Band is a major part of many high school students’ lives, and they often take pride in their abilities.

Each year these students have the opportunity to prove their musical talents in the Senior High All-Region tryouts.

The state of Arkansas is divided up into nine different regions; Searcy and several other schools fall under the fourth region.

On January 12, many students congregated under the roof of Searcy High School in hopes of acquiring a seat in an all-region band.

There was about 477 students participating in this event; flutes made up seventy-seven of those students, while there were seventy-six clarinets, seventeen tubas, and four bassoons.

Cabot High School, Beebe High School, West Memphis High School, and Marion High School were a few of the schools that arrived early on Saturday morning.

The students received their tryout numbers at 8:30 that morning, the music was posted by 9:00, and by 9:30 tryouts had begun.

Although the main goal of all-region tryouts is to find the best of the best in this region of Arkansas, a very obvious plus is meeting new people and making good friends you will always remember.

As one would expect, many of the students trying out were very nervous about their auditions, but as always a few students were especially sure in their abilities.

“I was pretty nervous before my tryout,” says William Moore, a tuba player from Lonoke High School. “But I ended up making fourth chair first band, so it’s okay.”

“I completely bombed it,” says Anna Miller, a sophomore at Searcy. “But, I liked meeting kids from other schools more than trying out. There was a lot of cool people.”

Searcy High School band put thirty-two students into the all-region bands and fifteen of these students qualified to tryout for all-state band.

“I’m really excited about the concert next weekend,” says Moore. “I qualify for all-state this year, so that is almost as exciting as the concert.”

Some students from Searcy High School band that made the list are Ana Gomez, Bethany Jones, Patrick McKenzie, Mikahla Denney, Jordan Ladyman, and Becca Shaw.

This is the second time Searcy High School has hosted all-region tryouts, and will also host the clinic and concerts.

The clinic for junior high and senior high all-region will be held January 18-19, the concert will be held on the 19th in Searcy Performing Arts Center.