All-State posting
Iowa All-State band audition requirements
Live in-person auditions at regional audition centers on October 24, 2026.
IHSMA | District All-State auditions
Start with one passage
Check IHSMA's District All-State auditions requirements for your instrument. Audition date: October 24, 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://ihsma.org/festivals/all-state-music-festival/
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.
IHSMA
Iowa High School Music Association (IHSMA)
2026-27 materials are posted.
- Ensembles
- All-State Band, All-State Orchestra
- Season
- 2026-27
- Audition window
- Registration closed September 10, 2026; the penalty deadline September 17, 2026 has also passed. Auditions are October 24, 2026 for vocal, woodwind, brass, string and percussion (piano October 21, 2026; harp was October 9, 2026 by video recording). Festival November 19-21, 2026.
- Instruments
- woodwinds, brass, and percussion (strings, harp and piano audition separately for the All-State Orchestra)
What the organization posted
Live in-person auditions at regional audition centers on October 24, 2026. The 2026 wind and percussion etude list is posted and names a specific book plus page or etude number per instrument: Voxman Selected Studies (Rubank) for flute p. 20 and 24-25, oboe p. 14 and 39, Bb clarinet p. 25 and 36, saxophone p. 23 and 40, trumpet p. 8 and 37, trombone and euphonium p. 16 and 35; Weissenborn Method for Bassoon, 50 Studies section, #13 and #40; Rhoads arrangement of Weissenborn Advanced Studies #3, #11 and #32 for bass and contra clarinet; Pottag Preparatory Melodies to Solo Work #24, #47 and #95 for horn; Grigoriev 50 Etudes (Hawes edition) #22 and #39 for bass trombone, which requires an F attachment and .525 or larger bore; Blazhevich 70 Studies for BBb Tuba Vol. 1 #14 and #30. Percussion: Cirone Portraits in Rhythm #36 for snare, Iowa Percussive Arts Society Etude #6 for timpani (three drums only, no tuning gauges), Iowa PAS Etude #2 for mallets, and Iowa PAS Etude #8 for crash cymbals and tambourine in the recall round only. The instrumental audition fee is $22. Solo, scale and chromatic requirements are not stated in the auditions page text; the linked Simbli policy body could not be verified.
Notes
The posted 2026 wind and percussion etude list was read October 14, 2026: https://ihsma.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026-All-State-Wind-and-Percussion-Etudes.pdf. The linked Simbli policy returned only a shell, so the 2025-26 booklet solo, scale and chromatic rules are not presented as current requirements. The Iowa All-State Music Festival is sponsored jointly by the Iowa High School Music Association (IHSMA) and the Iowa Music Educators Association (IMEA).
Retrieved from the organization's page on September 21, 2026.
All-State Auditions - Iowa High School Music AssociationJEI
Jazz Educators of Iowa (JEI)
We could not find 2026-27 materials posted publicly yet.
The organization's page still shows last season (2025-26).
The full requirements were not readable from a public official source.
- Ensembles
- Class 1A-2A Jazz Band, Class 3A Jazz Band, Class 4A Jazz Band
- Season
- 2025-26
- Audition window
- The live posting is the completed 2026 cycle: recorded auditions were due by a firm March 1 deadline, with JEI membership required by November 30 for the reduced fee and results released to directors by the end of March. No 2026-27 audition dates are posted yet.
- Instruments
- jazz winds and rhythm section - alto, tenor and bari saxophone, lead and section trumpet and trombone, bass trombone, piano, vibes, guitar, bass, and drum set
What the current page describes
Recorded auditions submitted by the director through OpusEvent; students may not audition on more than one instrument or part, each student is submitted as a separate file, and no speaking of any kind is allowed on the recording. Saxophones, trumpets and trombones play the first page of the selected etude for 1A-2A and 3A, or both pages for 4A, in every case accompanied by the supplied rhythm section mp3. Lead trumpet, lead trombone and bass trombone add a track playing a major or chromatic scale at any speed demonstrating the top (or, for bass trombone, the bottom) of the range. Piano, vibes, guitar and bass play the etude up to the key change at letter E over an instrument-specific minus-one mp3. Drum set players perform pages 1 and 2 of the drum etude unaccompanied plus timekeeping and light fills in up-tempo swing at quarter = 184, bossa nova at quarter = 120 and a Tower of Power style funk groove at quarter = 96 for 30 to 40 seconds each, and a solo of up to two minutes. Improvisation over changes of the student's choice is optional but encouraged for all non-drum parts. No sight-reading.
Notes
The live page, its two instruction PDFs and the site navigation are all labeled 2026 (with 2026 rosters and directors already published and a 2025 site copyright), so this is the completed 2025-26 cycle rather than 2026-27 material. The page gives no date for when the next cycle's audition instructions or etudes will post. Requirements differ by school class, and the selected etudes themselves live on a separate 'All State Jazz Band Etudes' page.
Retrieved from the organization's page on September 21, 2026.
All-State Jazz Audition Instructions - Jazz Educators of IowaPractice for IHSMA 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
- Prepared etudes
- 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.
- 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.