AUCSO recognizes and celebrates that students are multi-hyphenated and have a range of interests beyond classical music. Students are encouraged to set expansive goals for themselves and to co-design holistic learning plans with influential people in their lives.

Practice is designed to emulate the professional classical world while giving room for the struggle of learning new techniques and material. In addition, meticulous instruction, community agreements, and historical framing round out the rehearsal time.

Students learn to play in a large ensemble before live audiences. Typically there will be about two performances a school year in which students can mature their stage presence.

Some things take more one-on-one focus. Students are assisted in finding private teachers within the AUCSO network to sharpen their technique and to learn how to care for their instruments.

The starving artist is a trope not embraced at AUCSO. Instead, students are mentored to be flourishing artists who know how to network, acquire paying opportunities, negotiate rates, travel, market themselves, navigate the music industry and establish themselves as career musicians.