Redhawk band brings it at All-region auditions
Sophomore Haasini Busireddy plays her trombone for a football game. Sophomore Jemil Logan plays his clarinet for the football game. As the marching band season has come to a close, Redhawk students have been rehearsing for All-Region auditions. As results have come out, it seems over 36 students will be a part of this year’s All-Region program.
December 14, 2021
Long before concert band, before marching band, and even before the school year, band students have been preparing for one audition, UIL All-Region. The work paid off for the 36 students that made one of the All-Region bands, and the 16 students who advanced Area in Jan.
“We are so excited to have so many students be highly successful this year and excel at such a high level,” Assistant Director of bands Cecily Yoakam said.
The UIL process is split into two parts, UIL Region and UIL Freshman Region.
“The purpose of having a freshman audition separate from the normal region is to give ninth graders an opportunity to participate in one of the bands, and give them a stepping stone into the full high school Region experience,” Yoakam said. “High School All-Region is very different from that of middle school, and having a separate band gives more ninth graders the opportunity to participate in one of these bands and experiences.”
Freshman however, are able to participate in both sections of the process.
“My goal for the future auditions is to place highly, and achieve the standards I have set for myself,” freshman Subaib Sabir said. “I wanted to do freshman and normal UIL because I practiced very highly for my music, and I felt like I needed to do both to prove that to myself. I am preparing for my auditions by practicing whenever I get the time to, but still not overworking myself and taking necessary breaks when I need to.”
Junior Lauren Maher tried to pace her practice in order to be prepared for her phase two audition.
“Since we had phase 1 auditions a few days earlier, I tried not to over practice for phase 2,” Maher said. “I made sure to clean up some spots in the music before the audition so I felt like I was ready, but other than that, I just made sure to stay calm and focused.”
The best way to get success from the UIL process is to learn the music early, says Yokam, and consistently practice.
“The sooner they begin detailed preparation, the better success they will have down the road,” she said. “The key is to master the music as soon as possible, as accurately as possible.The next step is to try and play for as many different people as possible. The more people they can perform in front of, the more comfortable they will be during auditions and the less nerves they will have.”
