CBDA offers the opportunity to audition and participate in 6 All-State Honor Bands between Junior High and High School Levels. These ensembles will participate in the California All-State Music Education Conference from January 15-19, 2025.
In addition to the 6 full honor band ensembles, on the application, students may select “band only”, “orchestra only” or “band and orchestra”. This allows students to be selected for one of the high school or junior high symphony orchestras.
The honor audition material is the same for the winds and percussion for the symphony orchestras.
2025 Audition Results Posted! Audition results for the 2025 California All-State Ensembles can be found here
The following are reasons CBDA will disqualify an audition while judging for the All-State Honor Groups:
– Talking or coaching is heard during the recording – Digitally altering a recording (ex: the use of auto-tuning, etc.) – Wrong solo or excerpt is played – Wrong scales are played – Solo is missing sections requested – A metronome is heard during the scales or solo – Track/Recording Blank
CBDA is not looking to disqualify any applicant, but last year we saw an overwhelming number of applicants be disqualified over these 7 reasons.
Please double-check that you are following CBDA’s required excerpts and scales for the current year. Some solos have changed from the past rotation.