Auditions and Resources

Dates: November 3, 2026 – November 7, 2026
Location: Lexington 2 Performing Arts Center
Auditions are open to all singers, grades 9th-12th, who are enrolled in your program for credit.

Audition Material

SSATB “Honor and Glory” by Bach ed. Ehret

Audition Tracks 

Sight Reading Examples

Sample Sight Reading Examples
The sight reading will occur in the same judging room immediately after “Honor and Glory” is finished. The scoring for sight reading is as follows: Students will receive 1 point for completing each half measure accurately (beats 1-2, beats 3-4), one point for retaining tonic, and one point for flow (maintaining a steady tempo with no hesitations or restarts). Students must attempt the rhythmic pattern and melodic contour in order to receive points for retaining tonic and flow. Scores from all three judges will be combined for a total score for sight singing. The maximum score possible for sight singing will be 54 points (18 points from three judges). This portion of the audition will also be blind.

Sight Reading Examples

Click Here for the All-State Chorus Audition Rubric.

Membership

Membership in the All-State Chorus is based on the total points received in the audition. Students in grades 9th-12th must be enrolled for at least one credit during the 26-27 school year in a school choral program directed by a member with an active NAfME membership and in good standing with SCMEA. Membership of the director will be verified through the NAfME database. Home-schooled students enrolled in a public or home-school choral program for at least one credit in the 26-27 school year must provide documentation that qualifies them as 9th-12th grade students and a member of a South Carolina Home School Association at the time of registration. A director may not sponsor students enrolled in a school other than his/her own. Failure to comply with these rules will result in the involved student(s) not being able to participate in the All-State Chorus Weekend and their school being suspended from participating in auditions for the next academic year.

Registration For Auditions

  1. Choral directors should limit registration only to students who possess superior musical skills. Audition registration information can be found at www.choraldivision.org.
  2. Teachers must submit All-State Chorus Audition Registration through the process designated by the All-State Chorus Chairperson. The registration process is completed online.
  3. The audition fee is twenty dollars ($20.00) per student and must be remitted to the All-State Chorus Chairperson along with a digital submission of the Audition Request Form. Registration fees should be paid using only one school check, personal check, money order payable to SCMEA Choral Division, or online at registration. 
  4. Registration forms must be completed online and appropriate fees must be paid online or payment check postmarked by Thursday, October 1, 2026. (LATE AND/OR INCOMPLETE REGISTRATIONS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO AUDITION. NO EXCEPTIONS!). Without payment, your registration will be considered incomplete and will be returned. The link for online payment may be found on the Choral Division Website. www.choraldivision.org
  5. If mailing one check for payment, please send it to Lizzi Elliott, York Comprehensive High School, 275 Alexander Love Hwy, York, SC 29745.  If your school district is submitting a check, please make sure that your school information is indicated and mailed with the check. Please make sure all checks are made payable to SCMEA Choral Division.

Once the registration materials have been submitted to the All-State Chorus Chairperson, no refunds will be made, no substitutions of names will be allowed, no voice parts can be changed, and no other changes can be made.

Registration Instructions

Questions about eligibility and the online registration process should be directed to Lizzi Elliott.

Auditions

  1. Auditions will be held on November 3-7, 2026 at Lexington 2 Performing Arts Center
  2. Auditions will be solo auditions and will be divided into two phases:
    • Prepared audition selection: SSATB “Honor and Glory” by Bach ed. Ehret
    • Sight-Singing
  3. The prepared audition selection portion of the South Carolina All-State Chorus auditions will be blind auditions. Students will be placed behind a curtain, screen, or partition. If this is not possible, judges will sit with their backs to the students.  Students will perform their part of the prepared audition piece with the audition prompt provided on the Choral Division Website. This track will include the starting pitch for their voice part and the other 4 voices played by piano with their part omitted throughout. For example, if you are auditioning as a bass, the bass part will be omitted and the soprano 1, soprano 2, alto, and tenor voices will be played by a piano track.
  4. Each student will be given a number of points on each phase of the audition. Individual singers will be selected according to their overall performance at the audition based on the total number of points received in the prepared selection and the sight-singing.
  5. Basic techniques and sight-singing will be judged individually. The student will audition individually before three judges. Each student will receive scores from three judges for the prepared piece. Individual student scores for the prepared piece will be determined immediately. The score range will be 0 – 50 from each judge. Each judge will award up to ten points in each of the following categories: Rhythmic and Timing Accuracy, Pitch and Intonation, Diction, Tone Quality, Musicality. Scores from all three judges will be combined for a total score for the prepared piece. The maximum score possible for the prepared piece will be 150 (50 points from three judges). 
  6. Sight-singing material will be selected by the All-State Chorus Committee Chairperson and the Audition Coordinator. After successfully completing the prepared selection, all students will sight-sing individually for the same three judges in the same audition room.
  7. Sight-Singing Process: All directions will be given from a recorded prompt. Students may begin studying the example during the recorded prompt. The example will be 8 measures, and will be printed on two lines, four measures per line. Students will be given the tonic triad and the beginning pitch. They will have 60 seconds to practice the 8 measure piece. After 60 seconds, the students will hear the tonic triad and the beginning pitch again. The students will have 45 seconds to sing through the piece. The student must set his/her own tempo. Count off tempo will NOT be given. The student may sing on solfège, numbers, la, ta, count-singing, etc. The score range will be 0 – 18.
  8. Sight-reading Parameters:
    • The piece will be in any major key.
    • It will start on Do and end on Do.
    • The most difficult rhythm will be a dotted quarter note followed by an eighth note.
    • Skips will come from the I, IV, and V7 triads. (Do, Mi, Sol; Fa, La, Do ; Sol, Ti, Re, Fa)
    • There may be quarter rests. 
    • Students will receive 1 point for completing each half measure accurately (beats 1-2, beats 3-4), one point for retaining tonic, and one point for flow (maintaining a steady tempo with no hesitations or restarts). Students must attempt the rhythmic pattern and melodic contour in order to receive points for retaining tonic and flow.
    • Scores from all three judges will be combined for a total score for sight singing. The maximum score possible for sight singing will be 54 points (18 points from three judges). This portion of the audition will also be blind.  After completing the sight-singing portion of the audition process, students will leave the building and have no contact with students waiting to audition.  The maximum possible composite score will be 204 (150 from the prepared piece and 54 from sight-singing). 
  9. If you have students that need special accommodations due to disabilities, please contact the audition coordinator.
  10. ALL STUDENTS MUST AUDITION AT THEIR SCHOOL’S ASSIGNED TIME. Although students may have previously been members of the All-State Chorus program, they will be required to audition again. 
  11. Absolutely no digital devices, including, but not limited to, phones, smart watches, CD players, CD recorders, iPods, MP3 players, video/DVD recorders, radios, or text messaging devices, will be allowed in or near the audition site. Cell phones are to be turned off and left outside the building. If a student is found using any device listed above within the audition site building, the device will be confiscated immediately. If a student’s digital device has been confiscated, that student’s audition will be forfeited, and the student’s school will receive a level 1 violation. That student’s teacher must pick up the device for the student before leaving the premises. Teachers and students are expected to respect the confidentiality of the sight-singing process and not share written or verbal communication.
  12. No changing of clothes on site.
  13. Teachers must be present with their students at the auditions. Students not accompanied by their own teacher will not be allowed to audition.
  14. No photocopied music will be allowed. (The only exception is in a year that the audition piece is out of print.)
  15. All incidents or exceptions pertaining to the All-State Chorus rules and regulations will be subject to review by the All-State Chorus Committee and could result in consequences to the school and/or student(s) involved.

