Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA) Orchestra All-Region 24 Audition Process
Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA)
Since 1920, TMEA has worked to ensure excellence in music education for all Texas students. Over 13,000 school music educators are TMEA members belonging to one of five TMEA Divisions: Band, Orchestra, Vocal, Elementary and College.
TMEA supports the future of music education by offering scholarships to music education majors and by sponsoring the Texas Future Music Educators, an organization through which high school students interested in careers in music education learn more about what to expect in their college education and future careers.
TMEA is divided into 33 Regions to carry out TMEA objectives at the local level, to guarantee representation on the State Board of Directors, and to provide opportunity for individual participation in TMEA activities.
FCAF students participate in TMEA Region 24 activities. All ISD Middle and High Schools, charter schools and private schools in the cities of Frisco, Little Elm, Prosper and McKinney form Region 24. Region 24 is considered to be one of, if not the most, competitive regions in Texas. To date, only two FCAF orchestra students have succeeded in getting into the TMEA Region 24 orchestras.
In Texas, smaller ISD, charter and private school band students are eligible to participate in the ATSSB (All Texas Small School Band) events and activities. Unlike FCAF, most small schools do not have orchestras and so therefore there is no ATSSB equivalent for orchestra students.
Each TMEA Region hosts contests in which individual middle school students can audition for the opportunity to rehearse together and perform in a Region band, orchestra, or choir. Regions create their own rules and audition materials for these events. In Region 24 students can audition for either Concert orchestra (open only to 6th and 7th grade students) or Chamber/Sinfonia (open to 6th to 8th grade students). The experience of participating in these auditions, while daunting offers a wonderful experience to our students and for those succceding in gaining places in the all region orchestras, it provides a very valuable learning opportunity playing together with students from schools across the Region.
In High School students have the option to audition for All-Region Strings (open to 9th to 12th grade students) or for Symphony/Philharmonic (also open to 9th to 12 grade students). Students auditioning for Strings have the opportunity to rehearse together and perform in a Region band, orchestra, or choir. Only students auditioning for Symphony/Philharmonic can, in addition to participating in a Region band or choir, potentially progress through the All-State auditions. The All-State audition process begins throughout the state in each of the TMEA Regions. Individual musicians perform selected music for a panel of judges who rank each instrument or voice part. From this ranking, a select group of musicians advances from their Region to TMEA Area competitions and from there the highest-ranking qualify to perform in a TMEA All-State music group. These All-State students participate in three days of rehearsals during the annual state TMEA Clinic/Convention, and their performances before thousands of attendees bring this extraordinary event to a close. Participation in any of the auditions again provides valuable experiences for our students. We are hoping that this year, for the first time, FCAF will have students qualify for HS All-Region orchestras.
The Region 24 Orchestra Division believes that All-State participation is one of the highest educational processes open to high school music students.