Let's call it life lessons. I went through a different state doing region as a kid and we had a time to show up, play, and leave. I was a 3 year region kid because I didn't blow my brains out, was able to use a watch, and could play my instrument pretty dang well.

Plus, it's way more real world than sitting in a room for an hour to wait to play. Show me one audition for a college or gig where you sit with the other musicians for an hour to wait and play. Let's make All Region the real world. Miss your time, you are DNA. Warm up incorrectly, you learned a lesson for next year. Quit holding their hands. Let students fail. Let them fail when it's just a region audition as a 9th grader so that they are prepared for that military band audition as a 12th grader. Or for that scholarship audition to *name your school*. And more importantly, let students actually see what success is!