High School Band
2026-27
Clinician Gary Ziek
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
Piccolo
Piccolo
- Variations on a Revolutionary Hymn (Claude T. Smith)
- 25 Romantic Etudes (Ernesto Kohler), No. 12 "Hand in a Hand" (From Flute Packet)
- Petite Symphonie (Charles Gounod)
- Easter Monday on the White House Lawn (John Philip Sousa)
- Folk Song Suite (Ralph Vaughan Williams, II. "My Bonny Boy"
- Articulation Study (A.M.R. Barret), No. 2
- Concert Studies (Ludwig Milde), No. 5
- American Salute (Morton Gould)
- Symphony No. 3 (Johannes Brahms), II. Andante
- Faust (Charles Gounod), "Ballet Music"
- Angels in the Architecture (Frank Ticheli)
- 21 Foundational Studies (William Rhoads), No. 3
- Turandot (Giacomo Puccini), Act. 1, "Outside the Imperial Palace"
- Suite Francais (Darius Milhaud), "Provence"
- Second Suite (Gustav Holst), "Song Without Words"
- 48 Studies (Franz Ferling), No. 14
- Second Suite (Gustav Holst) "Song Without Words"
- Lincolnshire Posy (Percy Grainger), "Lisbon"
- Colonial Song (Percy Grainger)
- Variations on America (Charles Ives), Var. V
- The Hounds of Spring (Alfred Reed)
- Symphonic Metamorphosis (Paul Hindemith), IV
- The Quilting Party March (John Phillip Sousa)
- Melodius Etudes (Rochut), No. 7
- Tocatta Marziale (Ralph Vaughan Williams)
- Melodius Etudes (Joannes Rochut), No. 6
- Etude No. 3 (Vladislav Blazhevich)
- Symphony in Bb (Paul Hindemith) measures 1-10, ending on low Bb half note
- Etude No. 4 (Jeff Smikahl)
- Timpani (4 Timpani excerpt) (please only use the 2 timp excerpt where you have equipment limitations)
- 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:
- Go to FestivalScores.com.
- Click on Enter Site.
- Select Participating Director.
- Create an account (if you do not already have an account).
- After logging in, add your School and Student profiles.
- Activate Audition Event using the tag shown below.
Directors will need to activate the following tag in their Festival Scores account:
TBA
Festival Scores information video
Directors should watch this short video to become familiar with the Festival Scores audition system.
Directors should watch this short video to become familiar with the Festival Scores audition system.