How well does musical experience play on admissions?

lkf725
Wed, 11 May 2005 16:28:24 +0000

jmarsh,
I can tell you that in PA, participation in All-State music groups (band, chorus, orchestra, jazz band, jazz chorus, etc) is the culmination of competitions sponsored by PMEA (Pennsylvania Music Educators Association). Students apply at school and are recommended to audition for the District group. Once at District, they audition for chair position. Then the top chairs go to Regional and audition for position within that group. Those top Regional chairs go on to All-State, where they again audition for position. I think PA has 12 districts.

The only way brass, winds and percussion can get into the orchestra group is to be one of the top (four?) musicians in the Honors Band in their district. Audition for our Honors Band is by “cattle call” audition, and many hundreds of students audition for it from about 4pm to 10pm.

Anyone who is interested in this process should check to see if their state music educators sponsor the events. They are really fun for the kids and gives them a chance to build poise and confidence for performing.