All-State Band

[MeLizzard]

Hmm...the small schools setup sounds more like a festival band than a true honor band, but take what's available, eh? My junior year, 287 flutists auditioned for 14 flute and 2 picc seats!

[piccolopete]

Wow! All-state is starting early in the school year for you guys! I'm from Alabama, and the sign-up date for us is December 9! We audition for district in January, Then, state is in April... I can't wait! Ive been practising for 4 hours a day since July, and I'm definitely ready! I wish You ALL the BEST of luck, because There might come a time when I'm competing with some of You for college, or who knows what? I sure do need some good competition!
Good Luck, You guys!

[piccolopete]

I also think it's real crummy to favor the musicians from big bands... My band only has about 50 people, but were the best 50 musicians around! Power to the small bands!!!! I like being in a smaller band anyway... we're easier to tune than when I was a freshman... back when we had 200 people.

[amourdelaflute]

Here in Virginia you have to be top 3 flautists in your district. It's really competitive too. They have Orchestra (3 flutes), Symphonic (12 flutes), and Concert (12 flutes). Even with three bands 100 flutes try out each year and all take private lessons with proffessionals from the Richmond Orchestra (the ones who play music for the Richmond ballet) so it is almost impssible to get in.

The judges are usually hired from various colleges around the country. They only give you two scales, chromatic, sight-reading, and a prepared piece. The prepared piece is usually two pages long and Grade 5-6 originally written so no one can go on the internet a listen to it. Sight- reading is also original and usually goes from the lowest C to the highest D4.

[Meredith]

Re: "Big Bands"

I'm from New York. In general, the best music departments (and therein, the best musicians) in New York come from Long Island. They actually stacked our All-State qualifier competition to enable more kids from upstate to make it, because otherwise it would be disproportionately dominated by Long Islanders.

Re: Judges

I don't know about other states, but in NY all musicians auditioning for All-State are supposed to be judged by an adjudicator who plays the student's instrument. The system doesn't always work, though. When I was in the 11th grade (competing to make All-State in 12th grade) my judge was a clarinetist. Consequently, he was unfamiliar with the flute repetoire and my flawless performance of the Ibert Concerto made no impression on him. I think I am the only person in the history of New York State to get a perfect score on the Ibert Concerto and not make All-State.

Re: Competitiveness of Flute

When I was in high school (late '90s), usually somewhere around 33 flutists in New York got a perfect score on their All-State exam, and there were only 28 or so flutists accepted to All-State. So even a perfect score at the qualifier wasn't any guarantee of acceptance.

[squidsnaps]

('ello i'm new)

to make TX all-state as a freshman.. is pretty challenging, but is achieveable. there was one girl in another school in my city that made it all 4 years. i personally haven't done it (i'm a junior now) and i don't personally know anyone who has.

all you can do is try, really =) and don't give up either! it takes a lot of hard work!

and by now most of the region competitions are over now, because of the area competitions are this weekend...

but for the enlightenment of others i'll continue! =)



HS All-State band in TX = 3 etudes, no scales/sightreading/quizzing, judges behind a curtain.

And there's also two different types, there's the small school version (1A-3A) and then the regular (4A-5A), now i don't know which one you're in... cause i don't know much about the small school version.


for flute players, basically you go to your region competition, and then depending one what class your school is in, they take a certain number. for 5A they take 6 flutes to area and 4A they take 4. and then at area competition, which is about 4 regions combined, they take the top 4 for 5A and then top 2 for 4A. so there's an extremely small margin of flute players that are taken. (then again when you add them all together it's a lot O_o)

[piccolopete]

Here in Alabama, there are district auditions first. There are 8 different districts that are made up of groups of close counties. At district band auditions, one plays 12 major scales and a melodic and c harmonic minor scales. One is also asked to play 3 pre-determined prepared studies, as well as a sight-reading piece. Nine flutists and one piccoloist per district are selected to continue on to all-state. I am my district's piccoloist. District band takes about 13 flutists and a piccoloist (me). When flutists go to state, they have been put into one of three bands already (red, white, and blue, ranked from highest to lowest respectively) and are auditioned for chair placement within their pre-determined band. The eight piccoloists (one from each district) compete for the three piccolo spots in the bands (the bands that piccoloists will be in are not determined until after the final state audition) The 5 piccoloists that do not make the cut will perform another audition on flute, and place in one of the bands, depending on their audition. I'm the self-taught underdog from a dust-speck on the map... several piccoloists from the big schools will never see me coming when I make red band! Long live the careers of the hard-working and the passionate!!!

