How do you make All-State band in Pennsylvania?

Not through a single state audition. PMEA fills the All-State Concert Band and Orchestra through its District and Region festival ladder, and each festival posts its own audition materials. Your district audition is the first rung, and your band director has those dates and requirements.

When is the PMEA All-State Jazz Ensemble audition?

For the 2026-27 cycle, the hub gives November 9, 2026 as the opening, while the jazz instructions PDF gives November 11, 2026. Both close at noon January 5, 2027; results are dated January 27, 2027. Confirm the opening date with PMEA and your director.

Who can audition for the PMEA All-State Jazz Ensemble?

Students in grades 10-12 whose band director is a current PMEA member. The audition is a video recording uploaded through pmea.net, and it must run start to finish with no cuts or splices, with arms, fingers, and head visible.

What is on the jazz audition?

Part 1 is scales plus a required piece specific to your instrument, from published jazz books listed in the official materials. Part 2 requires at least one of improvisation, a PMEA lead etude, and section playing, and encourages all three. Rhythm section players and drummers have their own published requirements.

How should I start preparing?

Start with the scales for your instrument at a tempo where accuracy and a good sound never break, and get the required piece in your hands early since the specified editions must be purchased. The full per-instrument list is in the official PMEA PDF, and your director should confirm your materials before you record.

All-State posting

Pennsylvania All-State band audition requirements

For concert band, students go from their school through PMEA District and Region festivals, with All-State concert ensembles selected from Region festivals.

PMEA | District Band

Start with one passage

Check PMEA's District Band requirements for your instrument. Audition date: confirm with your director.

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

Plan with Virtunity

First month free for eligible new subscribers.

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

Last checked October 6, 2026 | Official source: https://www.pmea.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/PMEA-Long-Range-Calendar-2026-35.pdf

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

PMEA

Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA)

2026-27 materials are posted.

The full requirements were not readable from a public official source.

Ensembles: PMEA All-State Concert Band, PMEA All-State Wind Ensemble, PMEA All-State Orchestra, PMEA All-State Jazz Ensemble
Season: 2026-27
Audition window: Concert-band dates come from district and region postings; PMEA's All-State page does not publish those dates. Jazz: PMEA's page gives Monday, November 9, 2026 through noon Tuesday, January 5, 2027, but PMEA's jazz instructions give Wednesday, November 11, 2026 to Tuesday, NOON January 5, 2027. Confirm the opening date with PMEA and your director. Results are dated January 27, 2027.
Instruments: concert-band and orchestra winds and percussion; jazz winds (alto, tenor, and baritone saxophone; trumpet; trombone; bass trombone) plus rhythm section: guitar, piano, vibraphone, bass, and drums

What the organization posted

For concert band, students go from their school through PMEA District and Region festivals, with All-State concert ensembles selected from Region festivals. Your school director and district posting provide the local dates and materials. Jazz uses a separate statewide audition: Video-recorded audition uploaded through pmea.net, open to grades 10-12 whose director is a current PMEA member. Part 1 is scales plus a required piece. Alto and baritone saxophones play written Bb major and B major scales low to high and back in eighth notes at a minimum quarter note = 200 (swung or straight) and Confirmation from the Charlie Parker Omnibook, Eb edition (Hal Leonard), pages 1-2 through measure 64. Tenor saxophones play the same two scales plus It Could Happen to You from Sonny Stitt - Improvised Tenor Saxophone Solos (Alfred), pages 10-12 through measure 104. Trumpets, trombones, and bass trombones play two-octave concert Bb and concert B scales in eighth notes at a minimum quarter note = 120 plus the etude Friends from Jim Snidero's Jazz Conception (Advance), page 32, through measure 32, without the accompaniment CD. Part 2 requires at least one and encourages all three of: improvisation over one chorus of The Moon is High (Effective Etudes for Jazz, Carubia/Jarvis, Kendor, pages 16-17, with track 27); the PMEA-provided lead etude #3 (not available to tenor sax, baritone sax, or bass trombone); and section playing on My Glowing Moment (same book, page 30, with track 34). Rhythm section players perform My Glowing Moment complete with track 34 and comp one chorus then improvise a chorus on The Moon is High with track 27; drummers play Whodunnit? from Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band Play-Along Series Vol. 1 (Alfred), pages 24-27, track 8, plus unedited recordings demonstrating prescribed styles. Recordings must run start to finish with no cuts or splices, with arms, fingers, and head visible, no earbuds or headphones, and no identifying clothing or file naming.

