Embedded Files
Eligibility:
7th and 8th grade choir students in the state of Colorado are eligible to audition for CMASC.
All directors must have an active CMEA membership to audition students. Home-schooled students, or students whose school does not have a choir program must have a sponsor/chaperone who is an active member of CMEA to participate--this is a requirement. Join CMEA through the NAfME website here.
The submitting director must recommend all of their students auditioning, asserting that the auditioning student has the discipline and maturity to participate in a high level musical event.
Teachers may submit a maximum of 35 students per school. Any audition submissions over 35 will not be considered.
If accepted, students must agree to attend the entire two-day event (both Thursday and Friday). Students should be aware of this before submitting their audition recording.
If questions regarding unusual circumstances pertaining to eligibility arise, please contact the Chairs of the Colorado Middle School All-State Choir Governing Board. Under no circumstances should a director, parent, or child assume that their student is eligible outside of the requirements specified above. If a student is entered but is later deemed ineligible by the CMASC Board, they will be disqualified. This decision rests under the authority of the CMASC Board alone.
Notes:
Students may not audition with a private voice instructor or private studio unless:
They are home-schooled OR their school does not have a choir program
AND the private voice instructor is a member of CMEA
AND the private voice instructor plans to attend and sponsor student at the All State Event
AND all elements of the circumstances listed below are fulfilled
Students who are in their school's curricular band or orchestra program who are unable to participate in their school's choir program due to scheduling conflicts may audition under the following conditions:
A. ) They must have written documentation from their school's instrumental and choir directors (if they exist) and an administrator. This documentation should certify two things: first, all parties' sponsorship of that student, as well as a willingness to send the required chaperones to accompany them to CMASC (if accepted)
B ) The reason a student is not in choir is due to scheduling conflicts, as determined by administrative consent.
C) Students whose schools are not participating in CMASC may enter if they follow the same guidelines, submit the same documentation, and receive sponsorship from another CMEA-affiliated school and director.
Fees:
Audition Fee: $25.00 per student
Acceptance Fee: $45.00 per participating student
Participation fees, transportation, lodging, purchase of concert repertoire, and concert attire is all the responsibility of the auditioning school and/or the individual student.
Audition Elements:
Please read carefully. Practice audition materials are available to help prepare students for the real audition. Additional methods of audition preparation are strongly encouraged.
The recorded audition consists of the following five elements:
an accompanied prepared piece, "Aura Lee"
an ascending and descending major scale
ascending and descending major and minor triads
aural recall of a short phrase after two listenings
a rhythmic sight-reading excerpt
a melodic sight-reading excerpt
The musical excerpt and sight-reading passages are unique to each year's audition, but equal in length and difficulty to those provided in the practice materials. Students MAY NOT see the given year's aural recall or sight-reading passages prior to recording their audition.
Students' auditions are recorded alongside a provided track and script. As all accompaniments and starting pitches are given, teachers who speak or play anything during an audition risk the disqualification of their student(s).
Teachers will submit completed recorded auditions via Opus. All information on how to create an account and submit audition recordings can be found on the Audition Submission page.
The deadline to submit ALL audition recordings and payments is 5:00 PM on Friday, October 9, 2026.
Available Voice Parts:
There are SEVEN different scripts for each of the seven available voice parts. Each script has recorded accompaniment, a scale, triads, aural recall, and sight-reading transposed into an appropriate key for each voice part. Each student should audition for the voice part that best suits their voice based on the key in the provided scripts. You can see the available voice parts and associated keys for each of the elements in the practice materials.
Soprano 1, Soprano 2, Alto 1, and Alto 2 - These students will be placed into either the Triplo or Mescolare choirs.
Tenor 1, Tenor 2, and Baritone - These students will be placed into the Cambiato choir.
Treble voices that change (esp. young assigned-at-birth male voices) between their acceptance and the event may still participate in All State! Students accepted to Triplo or Mescolare choirs whose voices have changed to better fit the cambiato range will simply be moved to the Cambiato choir. Teachers, please contact your district governor if you have a student in this situation.
Audition Rules:
Students should not have access to any audition materials prior to their audition. Practice materials are available for student use beforehand.
Once your audition starts, you must keep recording. Any pause in the track or editing of the audition is strictly prohibited.
No talking is permitted during the audition. Teachers and students may not be talking, whispering, or asking/answering questions during the track.
Auditions need to be recorded in-person with the choir director. If your director is unable to be present another school staff member
Failure to follow these rules may result in the disqualification of a student's audition.
Accommodations:
CMASC offers audition accommodations for students with visual impairments or legally binding requirements for extended time. Audition files with accommodations are available upon request. Please contact the chair and audition specialist for more information.
Chair and audition specialist must be contacted by 9/21/2026 for these modified audition materials. If directors do not contact them in the appropriate time frame and/or choose to change the audition without permission, the student’s audition will be automatically disqualified.
Selection Process:
In the interest of making audition judging as transparent and standardized as possible, a sub-committee of CMASC Board members has assembled the following thoughtful and detailed rubric. We hope that this tool will be useful for teachers in both preparing their students to audition as well as explaining successes and areas for improvement when reviewing scores with singers.
Once submitted, students' auditions are randomly assigned a number to ensure their anonymity during judging.
To ensure a balanced choir that truly reflects an All State experience, selected students are allocated proportionately by CMEA district. For example, if 10% of the total audition submissions came from District 1, 15% from District 2, 23% from District 3, etc., the final choirs will be composed of 10% District 1 students, 15% District 2, 23% District 3, and so on.
This system also breaks down by voice part, so all students from one voice part in one district are only competing with students in their voice part/district.
Once district proportions and cut-off scores are determined, the numbered auditions are realigned with student names, and notifications are sent.
NEW AS OF 2024/25: One student per school will be accepted provided they meet the minimum cut-off score for their section in the state. This addition was created in order to get representation from more schools in our state and does not impact the cut-off scores in any district.
CMASC Audition Rubric:
Page updated
Report abuse