District Honor Band, South Georgia Region Honor Band, and All-State Band
What Are These Bands?
District Honor Band is made up of middle school band students from all over the Middle Georgia area. Our district consists of 21 counties. The students prepare an audition (tutoring starts in September), and auditions are on Saturday, December 7th. The Honor Band participants are selected based on their audition scores. The Honor Band clinic is held in February in Milledgeville, and the students will be directed by a top notch director that we bring in from outside our area. It is a huge accomplishment and an enriching experience for the students.
South Georgia Region Honor Band is a more select group in that it involves most of the southern half of the state, all the way down to places like Savannah and Valdosta. Participation in this group is based on the District Honor Band scores and also the separate Region Honor Band audition. Region Band takes place at Valdosta State University in April.
All-State Band involves all students in the state of Georgia and is the most elite honor group due to the level of difficulty to be selected. All-State takes place in Athens, GA in March.
Dates for the Events:
District Honor Band
Auditions are Saturday, December 7th at Feagin Mill Middle School in Warner Robins
The event is Friday-Saturday, February 7-8, 2025 at Baldwin County High School in Milledgeville
South Georgia Region Honor Band
Students must meet the designated cutoff score at District Honor Band auditions to be able to try out for Region Band. If the score is met, the student must submit a recording of the All-State Lyrical and Technical Etudes. Mr. Chestnut will help with this.
Region Band is Thursday (leave after school)-Saturday, April 10-12, 2025 at Valdosta State University
All-State Band
To advance to the All-State Band audition, the students must meet the designated cutoff score at District Honor Band auditions.
If the score is met, All-State auditions are on Saturday, January 11, 2025, and the location is Union Grove Middle School in McDonough. Parents are responsible for transporting students to this audition as we will be judging auditions.
All-State Band is Thursday-Saturday, February 27th-March 1st at the Classic Center in Athens, GA. Parents will be responsible for taking their students to this event. Mr. Chestnut will send information regarding lodging and schedule.
Requirements: Links (coming soon) are provided below for the Scales and Etudes. Please visit our Google Classroom page for recordings of the etudes.
District Honor Band:
Woodwind and Brass Instruments
The four All-State scales--must be memorized
Chromatic Scale--must be memorized
All-State Lyrical Etude--does NOT need to be memorized
Short sight-reading example
Percussion
The four All-State scales on Mallets--Two octaves and memorized (MS Mallet Scales)
Chromatic Scale the full length of the mallet instrument
All-State snare drum etude (MS Snare)
All-State timpani etude (MS Timpani)
All-State mallet etude (MS Mallet)
Sight-Reading for snare, mallets, and timpani
South Georgia Region Honor Band
Students must meet the minimum score at District Honor Band auditions. These scores are out of 100 possible points.
Flute/Alto Saxophone--85
Oboe/Clarinet/Tenor Sax/Bari Sax/Trumpet--80
Bassoon/Bass Clarinet/French Horn/Trombone/Baritone/Tuba--70
Percussion--Out of the 3 auditions (Snare/Mallets/Timpani), two scores must be 85 or higher, and the third must be at least 70.
Students who qualify will have to make and submit a recording of them playing the All-State Lyrical and Technical etudes. These do not have to be memorized, and Mr. Chestnut will help with this process.
All-State Band
Like Region Band, students must meet the minimum score at District Honor Band auditions.
Students who qualify must perform the Lyrical and Technical etudes and also perform 2 sight-reading examples. They do not have to play the scales again.