Notes

PMEA's page, checked October 5, 2026, links 2027 jazz instructions and materials, Modern Band and a separate harp audition, but no statewide concert-band playing list or district and region dates. Jazz instructions: https://www.pmea.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2027-PMEA-All-State-Jazz-Ensemble-Audition-Instructions.pdf. Both closing-date lines in PMEA's jazz instructions give January 5, 2027; January 7 is no longer listed. PMEA's page lists Monday, November 9, 2026; PMEA's jazz instructions open Wednesday, November 11, 2026. PMEA's jazz instructions label January 27, 2027 results "Friday", which does not match the calendar. Modern Band: Monday, November 9, 2026 to noon Tuesday, January 5, 2027; $20; results January 29, 2027 (https://www.pmea.net/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/All-State-Modern-Band-Audition-Requirements.pdf). A student selected for All-State Jazz is no longer eligible for another PMEA All-State ensemble. Multiple-instrument jazz auditions require a separate application, payment and upload for each.

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

PMEA All-State Information

Practice for your audition with your 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: 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.

How All-State auditions work in Pennsylvania

For concert band, the route begins at school, continues through PMEA District and Region festivals, and leads to selection for the All-State concert ensembles from Region festivals. Your school band director and district posting provide the local dates and requirements. The PMEA All-State hub checked September 21, 2026 does not publish a statewide concert-band playing list.

Jazz follows a separate statewide route: the PMEA All-State Jazz Ensemble uses a video-recorded audition uploaded through pmea.net, open to students in grades 10-12 whose director is a current PMEA member. For the 2026-27 cycle, the hub gives a November 9, 2026 opening while the jazz instructions PDF gives November 11, 2026. Both give noon January 5, 2027 as the close; results are dated January 27, 2027. Confirm the opening date with PMEA and your director.

The jazz audition has two parts. Part 1 is scales plus a required piece that is specific to your instrument, drawn from published jazz books such as the Charlie Parker Omnibook and Jim Snidero's Jazz Conception; saxophones play their scales at a brisk minimum of quarter note = 200 in eighth notes, brass at 120. Part 2 requires at least one, and encourages all three, of improvisation, a lead etude, and section playing from the published materials. Recordings must run start to finish with no cuts, with arms, fingers, and head visible.

The jazz books, page numbers, and measure counts are in the official audition materials PDF linked from the PMEA All-State hub above. Confirm everything with your director before you record.

Pennsylvania audition questions, answered

How do you make All-State band in Pennsylvania?: Not through a single state audition. PMEA fills the All-State Concert Band and Orchestra through its District and Region festival ladder, and each festival posts its own audition materials. Your district audition is the first rung, and your band director has those dates and requirements.
When is the PMEA All-State Jazz Ensemble audition?: For the 2026-27 cycle, the hub gives November 9, 2026 as the opening, while the jazz instructions PDF gives November 11, 2026. Both close at noon January 5, 2027; results are dated January 27, 2027. Confirm the opening date with PMEA and your director.
Who can audition for the PMEA All-State Jazz Ensemble?: Students in grades 10-12 whose band director is a current PMEA member. The audition is a video recording uploaded through pmea.net, and it must run start to finish with no cuts or splices, with arms, fingers, and head visible.
What is on the jazz audition?: Part 1 is scales plus a required piece specific to your instrument, from published jazz books listed in the official materials. Part 2 requires at least one of improvisation, a PMEA lead etude, and section playing, and encourages all three. Rhythm section players and drummers have their own published requirements.
How should I start preparing?: Start with the scales for your instrument at a tempo where accuracy and a good sound never break, and get the required piece in your hands early since the specified editions must be purchased. The full per-instrument list is in the official PMEA PDF, and your director should confirm your materials before you record.