High School Band
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Membership Requirement
For a student to participate in KMEA honor groups the sponsoring teacher must be an active member of the Kansas Music Educators Association.

High School Band

2026-27

Important Dates
Oct. 5 - Auditions begin (mp3 files)
Oct. 26 - Audition upload deadline - $15 per completed audition
Nov. 1 - Judging ends
Dec. 5 - Clinic & Concert @ Dodge City HS - $5 per selected student

Audition Deadline
Entries must be uploaded and complete by 11:59 PM on the evening of the deadline. All directors submitting auditions will be asked to judge.

Fee Invoices
All HS Band fee invoices will be located in each director's Festival Scores account.

Audition Excerpts
All audition materials are sourced from https://ksmea.org/hsband/excerpts/
Final review and posting of corrections of materials by KMEA is due August 15, and corrections will be carried over to our SW audition accordingly. This year, we are no longer using a unison etude. Each instrument will use two of the State excerpts as the audition materials, along with a chromatic scale for winds (from All-State packet).

Note for Percussion: State is one comprehensive percussion audition, with multiple components. For our district, students may still audition specifically for snare, mallets, and timpani (with auditioning for 2 or 3 of these being encouraged and allowed). Percussion has one excerpt per category. Snare and mallet auditionees who get accepted should expect to also be placed on auxiliary or bass drum parts to fill those out.

Audition Materials
All Brass and Woodwind Entries: Chromatic Scale from All-State Materials, quarter = 60
All etudes are in their entirety unless otherwise specified.

Piccolo
  • Variations on a Revolutionary Hymn (Claude T. Smith)
  • 25 Romantic Etudes (Ernesto Kohler), No. 12 "Hand in a Hand" (From Flute Packet) measures 1-12, ending on quarter Bb
Flutes
  • Petite Symphonie (Charles Gounod) measures 1-12, ending on quarter C
  • Easter Monday on the White House Lawn (John Philip Sousa)
Oboe
  • Folk Song Suite (Ralph Vaughan Williams, II. "My Bonny Boy"
  • Articulation Study (A.M.R. Barret), No. 2 measures 1-10 ending on quarter C
Bassoon
  • Concert Studies (Ludwig Milde), No. 5
  • American Salute (Morton Gould)
Clarinet
  • Symphony No. 3 (Johannes Brahms), II. Andante measures 1-13 ending on quarter F#
  • Faust (Charles Gounod), "Ballet Music" measures 1-13 ending on beat two 16th G
Bass Clarinet and Contrabass Clarinet
  • Angels in the Architecture (Frank Ticheli)
  • 21 Foundational Studies (William Rhoads), No. 3
Alto Saxophone
  • Turandot (Giacomo Puccini), Act. 1, "Outside the Imperial Palace" measures 1-15
  • Suite Francais (Darius Milhaud), "Provence" measures 1-6
Tenor Saxophone
  • Second Suite (Gustav Holst), "Song Without Words" measures 1-9, ending on dotted half D
  • 48 Studies (Franz Ferling), No. 14 measures 1-9, ending on 8th note A
Baritone Saxophone
  • Second Suite (Gustav Holst) "Song Without Words" measures 1-9, ending on dotted half D
  • Lincolnshire Posy (Percy Grainger), "Lisbon" measures 1-12
Trumpet
  • Colonial Song (Percy Grainger)
  • Variations on America (Charles Ives), Var. V measures 1-10, ending on beat 3 16th D
Horn
  • The Hounds of Spring (Alfred Reed) measures 1-7, ending on beat 2 Bb
  • Symphonic Metamorphosis (Paul Hindemith), IV measures 1-8
Trombone
  • The Quilting Party March (John Phillip Sousa) measures 1-15
  • Melodius Etudes (Rochut), No. 7 measures 1-8
Baritone (BC and TC)
  • Tocatta Marziale (Ralph Vaughan Williams) measures 1-9
  • Melodius Etudes (Joannes Rochut), No. 6 measures 1-16
Tuba
  • Etude No. 3 (Vladislav Blazhevich)
  • Symphony in Bb (Paul Hindemith) measures 1-10, ending on tied Eb half note.
    There are two versions of "Symphony in Bb" in the state exerpts. Use the 2nd one, which is on page 3 and starts with 8th notes, not the one on page two that starts with a 16th/8th/16th rhythm.
Snare
  • Etude No. 4 (Jeff Smikahl)
Timpani
  • Timpani (4 Timpani excerpt) (please only use the 2 timp excerpt where you have equipment limitations)
Mallets
  • Xylophone (note: can be performed on any mallet instrument, adjust octave, if needed) Gayane Ballet (Aram Khachaturian), Dance of the Rose Maidens

Audition Management
We will use the Festival Scores audition management system. Please find time to create a Director account if you have not already done so. Here are the basic steps to begin:
  1. Go to FestivalScores.com.
  2. Click on Enter Site.
  3. Select Participating Director.
  4. Create an account (if you do not already have an account).
  5. After logging in, add your School and Student profiles.
  6. Activate Audition Event using the tag shown below.
Audition Event Tag
Directors will need to activate the following tag in their Festival Scores account:
2NC234D

Festival Scores information video
Directors should watch this short video to become familiar with the Festival Scores audition system.
 
Chairperson
Jeffrey Poort
Pratt HS
400 S Hamilton St
Pratt, KS 67124
w: 620-672-4540
Important Dates - HS Band
Oct 26, 2026 - Monday
Audition Upload Deadline — HS Band
$15 per audition
Dec 5, 2026 - Saturday
Clinics & Concerts — HS Band, HS Choir
Dodge City HS
$5 per selected student
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