgrounds."

"Somehow, music just draws us all together," he said.

The orchestra will offer two free performances open to the public, March 8 and April 26.

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