Frequently Asked Questions - Concert Season

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The UIL Solo & Ensemble Contest is held in February at Rowlett High School. Students in every band class are required to participate. This contest gives students opportunities to showcase their ability through solos and/or in small ensembles. Assistance in selecting music, hiring an accompanist and rehearsing the music is provided by directors and private lesson instructors. 

Solo and ensemble pieces are selected off of the UIL Prescribed Music List. Students perform for an adjudicator to earn a numerical rating based on a standard rubric (1-superior, 2-excellent, 3-good, 4-fair, or 5-poor). 

Students enrolled in Wind Ensemble and Wind Symphony are also required to perform with a small ensemble piece comprised of students in their class period. Directors will assign students to select ensembles. Students in other band classes may perform in small ensembles with director approval.

Students who earn a First Division rating can qualify for State if they perform a memorized Class 1 solo or a solo on the No Memory Required List. Ensembles who earn a First Division rating automatically qualify for the State contest. The Texas State Solo & Ensemble Contest is held in Austin each year during the last weekend in May.

This is the staple competition for UIL, occurring every year in the spring in all 24 regions of the state. Bands prepare a concert program of three pieces chosen from the Prescribed Music List and perform for a panel of three judges who rate the bands with one of five ratings, just as in regional marching competition. Again, the comparison is only with a standard of excellence, not with other bands in the contest. Theoretically, every band could earn a First Division or a Fifth Division! Immediately following the concert, bands move to another room to sightread a piece of music chosen to be read by all the bands within a class statewide! The music for sightreading is composed specifically for the contest and addresses certain fundamentals that are aligned with the curriculum for each classification. This is the musical equivalent of a statewide achievement test for Band.

The Texas Music Educators Association sponsors individual competitions every fall that culminate in the selection of the All-State Bands, Choirs, and Orchestras that perform at the annual convention in February.
The 24 Texas regions hold the first level of competition, and the top students advance to the Area level held in January. In each of the Areas, a designated number of the top students are selected to All-State. At each level of competition, students perform for a panel of 5 judges in a blind audition where judges are screened from sight and do not know which students are performing. The All-Region Bands perform in a concert in the middle of January each year, but the Area Band is for qualification purposes only. The All-State groups rehearse for 3 days in February prior to their performances with internationally acclaimed conductors and educators!

TMEA also sponsors competition every two years for concert bands to be named "State Honor Band." Bands across the state choose to record as many as five different performances of their concert programs and submit the best of these for consideration at the region, area, and state levels. At each level, a panel of five adjudicators hears the recorded performances without knowing the school identification. The judges rank the performances from top to bottom and the top 2 at each level advance to the next level. Fourteen performances are heard at the final level to select the finalists and the State Honor Band in each class. The band that wins the competition is known as the "State Honor Band" and performs the following February in San Antonio for the Texas Music Educations Association.

In 2018, the RHHS Wind Ensemble placed 6th at the 6A State Honor Band Contest.

The Texas Music Educators Association sponsors a series of auditions to all eligible students in grades 9-12 for the purpose of selecting students for participation in Region, Area, and All-State honor bands.  A list of required audition music will be available by the end of July.  The preparation for Region Band auditions will greatly improve musical ability and provide valuable experience for future auditions. The All-Region Jazz Auditions will be held in September. Students that earn a seat in the All-Region Jazz Band will rehearse and perform in November at one of the high schools in the region. Students that earn a seat in All-State jazz band will rehearse and perform in February at the TMEA Convention held in San Antonio.