Selected Participants

  1. The All-State Chorus will be composed of up to three ensembles chosen randomly from the highest-scoring students. Under no circumstances may teachers substitute one of their other students for a selected student. Failure to comply with the substitution rule is a rule violation, and will result in the substituted students not being allowed to participate in the All-State Chorus Weekend and their school being suspended for the next academic year.
  2. Cut-off scores, how to access score sheets, and other information will be emailed to each director after auditions have been completed. It is the responsibility of the director to double-check the scores and notify students of their acceptance into the All-State Chorus. If you do not receive an email or have questions about scores, please contact Lizzi Elliott, Audition Coordinator. 
  3. At the conclusion of each audition cycle, the All-State Committee will examine the cutoff scores for each voice part and may elect to appoint as Alternates those students who missed the cutoff by one to three points: the missed point range (1-3) will be decided year by year based on scoring spread. (See section on Alternates for more information)
  4. Teachers are responsible for the preparation of the music by their students prior to the All-State Chorus Weekend. Teachers should not expect students to learn the music entirely independently. Rehearsal tracks will be provided for each student.   
  5. Music Screening/Part Check: There will be a music screening/part check event at the beginning of the first rehearsal. All-State Chorus Committee members will walk through while the choir sings each piece to ensure that singers have prepared the repertoire. If there is any question about their preparation, singers will be given an opportunity to privately demonstrate that they know the music. If singers cannot demonstrate proficiency, they will not be sent home, nor will we provide tutorials on-site. They will become an Auditor. If singers are significantly late to a rehearsal, miss an entire rehearsal, or commit some other major infraction of rules decided upon by the choir managers, they will become an Auditor. Auditor: Any singer who becomes an auditor will be allowed to attend all rehearsals, be seated in the back of the rehearsal hall, and learn as the other singers do; however, they will not be allowed to sing in the concert. Thus, they will continue to learn and be allowed to attend guest performances and social activities but will lose the privilege of singing in the concert.

Attendance: All students that have been selected for the All-State Chorus must attend 100% of the All-State Chorus Weekend. All absences will be reviewed by the All-State Chorus Committee and could result in consequences to the school and/or student involved. All written documentation pertaining to absences must be submitted to the All-State Chorus Weekend Coordinator two weeks prior to the All-State Chorus Weekend. In an emergency, you must provide documentation at All-State Chorus registration.

** PLEASE NOTE: We will provide information about the All-State Chorus Weekend as it becomes available. All-State Chorus will be held February 25-27, 2027 at Winthrop University. A more detailed schedule will be provided when it is available.

  1. Alternates
    • Alternates will need to register fully for the weekend event to be eligible for potential participation.
    • Directors who have students that qualify as alternates will be given the opportunity to decline alternate participation. 
    • Alternates who elect to participate and register will be assigned to an ensemble so they may prepare in the event they are called for participation.
    • Alternates who register and are not called for participation will be invited auditors to the rehearsal process. Their teachers will be responsible for their whereabouts in rehearsal and must guarantee that students do not attempt to join the performance. 
      • Clinicians will be privately advised that they may choose to invite alternate auditors for performance participation. This is purely at the discretion of the individual clinician, and teachers will be advised accordingly prior to registration of their alternates. 
    • Alternates who participate as Auditors throughout the weekend will follow all rules and regulations of All-State participation to include attendance and timeliness, device policies, etc. 
    • Alternates will be required to participate in part checks at the beginning of the All-State Event.
    • As students fail to register for or appear at the All-State event, Alternates will be selected at random from their respective voice parts and notified by the Audition Coordinator if they are selected as an officially participating member of the assigned ensemble.

If selected members of the ensemble are identified as deficient in their preparation through the part checks, Alternates who have passed the part check will be selected at random and promoted according to their voice part.