All-State posting

North Dakota All-State band audition requirements

Live, in-person auditions at four regional sites; students must audition at the site for which they registered and no make-up auditions are scheduled.

NDMEA | Live All-State audition

Start with one passage

Check NDMEA's Live All-State audition requirements for your instrument. Audition date: confirm with your director.

Begin your etude with a short passage. Confirm the official packet with your director.

Results are posted on www.ndallstate.org. A hard copy is not mailed to every school.

Plan with Virtunity

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Available on iPhone. The browser version is in early testing.

Last checked October 6, 2026 | Official source: https://www.ndallstate.org/auditions

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.

Back to all states

NDMEA

North Dakota Music Educators Association (NDMEA)

2026-27 materials are posted.

Ensembles: All-State Band, All-State Orchestra, All-State Jazz Band
Season: 2026-27
Audition window: NDMEA's 2027 manual lists wind audition sites: January 7-8 at Bismarck State College, January 9 at Minot and Grand Forks Central, and January 10 at NDSU in Fargo. Application deadline November 9, 2026; late deadline November 12, 2026; schedules sent December 11, 2026. The 61st annual festival is March 21-23 at the Bismarck Civic Center.
Instruments: winds and percussion (the same audition system also covers strings and voice for the other All-State ensembles)

What the organization posted

Live, in-person auditions at four regional sites; students must audition at the site for which they registered and no make-up auditions are scheduled. Under the posted 2027 manual, all required scales must be memorized, while the solo and required etudes do not have to be memorized. Sight-reading is a 16-measure etude with 20 seconds of study time before playing, at a tempo set by the judge using a metronome. Students must supply an original copy of the solo for the adjudicator or be disqualified; the adjudicator will not read over the student's shoulder, photocopies of copyrighted music are barred (page turns excepted), and online purchases require proof of purchase for student, accompanist, and adjudicator copies. Percussionists select one area - snare, mallet, or timpani - for a one-minute solo but must complete the entire audition, and must bring their own sticks and mallets. Auditioning on two instruments requires two separate forms, two time slots, and two fees. Open by audition to grades 9-12 at NDHSAA member schools, with director approval and membership in the corresponding school performing group required. Only the performer, adjudicator, and accompanist are allowed in the audition room.

Notes

NDMEA's festival auditions page at https://www.ndallstate.org/auditions says links are now active 9/22/2026 and links the 2027 manual and audition-registration-2027 registration page. The manual letter is dated September 11, 2026 and covers the 61st annual festival. The festival site still lists 2026 Schedule and 2026 Results. The new wind-site list includes NDSU in Fargo; West Fargo does not appear. The manual is issued on behalf of NDMEA; ndallstate.org is the festival's own site, linked from ndmea.org. Mixed Chorus, Treble Chorus, and Jazz Choir are also covered by this manual and are excluded here as out of band scope. Specific wind and percussion audition repertoire is published per-instrument later in the same manual.

Retrieved from the organization's page on October 5, 2026.

2027 Manual - North Dakota All-State Music Festival

Practice for NDMEA 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 drone

How 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 and solo: 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.
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.