Band students will head to Plano West High Senior School on Saturday to partake in the All Region auditions after preparing since August.

“In the audition process, each musician performs selected parts of each piece they’ve been preparing while in a room surrounded by band students,” senior saxophonist Nick Hung said. “This kinda is just seeing what level you’re at in the region and they’ll place you in a band based off that level and then we play concert music.”

In an effort to get comfortable before, band students spent the week playing their audition music in front of classes.

“Nerves are a really big part of all region because you don’t know these people and you sit in a room of twenty or thirty of other kids who play the same instrument so they know what’s going on,” senior flutist Lyric Hill said. “It’s a big help playing in front of other people so you can get used to calming yourself down.”

Senior trombonist Josh Lee appreciated the extra practice, but realizes that nothing can compare to the actual thing.

“I think this helps a lot because just getting experience playing in front of people that makes a huge difference, because practicing at home is way different than playing in front of strangers,” Lee said. “However, while playing in front of a class further exposed students to playing in front of peers, for some, it still varies from the real thing.”

Redhawks such as senior Prachurjya Shreya also enjoyed the practice functioning as a mini concert.   

“I think it’s really cool that the band kids performed in the classrooms,” Shreya said. “I think it gives them practice for all region and it’s just really great.”