The name “terrible” in Terrible Adult Chamber Orchestra (TACO) is a tongue-in-cheek nod to the lighthearted nature of the group, which aims for fun rather than to impress. TACO is a local non-audition orchestra open to those with any level of musical experience. Each month, the group meets for a three-hour jam session, which is neither a rehearsal nor a concert, to play six songs together. Their first fall session was Sunday, September 24, with 94 participating musicians.

Conductor Cathy Humphers Smith started TACO with her husband in 2010 from her living room in Los Altos. Her motivation to create a safe environment for musicians to enjoy their passions came from a bad experience with the exclusivity of classical music in college.

“A professor told me she didn’t think I ‘had the fundamentals to succeed’ with piano and that she couldn’t teach me, “Humphers Smith said. “I didn’t play the piano for four years after that.”

The connection and joy in music can often be lost in a performance-based environment under the pressure of reaching perfection. By contrast, TACO’s lack of auditions allows a variety of musicians to join the orchestra, including beginners, sight-reading learners and those getting back into music after retirement. 

“Many TACO musicians have neurological disorders or other ailments that make it hard to play flawlessly,” Humphers Smith said. “I never want to cause stress as a conductor. I would never call out an individual during a session and potentially embarrass them.” 

Humphers Smith recalled a performance TACO had done in Downtown Los Altos with 85 musicians playing on a single narrow street, where she realized halfway through that the musicians on the left and right side were playing different parts of the music. 

“I had this image of a pair of ice skaters skating gracefully together and suddenly they lose each other,” Humphers Smith said. “So I stopped, turned to the audience and said, ‘Can you hear that? It’s like we’re ice skating and just skated apart. We’re going to start over.’ Then we finished, and it was beautiful. As long as I exude calmness, it’s not the end of the world if we have to stop and start.”

“It’s no pressure — none of us has to come here perfect,” violist Elaine Miller said. “We make mistakes, but we sound pretty good as a group and have a lot of fun.”

Miller notes the importance of the community in the orchestra, specifically in scholarships offered to musicians unable to pay the fee to join.

“We had a tragedy in our lives where our house burnt down, and TACO gave me a scholarship,” Miller said.

Humphers Smith notes the community’s response to TACO. 

“Some people don’t understand the idea of not playing for perfection, and some people prefer to work on a piece for longer than a month — TACO is not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea,” Humphers Smith said. “But for the most part, the community has embraced it.”

TACO sessions are $31 for Los Altos residents and $35 for non-residents. Donations can be made on their website tacosv.org.