January 13- 15, 2027
Sacramento, CA
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The All-State Jazz Honor Ensembles concert will be held at the Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on Friday, January 15th, 2027, at 7 p.m.
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Director: Sara Gazarek (säje, Eastman School of Music)
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Audition Dates
Auditions will be accepted from September 1, 2026, with an upload deadline of 11:59 PM on OCTOBER 15TH, 2026.
Important for Directors
Directors of All-State students need to be members of CCDA or CBDA.
Audition Instructions
Please read all guidelines below carefully. By following the instructions, you can ensure to submit a successful and valid audition.
To audition for the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble you must complete two steps:
Audition Music
• Chromatic Scale: Your choice of syllables. One octave, ascending and descending, quarter notes at q=120 bpm
• Blues Scale: Your choice of syllables. One octave, ascending and descending, quarter notes at q=120 bpm
• “London by Night” (see sheet music) Sing your voice part (soprano, alto, tenor or bass) a cappella from the top to the end of the excerpt. In case of part splits, choose one of two (for example: soprano 2) and stick to it.
• “I’m Old-Fashioned” (see lead sheet) Sing the melody. No scat singing for this track. You can sing a cappella or record to a live or pre-recorded accompaniment. You may change the key to fit your vocal range.
• Blues Improvisation (2-3 choruses in a key of your choice) It is recommended to sing along to an accompaniment. If no live accompaniment is available, you can use a backing track like this one.
Recording Instructions
Audition Upload
Tenor Audition Upload Link Bass Audition Upload Link
Selection Process
Your audition recordings will be presented to a panel of three adjudicators without any identifying information. The adjudicators will be scoring your recordings in regard to pitch and rhythmic accuracy as well as vocal tone/resonance and style/phrasing. The five disciplines are weighted from highest to lowest as follows: Part Singing, Solo Singing of a Jazz Standard and Vocal Improvisation, Chromatic and Blues Scales.
Audition Results
Audition results are posted around November 15. You will receive an email notification with a link once the results are online. If you are selected to participate in the 2027 All-State Vocal Jazz ensemble, you will have to enroll through the CASMEC website and pay the tuition fee. This fee will be due by the end of November 2026. Electronic payments are preferred. For reference, the participation fee for 2026 was $680. For 2027, this cost may increase slightly due to the increased cost for housing and food.
Tuition Assistance
We are actively pursuing fundraising opportunities to lower the general tuition cost for students and offer additional assistance to students with financial needs.
If you are applying for tuition assistance, make sure to check the pay-by-check option. This way your spot will be held for you until the amount of your tuition assistance is determined, at which point you will still have the chance to pay by credit card if you so wish.
Housing
All students will be CASMEC-housed. There are no exceptions.
Questions
Please address any questions to Andreas Preponis at [email protected]
Auditions will be accepted from September 1, 2026, with an upload deadline of 11:59 PM on OCTOBER 15TH, 2026.
Important for Directors
Directors of All-State students need to be members of CCDA or CBDA.
Audition Instructions
Please read all guidelines below carefully. By following the instructions, you can ensure to submit a successful and valid audition.
To audition for the All-State Vocal Jazz Ensemble you must complete two steps:
- Fill out the Registration Form and submit the $25 registration fee
- Upload five audition recordings
Audition Music
• Chromatic Scale: Your choice of syllables. One octave, ascending and descending, quarter notes at q=120 bpm
• Blues Scale: Your choice of syllables. One octave, ascending and descending, quarter notes at q=120 bpm
• “London by Night” (see sheet music) Sing your voice part (soprano, alto, tenor or bass) a cappella from the top to the end of the excerpt. In case of part splits, choose one of two (for example: soprano 2) and stick to it.
• “I’m Old-Fashioned” (see lead sheet) Sing the melody. No scat singing for this track. You can sing a cappella or record to a live or pre-recorded accompaniment. You may change the key to fit your vocal range.
• Blues Improvisation (2-3 choruses in a key of your choice) It is recommended to sing along to an accompaniment. If no live accompaniment is available, you can use a backing track like this one.
Recording Instructions
- Most importantly: No speaking/talking/verbal count-off of any kind.
- Accompaniments such as iReal Pro, or Backing Tracks found i.e., on YouTube are accepted for pieces #4 and #5. You may also submit a recording with live accompaniment, but please DO NOT have any speaking on your recordings.
- Your recorded audition tracks will only be accepted through Drive Uploader (links below)
Audition Upload
- Recordings must be in mp3 or m4a format and titled with your name and what they are in the following naming convention: LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_Auditionpiece (Example: Fitzgerald_Ella_Chromatic Scale.mp3)
- Create a folder titled with your name in the following naming convention: LASTNAME_FIRSTNAME_VoicePart (Example: Elling_Kurt_Bass)
- Place the five separate audition tracks into your folder
- Based on your voice part, follow the appropriate link below to open the uploader portal
- Upload your entire folder by dragging it to the Drive Uploader or use the “select folder” button to browse your files
- If uploading from your phone, you may need to upload single files. Make sure the files have your name in the title, otherwise we will not know whom to attribute those recordings.
Tenor Audition Upload Link Bass Audition Upload Link
Selection Process
Your audition recordings will be presented to a panel of three adjudicators without any identifying information. The adjudicators will be scoring your recordings in regard to pitch and rhythmic accuracy as well as vocal tone/resonance and style/phrasing. The five disciplines are weighted from highest to lowest as follows: Part Singing, Solo Singing of a Jazz Standard and Vocal Improvisation, Chromatic and Blues Scales.
Audition Results
Audition results are posted around November 15. You will receive an email notification with a link once the results are online. If you are selected to participate in the 2027 All-State Vocal Jazz ensemble, you will have to enroll through the CASMEC website and pay the tuition fee. This fee will be due by the end of November 2026. Electronic payments are preferred. For reference, the participation fee for 2026 was $680. For 2027, this cost may increase slightly due to the increased cost for housing and food.
Tuition Assistance
We are actively pursuing fundraising opportunities to lower the general tuition cost for students and offer additional assistance to students with financial needs.
If you are applying for tuition assistance, make sure to check the pay-by-check option. This way your spot will be held for you until the amount of your tuition assistance is determined, at which point you will still have the chance to pay by credit card if you so wish.
Housing
All students will be CASMEC-housed. There are no exceptions.
Questions
Please address any questions to Andreas Preponis at [email protected]
