When the young musician entered the quiet room, nothing was heard but total silence. Even the sounds of the students’ footsteps as they made their way to their chair were almost undetectable. The timid clarinet player took a seat and waited for a piece of music to be chosen for her.

“You just have to hope you’re lucky enough to get an easy piece,” Britany Thacker said. 

But truly, luck has nothing to do with it.

All-Region auditions put band members from all over the state of Arkansas to the test, and this year Thacker passed this test with flying colors.

“I started playing the clarinet in seventh grade,” she said. “My sister played it when she was in school, so I thought that I would be good at it too.”

Thacker is one of the first high school students at BIC to receive the All-Region title in several years and the first under the direction of Dr. Charles Page. She was placed in the 26th chair in the second band out of the two bands this region offers, but she was moved up to the 23rd chair.  

“I was shocked when I heard that I got All-Region,” Thacker said. “I really didn’t think that it would be me.”

Students that are placed in the second band most commonly audition again the next year to move up chairs or even up to the first band. Because Brittany is a senior she will not get this chance, but she says that she is looking forward to playing in the marching band in college.