On Jan. 13  band members competed for a spot on the All-Region Band hosted at George Junior High.

The students that want to be in this hand selected group of musicians receive a packet of music and scales. They must practice these pieces because they will play it for judges at a “blind audition.” Once try out day comes they will receive a number, telling them the order they will be called back to audition, and they will also receive the music the will be playing for the judges.

“Before the audition I was totally calm, but when I went in the room my nerves got to me,” said senior french horn player Megan Mounce.

If you are picked by the judges, then you will be called to join the all-region band and play a concert with the other all-region band members on the evening of Jan. 21.  More importantly, students making all-region qualify at a higher rate for college scholarships.

All through out the region band members were competing for a spot on All-Region. Unfortunately, not every person that auditions will get a spot on this band. There were about 100 Wildcat band members that decided to try out and 72 were honored the award of being named a recipient of the All-Region Band.

This year the band had the highest ranking members that got picked to play for All-Region. There were many schools that participated such as: Springdale, Fayetteville, Siloam Springs, Lincoln, Huntsville and every small school across Arkansas.

“We placed 72 students in the all-region band. The next closest school had 52, followed by Fayetteville High at 39,” said band director Jeremy Ford. “I’d say that, comparatively, we kicked booty.”

This is an honor for the school as well as the students selected.