Greetings! During the 2016-2017 School Year, there are three different Honor Band opportunities for Homer High School Band students. They are as follows (arranged as the Festivals happen during the year):

All-State Honor Band

All-State Honor Band is in Anchorage. This is made up of students from all over the state of Alaska. The audition material is the same as as the NAfME All-NorthWest Auditions, which can be accessed here. You can also find recordings of the audition excerpts on the blog under the Homer High Symphonic Band page here.

Auditions are due no later than Wednesday, September 21st. The All-State Band participants will be announced by the middle of October. The Festival runs from Thursday, Nov 17 through Saturday, Nov 19, culminating in a concert on Saturday evening.

All-NorthWest Honor Bands

The National Association for Music Education – NorthWest Division offers two different opportunities for Honor Bands. For both, auditions are due at the beginning of October, and the festival will be February 16-19 in Bellevue, WA. More information can be found here.

Symphonic Band – The Symphonic Band auditions are the same as the All-State auditions. This band is open to any student in the NorthWest Division (Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming).

Wind Symphony – The Wind Symphony audition materials are posted separately on the website. They can be found here. The Wind Symphony is only open to schools designated as “Small Schools” by NAfME, and Homer qualifies.

Borough Honor Band – 

Borough Honor Band will take place in Soldotna this year. This is only made up of students from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District.

Students will receive the audition material in the middle of October, and auditions are typically due at the end of November. This is not the same audition music as All-State and All NorthWest Honor Bands. The Borough Honor Band Concert date is Tuesday, March 28th.

If at any time during the summer, you or your student has questions or concerns about the various Honor Band opportunities, please email me and I will get back to you as quickly as possible. These are all great opportunities for students, and I hope that many of you will take advantage of them!