All-State posting
New Mexico All-State band audition requirements
Recorded audition submitted as file uploads, not a live audition.
NMMEA | Recorded band and jazz audition
Start with one passage
Check NMMEA's Recorded band and jazz audition requirements for your instrument. Recordings due: November 7, 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.nmmea.com/news-updates/2026-2027-dates/
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.
NMMEA
New Mexico Music Educators Association (NMMEA)
2026-27 materials are posted.
The full requirements were not readable from a public official source.
- Ensembles
- All-State Band
- Season
- 2026-27
- Audition window
- NMMEA's auditions page says registration opened September 1, 2026. Regular registration closed October 14, 2026 at 5:00 pm; late registration closes October 21, 2026 at 5:00 pm. Band and jazz uploads run October 28-November 7, 2026, closing at 5:00 pm. The All-State Music Festival is January 6-9, 2027; Jazz All-State is January 21-23, 2027.
- Instruments
- winds and percussion (harp and piano handled through a separate process)
What the organization posted
Recorded audition submitted as file uploads, not a live audition. Opus is named on the sight-reading line. Wind players record three scales - a chromatic scale plus two major scales that NMMEA releases one week before the audition - and all scales must be recorded in the same continuous take and submitted as one file. Two etudes are then recorded separately, one file per etude, from NMMEA's posted etude materials. Sight-reading is administered through Opus and recorded directly into the platform. Percussionists have no scale component at all; they record a triangle etude in a single file, are not required to record preliminary timpani tuning, but must record any tuning changes that occur inside an etude.
Notes
NMMEA links this requirements document from its own auditions page at https://www.nmmea.com/all-state-auditions/; NMMEA's published link is https://docs.google.com/document/d/17sQzT3xE42pyey11zL7W3SPVvjnlRw36ZHjRDyiIXLw/edit?usp=sharing and the source URL opens the same document in a readable format. NMMEA lists specific etude titles, numbers, and scale ranges in additional linked documents; those details are not confirmed here. NMMEA also runs six geographic districts with their own honor groups, and a separate Honor Ensemble track. NMMEA's jazz requirements are covered separately in this guide. NMMEA's date sources, checked October 5, 2026: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V7mF0YQrw6kEXumSt5MOJwETQ1Lwl9HtNi1psRA0N2k/mobilebasic and https://www.nmmea.com/news-updates/2026-2027-dates/. NMMEA gives no time zone.
Retrieved from the organization's page on October 5, 2026.
NMMEA All-State Band Audition RequirementsNMMEA
New Mexico Music Educators Association (NMMEA)
2026-27 materials are posted.
- Ensembles
- All-State Instrumental Jazz
- Season
- 2026-27
- Audition window
- NMMEA's auditions page says registration opened September 1, 2026. Regular registration closed October 14, 2026 at 5:00 pm; late registration closes October 21, 2026 at 5:00 pm. Band and jazz uploads run October 28-November 7, 2026, closing at 5:00 pm. The All-State Music Festival is January 6-9, 2027; Jazz All-State is January 21-23, 2027.
- Instruments
- jazz winds plus rhythm section (piano, bass, guitar, drums) and vibes/auxiliary percussion
What the organization posted
Recorded upload audition through the Opus platform. Instrumentalists record a swing etude, a funk etude, and an improvisation on an F blues, as three separate uploads (four for trumpet, including the range assessment). The improvisation is performed against a backing track played on an audible external device, using the supplied lead sheet with chord progressions to improvise two choruses; written-out notation is not allowed. Trumpet candidates additionally complete a trumpet range assessment and play the bottom divisi only on the swing and funk etudes. Rhythm section players on piano, bass, guitar, and drums must also improvise for two choruses rather than comping or walking a bass line. Vibes and auxiliary percussion candidates use vibes for the guitar swing etude and improv, and congas for the funk etude. Sight-reading is administered through Opus and recorded directly into the platform.
Notes
NMMEA links this document from its auditions page at https://www.nmmea.com/all-state-auditions/; NMMEA's published link is https://docs.google.com/document/d/19YuQjDGvII-tYuq04yvDMy9g3VtwaB_wcRVsz1AX4ZQ/edit?usp=sharing and the source URL opens the same document in a readable format. The same document also covers Vocal Jazz, which is out of band scope and excluded here. NMMEA's date sources, checked October 5, 2026: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V7mF0YQrw6kEXumSt5MOJwETQ1Lwl9HtNi1psRA0N2k/mobilebasic and https://www.nmmea.com/news-updates/2026-2027-dates/. NMMEA gives no time zone.
Retrieved from the organization's page on October 5, 2026.
NMMEA All-State Jazz Audition RequirementsPractice for NMMEA 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 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.
- Sight-reading
- Sight Reading Sprint in the Lab puts one note at a time on the staff for a 60-second round of fast note reading. It is not a full sight-reading excerpt, so read something new every day too, and keep your counting steady with the Lab's rhythm modules.
- 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.