Oh dear.

The torture of middle school orchestra concerts, supporting nieces and nephews. Band concerts were okay; brass, woodwinds, percussion. But when the strings came in...

The orchestra director, bless him, would occasionally preface a piece with, "The kids have put in a lot of time and effort on this piece," which was the cue to (a) please remain seated and just bear with the pain, dammit, and (2) stuff your ears with tissue or whatever is handy.