All-State posting
Colorado All-State band audition requirements
Video-recorded submission, no live or sight-reading component.
CBA | Video audition, Symphonic Band and Concert Band
Start with one passage
Check CBA's Video audition, Symphonic Band and Concert Band requirements for your instrument. Recordings due: November 20, 2026.
Begin your etude with a short passage. Confirm the official packet with your director.
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Last checked October 6, 2026 | Official source: https://www.coloradoallstateband.com/
What to work on this week
Use this plan for your next round, a solo, or next season. Not taking another audition? Choose music with your director and use the same steps.
- 5 minutes - Read before playing. Find the required passage in the official packet. Mark its start and end. Count through a rhythm that needs attention.
- 10 minutes - Work on one small chunk. Choose a few notes or a short phrase. Play slowly enough to follow the notes and rhythm.
- 10 minutes - Connect two chunks. Practice the next small section. Then join the sections, paying attention to the connection.
- 5 minutes - Record and listen. Record the joined passage. Follow the score while listening. Write down one thing to revisit.
This page reports what the official organization posted. Virtunity does not write audition requirements.
Confirm every date and requirement with your director. Organizations update packets.
CBA
Colorado Bandmasters Association (CBA)
2026-27 materials are posted.
- Ensembles
- All-State Concert Band, All-State Symphonic Band
- Season
- 2026-27
- Audition window
- Student and director registration opens November 2, 2026; audition video submissions due 7:00 PM on November 20, 2026. Early-bird registration for selected students January 29, 2027; final registration March 19, 2027. All-State Band weekend April 1-3, 2027. The audition fee is $25 per student to the school; the director uploads after CBA membership. Weekend registration is $55 ($50 by January 29, 2027; $75 after March 19, 2027).
- Instruments
- all band instruments (woodwinds, brass, percussion, and string bass); piano and harp for Symphonic Band
What the organization posted
Video-recorded submission, no live or sight-reading component. Audition Set 1A must be assembled in a fixed order: major scale, harmonic minor scale, full-range chromatic scale, excerpt 1, excerpt 2. The major and harmonic minor scales are two octaves at quarter note = 92, articulated ascending and slurred descending, need not be memorized, and no arpeggios are required. The chromatic scale is played full range (best low note to best high note; percussion play two octaves from C) in eighth notes, articulated both directions at quarter note = 104, memorization not required. Each instrument draws two excerpts from a specific named book with page and measure limits, for example flute/piccolo from Kohler 25 Romantic Etudes for Flute Op. 66 (Kalmus), Bb/Eb clarinet from Rose 32 Etudes for Clarinet revised edition (Carl Fischer), oboe from Voxman Selected Studies for Oboe (Rubank), bassoon from Voxman/Gower Advanced Method Vol. 1, bass clarinet from Weissenborn/Rhoads Advanced Studies (Southern). Printed metronome markings are stated as targets, not requirements, and a slower accurate performance may score higher. Recording rules allow splicing between complete elements but not within an element.
Notes
Requirements are published as per-instrument PDFs plus a Set 1A directors poster linked from this page (poster: /uploads/1/4/3/2/143254750/casb_director_poster_-_set_1a.pdf; wind recording instructions: /uploads/1/4/3/2/143254750/2027_wind_recording_instructions.pdf). Scale keys and excerpt pages differ per instrument, so students must open their own instrument sheet. Eligibility requires the director to be a current CBA and CMEA member. Concert Band is grades 10-12 for schools of 1,100 students or fewer; Symphonic Band is grades 11-12, all school sizes. The All-State Jazz Bands are a separate posting (see the separate row). The September 30, 2026 notice confirms that English horn and E-flat clarinet auditions are accepted for both the 2027 Symphonic and Concert Bands. Students must also audition on oboe or B-flat clarinet, respectively; those auditions determine band membership, while the specialty auditions determine the doubles. Piano and harp auditions are accepted for the Symphonic Band from students at any Colorado school.
Retrieved from the organization's page on October 3, 2026.
Audition Information - Colorado All-State BandCBA
Colorado Bandmasters Association (CBA)
2026-27 materials are posted.
- Ensembles
- Colorado All-State Jazz Band, Small School All-State Jazz Band, Middle School All-State Jazz Band
- Season
- 2026-27
- Audition window
- All audition videos due 5:00 PM Monday, November 16, 2026. Selected high school students perform at the CMEA Clinic/Conference January 27-30, 2027 at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs; the All-State Jazz Band concert is Saturday, January 30, 2027 at 2:00 PM. Middle school students meet February 21-22, 2027 at the University of Denver; their concert is February 22, 2027 at 7pm in Gates Hall.
- Instruments
- jazz band instrumentation - saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and rhythm section (piano/guitar, bass, drumset/percussion)
What the organization posted
Video-submitted audition, $30 per audition. For the 2027 cycle the high school requirements changed: the chromatic scale is no longer required and the former Set A, B, and C etudes are no longer used. High school students instead prepare two unaccompanied standards in addition to their play-along excerpt material; per-instrument audition material is posted for alto/bari sax, tenor sax, trombone, trumpet, piano/guitar, bass, and drumset/percussion. Play-along tracks are offered but explicitly not required. Lead trumpet and bass trombone candidates must record an additional excerpt at the end of the same audition video rather than submitting it separately; lead trombone and bari sax submit no extra material. Middle school students prepare two standards, Tenor Madness (Sonny Rollins) and Billie's Bounce (Charlie Parker), plus a chromatic scale over the range of the instrument for wind players only.
Notes
This is a genuinely separate posting from the Colorado All-State Concert/Symphonic Band audition, with a different deadline, different materials, and its own instruction and tips documents. High school ensembles are grades 9-12; the Small School band is limited to schools of 1,100 students or fewer; middle school is grades 6-8. High school directors must be current CBA and CMEA members; middle school directors must be CBA members and students must meet CHSAA eligibility.
Retrieved from the organization's page on September 21, 2026.
All-State Jazz Bands | Colorado Bandmasters AssociationPractice for CBA with your audition tempo, tuner and drone on one screen
Virtunity is a practice app built by a band director. Set up each scale and excerpt, then work it up a step at a time.
Scan with your iPhone to get Virtunity
Practice now in your browser: free tuner, metronome and droneHow it fits each part of this audition
- Scales
- Set up each scale in Virtunity and practice it with the metronome at your audition tempo, with the tuner and drone in the same window. Scale Checker confirms scale notes on your iPhone. Notes only. Not tone, rhythm or a complete performance.
- Prepared excerpts
- Keep the PDF in your Music Library and set the piece up in practice with the metronome, tuner and your notes beside it. Start under tempo: good reps in a row move the tempo up a step, and Keep lets you stay at the old tempo.
- A recorded audition
- Practice the run-through. Record a final take and listen back in Review before you record the real one. A saved take stays private until you choose to share it with a connected teacher.
- Tone and intonation
- Every judge listens for these. The tuner shows your note and how sharp or flat it is, and the drone gives you a steady reference pitch for long tones.
- Tempo
- Tap tempo finds a marked tempo, and subdivision clicks keep your eighths, triplets and sixteenths even.
For students 13 and up. Virtunity helps you prepare. Your playing on audition day earns the chair.