Tri-State Band Festival

REGISTRATION PRICES FOR THE 2025 TRI-STATE FESTIVAL

• $395.00 for overnight students
• $295.00 for local/commuter students

PARTICIPATION COST COVERS

• Lodging (For overnight students only)
• All meals during the Tri-State timeline,
• Transportation to and from rehearsals and concerts, instructional expenses including masterclass, rehearsals, and performance, t-shirt, and recording of concerts.

Students selected for the Tri-State Festival must provide their own transportation to and from Tallahassee.

Students will be chaperoned at all times by FSU faculty, graduate assistants, and staff. 

If you are a high school band director in the state of Florida, Georgia, or Alabama, please click the link below to nominate your students to the 2025 Tri-State Band Festival. The following conditions must be met:

ELIGIBILITY & NOMINATION GUIDELINES

• Nominations must be submitted by high school jazz band directors in Florida, Georgia, or Alabama.
• Only directors may nominate students.
• Nominations must be submitted from a school email address (personal accounts will not be accepted).
• Students must be in 11th or 12th grade to participate.
• A separate nomination form must be completed for each student.
• Nominations are due by Friday, September 19.

If you nominate more than one student, you must assign each a unique rank (1, 2, 3, etc.) in order of preference. For example, if you nominate five students, rank them from 1 (highest priority) through 5 (lowest priority). Important: Do not assign the same rank to multiple students (e.g., two students both ranked as “1”). Duplicate rankings cause issues with our software and may result in students being left out of the festival. Please double-check your rankings before submitting.

ACCEPTANCE & REGISTRATION

Notifications of acceptance will be sent via email in late September and will include a registration link. Each student must complete an individual online registration form, and payment may be submitted through the online portal or by mail (either by the school or by the individual). Students are not officially registered until both the registration form and payment have been received.

CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE YOUR STUDENTS

The Honors Jazz Ensemble offers students the opportunity to develop their jazz performance skills while working with renowned jazz artists and the FSU jazz faculty. The experience includes multiple performances, culminating in the Festival Finale Concert on Saturday evening, where members perform for directors, families, friends, and all Tri-State participants.

ELIGIBILITY & NOMINATION GUIDELINES

• Nominations must be submitted by high school jazz band directors in Florida, Georgia, or Alabama.
• Only directors may nominate students.
• Nominations must be submitted from a school email address (personal accounts will not be accepted).
• Students must be in 11th or 12th grade to participate.
• A separate nomination form must be completed for each student.
• Nominations are due by Friday, September 19.

If you nominate more than one student, you must assign each a unique rank (1, 2, 3, etc.) in order of preference. For example, if you nominate five students, rank them from 1 (highest priority) through 5 (lowest priority).

Important: Do not assign the same rank to multiple students (e.g., two students both ranked as “1”). Duplicate rankings cause issues with our software and may result in students being left out of the festival. Please double-check your rankings before submitting.

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS

• Audition recordings are due by Friday, October 10.
• Recordings must include both audio and video and be uploaded as an unlisted YouTube video.

Directors should send the video link to CM-TriStateFestival@fsu.edu. Audition excerpts can be found in the FOR STUDENTS section, under Honors Jazz Ensemble.

ACCEPTANCE & REGISTRATION

Notifications of acceptance will be sent via email in late September and will include a registration link. Each student must complete an individual online registration form, and payment may be submitted through the online portal or by mail (either by the school or by the individual). Students are not officially registered until both the registration form and payment have been received.

ADDITIONAL NOTE

Students nominated for the Honors Jazz Ensemble may also be nominated for the Concert Band Festival. However, if selected for the Honors Jazz Ensemble, they must perform with that group to allow another student the opportunity to participate in the Concert Band.

CLICK HERE TO NOMINATE YOUR STUDENTS

DIRECTORS CONFERENCE
The Directors Conference, held as part of the Tri-State Band Festival, offers attending band directors a continuing education opportunity through sessions led by FSU College of Music faculty. Registered directors will receive:

• Access to all professional development sessions
• Participation in the Conducting Clinic (application required)
• One complimentary ticket to Friday evening’s PRISM concert
• A certificate of completion for professional development credit

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

CONDUCTING CLINIC
The Conducting Clinic, a featured component of the Directors Conference, provides band directors with the opportunity to refine their conducting through live podium experience and personalized feedback from Dr. Rodney Dorsey, conductor of the FSU Wind Orchestra and Director of the Graduate Wind Conducting Program.

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

This year’s clinic includes two sessions:

1. Wind Orchestra Clinic (Friday)
   Participants will conduct the FSU Wind Orchestra, the university’s premier graduate-level wind ensemble. This session offers a unique opportunity to work with one of the nation’s top collegiate wind bands in a full-ensemble setting.
2. Chamber Winds Clinic (Saturday)
   This clinic features musicians from the Wind Orchestra in a chamber winds setting, offering a more intimate environment to explore musical expression and ensemble interaction.

Application Process

Applications for the Conducting Clinics can be submitted through this form.

Please be prepared with the following information:

Conducting Demonstration Video (optional but strongly encouraged)

• No longer than 2 minutes in length
• Submit as an unlisted YouTube link

Conducting Biography (500 words or fewer), including:

• Your current school
• Years of teaching experience
• Conducting education background (including institutions)

Selected participants will be notified in early November.

Repertoire Selections

Accepted applicants will choose one piece each of the lists below:

Wind Orchestra Clinic (Friday):

• First Suite in E-flat for Military Band by Gustav Holst
• Lincolnshire Posy (movements I, II, V)
• Listen to the Lambs by R. Nathaniel Dett/ arr. Marie A. Douglas
• Suite Française by Darius Milhaud

Chamber Winds Clinics (Saturday):

• Consort for Ten Winds by Robert Spittal
• Five Elements by Yunfei Li
• Octet-Partita, Op. 57 by Franz Krommer
• Serenade in C minor, K.388/384a by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Acceptance into the Tri-State Band Festival is a unique and prestigious opportunity for high school musicians across Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. Selected students will participate in one of four outstanding concert bands, each led by a nationally renowned conductor.

During the three-day festival, students will participate in rehearsals, attend concerts, and study a variety of wind band repertoire. The event concludes with a final performance featuring all four bands.

How to Be Nominated
11th and 12th grade students who wish to be considered for the Tri-State Band Festival should speak with their high school band director.
Band directors must submit all nominations by September 19, 2025.

Honors Jazz Ensemble 

In addition to completing the band director nomination process, those students interested in the Honors Jazz Ensemble must submit a video audition by October 10, 2025.

Audition Requirements

Applicants must submit two videos for audition:

1. A performance of the designated solo work.
2. An improvised two-chorus solo with the provided backing track.

Note: Drumset applicants are only required to submit the designated solo work (no improvisation video).

Materials and backing tracks can be downloaded here.

Audition videos should be submitted here.

Once notified of your acceptance to Tri-State, students should complete their online registration immediately. The Student Release Form, as well as your registration fee for Tri-State, must be received at FSU no later than the above due date. The Payment Portal is linked at the bottom of the Registration Portal.

CLICK HERE FOR STUDENT REGISTRATION

Failure to complete any portion of registration (online registration, Student Release Form, and payment) by the above due date will result in the loss of your spot in the Tri-State Festival.