CU Boulder Middle School Honor Band
Welcome to the Middle School Honor Band at the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music!
Our goal is to enhance the opportunity students receive in their school band program by allowing them to meet and perform with other students. Participants benefit from master classes with College of Music faculty. After two days of rehearsal, students present a full-length concert to highlight their growth and development.
Feb. 20-21, 2026
Guest clinician
TBD
Audition materials for the 2026 CU Boulder Honor Band will be posted here in fall 2025. All rehearsals and performances will take place at the University of Colorado Boulder. Check-in will begin at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20, 2026 with rehearsals and the CU Boulder band concert that evening. The Middle School Honor Band will rehearse from approximately 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026 and will perform a concert in Macky Auditorium that evening.
2025 Middle School Honor Band results
Auditions
Audition deadline: The 2026 audition deadline will be announced in fall 2025.
Notifications of acceptance, as well as audition feedback, will be emailed in December 2025. Music will be emailed to directors and students by mid-January 2026.
If selected, students will be expected to attend all scheduled rehearsals and activities, including attending the Friday evening CU Boulder Wind Symphony + Symphonic Band concert. Parents are responsibile for transportation, lodging and supervision during Honor Band weekend.
Audition materials
2026 audition materials will be posted here in fall 2025.
Audition process
Auditions are online only. Students are required to record and submit a video file of their audition through a sharable link on the application form. Please see the link below for more information.
2025 Recording + application guidelines
Step 1: Prepare to record your audition
- Prepare the requirements for your instrument. Practice stating your name, grade, school and instrument, and performing the scales and etudes in the order you will record them.
- No metronome is allowed for audition recordings.
- Gather the materials you need to record your audition. For best results, make recordings using a high-quality microphone.
Step 2: Record your audition
- Record your audition as a video file. We will only accept one file per student.
- You may splice together separate recordings of each scale and excerpt, but the scales and excerpts themselves should NOT be edited. Any edits to the individual components of the audition (including added reverb, metronome, pitch correction, etc.) will result in disqualification.
- Please title your video file with your Lastname_Firstname_Instrument.
- Make sure that you and your instrument are visible in the video frame at all times.
Step 3: Submit your audition
All students must submit their audition via the online registration form (see links below). Note: There is a separate form for each instrument.
- Flutes + piccolos
- Oboes
- Bassoons
- Clarinets
- Saxophones
- Trumpets
- French horns
- Trombones
- Euphoniums + tubas
- Percussion
Step 4: Submit your audition fee
- The audition fee is $25 per audition submission (i.e., students auditioning on two instruments would pay $50 total). Whoever is paying the student’s audition fee (directors and parents, please connect with one another to determine this for yourselves), submit your payment via this portal. If you require a pay-by-check option, email MSHonorBand@colorado.edu.
- Once registration has closed, we will notify directors whose students submitted auditions, including student names and instruments, and what their payment status is. Unpaid auditions will not be scored.
Questions? Email MSHonorBand@colorado.edu.