[flautists_r_us]

I live in michigan and here we have Honors Band for grades 7-8 and an all state band for 7th-?. I went to honors band both last year and this year, but I didn't audition for all-state. Wouldn't have been able to go even if I did make it. In Michigan we have an Honors Band for each MSBOA district (Michigan Schools Band and Orchestra Assoc.). I don't really know about All-State, though. I don't think our school's even doing All-state this year...My band director didn't mention anything.

[Mandera3]

I recently and made the New YorK All-State band. You just have to make sure you are well prepared for the audition. Don't procrastinate. Give your self a mental prep before the audition and just go in and have fun. ODn;t think about the music so much but think about what it is saying. Here we have to gow through a NYSSMA solo festival where we start in 4th grade playing pieces up to a level six. They are scored 1-100 and to be considered for All-State you need a 100 on level 6 and that still doesn't mean that you can get in. I got a 100 this year and was first selected as an alternate, but then got in. You then have a seating audition when you get there and the group that you are in is predetermined.

[flute_geek684]

In California, we have several all state bands- there is one run by CBDA, Cal Poly, and a northern section also- if anyone knows for sure please correct me!] but in CBDA they take the top 8 best flutists and then the bottom 12 or so are from schools who submit the most tapes...so those from podunkville, USA..[ME!! LOL] are kinda screwed unless were top 8. Apparently this year they abolished this rule- according to my flute teacher. The auditions wern't blind either from what I hear, but they also changed that this year.

[etgohomeok]

I'll tell you it is possible to make all state band as a freshman because I did it here in North Carolina when I was a freshman (Junior this year, not gonna make it unfortunately )

Basically, practice hard. And practice EVERYTHING.

[arabians207]

^Big schools a lot of time do equal better players as the directors tend to be better also. My school is really big (we have auditions in order to audition for all-state..) and we had TONS of all-staters.

For flutes, 60 total (at our audition center) try out, 5 made it in. Out of those 5 selected, 4 were from my school.. Including a freshman, so for the original poster its definitely possible to make all-state as a freshman, but its very difficult.. well, for anyone. A good teacher and tons and tons of practice is essential. We always start getting ready for it in June with our solo, then practice the excerpts when they come out until auditions.

I probably wont ever try out on flute as I also play violin and the numbers are SO much better for violins than flutes, although I would probably make it sometime on flute. This year 1/2 of all violins that tried out got selected.. i ended up getting first alternate (darn i was kinda mad.. but also really happy as I had only had 4 months of private lessons outside of my schools 15 minute ones, compared to most peoples years, and I'm a sophomore) As I see it, I'm almost guaranteed a spot if i practice like i did last year.

I always have wondered if it was because of my teacher who makes books for everyone.. so it was easy for the judge to see we were all from the same school/teacher. I think like.. over half the violins (and most of the violas too lol) were from my school

[Scrolfe]

I pretty much have an idea, but what exactly is all-state? I'm not sure that we have one in Wisconsin, we have a state honors band though. And what does it mean to be "the top 3 flutes in the district?" How would you get to that position? Thanks

[fluttiegurl]

Here in KY, all state band is a group that consists of players who pass two round of auditions. The first is the district level (based on where you live in the state), and the second is everyone who made it through round one.

To be the "third best in the district" means that a person was selected based on an audition as the third chair player for the district band. That does not necessarily mean that person is actually the best per say, but the best of those who auditioned at playing that particular music that day.

As a teacher, I know this is a big deal to the students who actually try out (which only a few of my students do). I did it in high school, and I remember that it was made a big deal by my band director. As a musician, I personally hate the entire process. I think it is yet another way of turning music into something that it is not and feeds the fire of "who is better" when in reality, only a handful of these players every play after high school. With that said, it is still quite an honor and takes a lot of practice to get there.

[fluteguy18]

I did it in high school, and I remember that it was made a big deal by my band director. As a musician, I personally hate the entire process. I think it is yet another way of turning music into something that it is not and feeds the fire of "who is better" when in reality, only a handful of these players every play after high school.

Absolutely. It was a lot of fun for those who did it, but at the same time, it was very stressful. Competition was very fierce. Having graduated from HS a few years ago myself, I remember Honor Band/ District Band stuff vividly. Honor Bands are definately a gratifying experiance if you work hard, audition, and get in.