Coppell High School Band students dominated the recent Region 20 North Zone All-Region Band tryouts, claiming 124 chairs for more than 80 percent of the seats in the honor organization.

More than 600 students from 24 high schools competed as in the All-Region Band tryouts held Dec. 9-10 at CHS. Fifty-six CHS students won a place in the top band, the Honor Band, while 68 CHS students earned a spot in the Symphonic Band.

Forty-four students placed high enough at region tryouts to advance to the pre-area competition two days after region tryouts.

Those qualifying at pre-area and through the region orchestra tryouts held in November are eligible to compete at the area band tryouts in Waco Jan. 7 where members of the Texas All-State Band are selected.

The following 46 CHS students qualified for the area competition in addition to making the All-Region Band: Alex Parker, piccolo; Allison Lyon, Brandy Sun, flute; Harini Suresh, oboe; Jason Fang, Nina Jang, Daniel Markbreiter, Elizabeth Starr, bassoon; Ginnie Ko, Cejay Zhu, Benson Huang, Lauren Walter, B-flat clarinet; Cinnie Lin, E-flat clarinet; Madeline Zill, alto clarinet;

Sabrina Muenster, contra bass clarinet; Landon Grissett, Aidan McGraw, bass clarinet; Stephen Arifin, Matt Smith, alto saxophone; Logan Gary, Alec Bargas, tenor saxophone; Sean Nelson, bari-saxophone; Emery Hicks, Jonathon Bolton, Joey Pye, Preston Mason, Gena Greenia, Brandon White, Kayla Boyer, trumpet;

Haley Greenia, Noah Hendrix, Chris Lugo, Anthony Stanley, Paige Solano, french horn; Hanson Wu, Shane Murray, tenor trombone; Hayden Grimes, bass trombone; Daniel Gray, Ryan Duan, euphonium; Parker Mason, Connor Manning, James Halpin, Mark LeGros, tuba; Sydney Owens, Max Ginnell and Matt Shaw, percussion.

CHS historically sends more students to the area competition and often has more All-Staters than any other band, choir or orchestra program in the state.

Starting work on the All-Region music early, hard work and spending a great deal of class time on the music all are key to Coppell taking so many chairs in the All Region Band, said Scott Mason, CISD director of instrumental music.

Most band students have been working on the all-region/all-state music since the summer and Mason said the process is important for the band program.

"We believe that the All-Region Band is important because it helps our students study, practice and perform music that will help them to grow as musicians," he said.

The Region 20 North Zone All Region Band clinic and concert are scheduled for Jan. 13-14 at CHS. The concert, which begins at 7 p.m. Jan. 14 in the CHS auditorium, is open to the public.

Conductors of the All-Region Honor Band will be Dr. Fred Allen from Stephen F. Austin State University and the conductor for the Symphonic Band will be Don  Hayes, head director of the LBJ High School Band in Austin and past president of the Texas Bandmasters Association.

Other CHS students making the All-Region Band include: Morgan Mosley, piccolo; Grace Choe, Neha Dubey, Natalie Kersey, Caroline Kersen, Madelyn Baker, Monica Blazek, Isabel Olivas, Shannon Nguyen, Nisha Dhanik, Riddhi Rane, Natasha Shams, Ariel Hee-Jin Jun, Anna Moriarty, flute; Garrett Holmes, Alisha Punjwani, Sarah Pye, oboe;

Ryo Yoshida, Ryan Clear, Hannah Thorp, Samu Jarvela, Monika Damle, Rohan Panaparambil, Kristen West, Balazs Kustar, Danielle Norton, Nicole Messer, Janet Han, Paul Na, B-flat clarinet; Laura Poe, alto clarinet; Irvinn Rincon, contra bass clarinet; Tuulia Koponen, David Gu, bass clarinet; Christianna Haas, bassoon; Benny Yan, Ben Marshall, Jenna Ling, Mallory Willett, Jonathon Zuniga, Venkat Muthukumar, alto saxophone; Griffin Hill, tenor saxophone; Vincent Huang, bari-saxophone;

Kyle Jaksa, Daniel Corkill, Adrian Galvan, Clint Simpson, Roshan Doddanavar, Dawson Stanley, Chad Houchin, trumpet; Amber Omar, Ethan Balsamo, Annie Reck, Lauren Lason, Lesley Wray, Matt Bauer, french horn; Ben Zill, Tommy Reed, Kate Begland, Joel Novamo, Elliott Brown, Hilton Hardie, Rikki Varshney, tenor trombone; Antonio Roman, Justin McCracken, bass trombone;

Keenen Juengerman, Greg Blazek, Aakarsh Rai, Jack Kisor, euphonium; Matt Freese, Omar Elmougy, Thomas Hair, Jonathan Butterbaugh, tuba; Mikki Hoffman, Claire Brown, Terrence Yi, Brady Knippa, Ali Martinez and Raga Ayyagari, percussion.

Following all-region, the next phase of the band year includes all students learning a solo for the Regional Solo and Ensemble Contest on Feb. 25 at CHS as well as all the students being divided up between five bands for the concert band season.