The Really Terrible Orchestra of the Triangle

The Really Terrible Orchestra of the Triangle (RTOOT) is an American amateur orchestra which was founded in 2008 by W. Sands Hobgood to encourage reasonably-competent musicians, who have been prevented from playing music with others due to lack of talent or other factors, to rehearse and perform in an ensemble of players of similar ability in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area of North Carolina.

RTOOT's mission is twofold: to provide a unique opportunity for musicians in the Triangle who want to play music with a group (regardless of talent), and to attract an audience from throughout the community.

[2]Founder W. Sands Hobgood was RTOOT's founding conductor until 2016, and used the term "culturtainment" to describe the unique (and often zany) nature of the orchestra's performances.

Rehearsals are held on Sunday afternoons in the Herbert C. Young Community Center, adjacent to Cary's Town Hall campus.

Hobgood worked three weeks to get his mobile phone to ring in the middle of the famous silent section near the end of Strauss' The Blue Danube.