Honor bands are THE BEST way for students to take a step forward in their playing and to get serious about music. There are honor bands at several different levels of significance/difficulty, so there are options for every student. Below is a list of honor bands, and a small amount of information for each.
Region V Honor Band: - Cancelled 2021
Mid November – Chico State University
Hotel Stay – 1 night
Approximately 25-35 students attend
Organization Website: http://www.cmea-northern.com/events.html
Open to pretty much any student. No audition required. Students indicate in class if they are interested in attending. Priority goes to upper classmen, but Freshman may still go if there is room in their section. Students new to THS will be asked to prepare something very short and basic to play for the Mr. Steele in private. Basic proficiency on your instrument is required for this honor band, but you don't need to be a virtuoso.
Sierra College Honor Band: - Cancelled 2021
Early December – Sierra College Rocklin
Hotel Stay – 1 night
Approximately 10-15 students attend
Organization Website: https://www.sierracollege.edu/events/categories/music-drama.php
This honor band is great! It is by audition only, but it is the most make-able honor band there is besides Region V. The audition music is available in the band room. Mr. Steele will help those who are interested with the music. The event is generally early December Thursday evening to Friday. Audition recordings are due to Mr. Steele by mid-November.
NorCal and Capitol Honor Bands: - Jan 2022
Early February – NorCal Honor Band, Hotel Stay 2 -4 nights, location varies each year between CSU Sonoma, Humboldt, Chico and Sac State
Early January – Capitol Honor Band, Hotel Stay 2 nights, Sacramento
Approximately 3-8 students attend
Organization Website: http://www.ncbcda.com/2020-honor-groups.html
Both of these honor bands are highly competitive, extremely high-level bands. Students who make these are on track to receive music scholarships in college. The audition music for both bands is the same (mostly), so they are lumped together. NorCal has a jazz honor band as well. Auditions are due early December for both honor bands.
All-State:
Mid February – All State Honor Band,
Hotel Stay - 3 nights, Fresno
Organization Website: https://cbda.org/all-state-ensembles/auditions/
The toughest, most prestigious, scholarship guaranteed, we almost never get anybody in, but most amazing honor band of all time. This is only for the most serious of students. Audition music MUST BE PERFECT, with distinguishing traits being in the smallest of details. We had our first two students ever from THS make the jazz band in 2019, and for the first time since early 2000's, two students auditioned in with one student making the concert bands and one student making the top Wind Symphony. If you are auditioning for this, I need to be working you along the way and it needs to happen as soon as music is available in the spring. The audition music is expanded versions of the NorCal and Cap audition music.
Region V Honor Band: - Cancelled 2021
Mid November – Chico State University
Hotel Stay – 1 night
Approximately 25-35 students attend
Organization Website: http://www.cmea-northern.com/events.html
Open to pretty much any student. No audition required. Students indicate in class if they are interested in attending. Priority goes to upper classmen, but Freshman may still go if there is room in their section. Students new to THS will be asked to prepare something very short and basic to play for the Mr. Steele in private. Basic proficiency on your instrument is required for this honor band, but you don't need to be a virtuoso.
Sierra College Honor Band: - Cancelled 2021
Early December – Sierra College Rocklin
Hotel Stay – 1 night
Approximately 10-15 students attend
Organization Website: https://www.sierracollege.edu/events/categories/music-drama.php
This honor band is great! It is by audition only, but it is the most make-able honor band there is besides Region V. The audition music is available in the band room. Mr. Steele will help those who are interested with the music. The event is generally early December Thursday evening to Friday. Audition recordings are due to Mr. Steele by mid-November.
NorCal and Capitol Honor Bands: - Jan 2022
Early February – NorCal Honor Band, Hotel Stay 2 -4 nights, location varies each year between CSU Sonoma, Humboldt, Chico and Sac State
Early January – Capitol Honor Band, Hotel Stay 2 nights, Sacramento
Approximately 3-8 students attend
Organization Website: http://www.ncbcda.com/2020-honor-groups.html
Both of these honor bands are highly competitive, extremely high-level bands. Students who make these are on track to receive music scholarships in college. The audition music for both bands is the same (mostly), so they are lumped together. NorCal has a jazz honor band as well. Auditions are due early December for both honor bands.
All-State:
Mid February – All State Honor Band,
Hotel Stay - 3 nights, Fresno
Organization Website: https://cbda.org/all-state-ensembles/auditions/
The toughest, most prestigious, scholarship guaranteed, we almost never get anybody in, but most amazing honor band of all time. This is only for the most serious of students. Audition music MUST BE PERFECT, with distinguishing traits being in the smallest of details. We had our first two students ever from THS make the jazz band in 2019, and for the first time since early 2000's, two students auditioned in with one student making the concert bands and one student making the top Wind Symphony. If you are auditioning for this, I need to be working you along the way and it needs to happen as soon as music is available in the spring. The audition music is expanded versions of the NorCal and Cap audition music.
