Sunday's Jefferson City Community Symphonic Band concert featured a surprise ending not just for the audience, but for a member of the band.
At the end of the show, Jefferson City resident Joe Schneider surprised his girlfriend - Casey McDonald, a flute player in the band - by proposing to her.
Schneider first came on stage and began singing "The Next Ten Minutes," a song from the off-Broadway musical, "The Last Five Years."
Schneider, an actor/singer who is active in the local theater scene, sang the song accompanied by the band, minus McDonald, who was instructed to sit in a chair near the edge of the stage.
The song includes the lyrics: "Will you share your life with me; For the next 10 minutes?" It goes on to ask: "And if we make it 'til then, can I ask you again, for another 10?"
By the end of the song, McDonald - along with the band and audience members - was wiping tears from her eyes.
After singing, Schneider said to McDonald: "I've said it thousands of times that you're the most amazing thing that's ever happened to me. I want you by my side for the rest of my life."
Schneider got down on his knees and asked: "Casey McDonald, will you marry me?"
She quickly nodded and said "yes," as the audience of about 100 people erupted in cheers and applause.
The audience might not have been prepared for a tear-jerker ending, but they were given some foreshadowing from concert emcee Bob Priddy. While introducing songs from the band, Priddy occasionally blended in talk of chivalry and even marriage proposals while talking about the history of the musical pieces.
The pair are in their mid-20s and have been dating for close to a year. Schneider said he knew after about three months that she was the one. He, along with the band, had planned the proposal for about 1 1/2 months, he said.
McDonald said she was completely caught by surprise. "I had no idea at all," she said afterward.
She said she was sad and frustrated before the concert, because Schneider had told her that - due a work commitment - he wouldn't be able to attend.
When she realized he was proposing, she said, "I got super nervous, and then I couldn't stop crying because I was so happy."
She said she didn't need to think before answering his proposal. "I've known that I have wanted to marry him for awhile," she said.
"I can't see myself not spending my life with him," she said. "He fills in the gaps that I'm not good at, and he helps me with all the things I don't do well. He makes me complete."
Schneider said he's never seen someone with a bigger heart.
"She's a teacher, and I've seen her utmost passion is her students. And just seeing the passion she has as a teacher, gives me absolute life."
He said his feelings echo the song lyrics that he sang: "There are so many dreams I need to see with you; I will never be complete, I will never change the world, until I do."