Honor Band
OMEA District 17 High School Honor Band
District 17 Band Directors,
We are excited to announce that we are able to hold 2026 District Honor Band in person the weekend of March 13 & 14, 2026. The concert will be held on Saturday, March 14 on the campus of Ohio University in the Templeton-Blackburn Memorial Auditorium beginning at 5:00 p.m. Our guest conductor this year will be Dr. Jeff Gershman, Director of Bands at Capital University! The Honor Band weekend will begin with check-in at 12:00 pm on Friday, March 13. The first rehearsal will begin at 1:00pm. A detailed schedule for the weekend will be sent with the personnel list.
Auditions will be held on Saturday, January 17, 2026 at the Ohio University School of Music. The auditions will consist of scales, etudes, and sight-reading. We will again attempt to have all auditions be judged by Ohio University faculty or graduate students. The audition music and information can be found below.
Audition Etudes can be found at the link below:
2026 OMEA District 17 Audition Music
The audition requirements are as follows:
Woodwind and Brass
1. OMEA Class "B" Scales
2. Audition Etude
3. Sight-reading
Percussion
1. OMEA Class "B" Rudiments
2. Audition Etudes (All percussionists are required to audition on Snare Drum, Timpani, and Xylophone)
3. Sight-reading
The audition fee is $20.00 per student and should be sent in with the list of all students from your school that will be auditioning. Please make one check payable to "OMEA District 17 Treasurer". Please send your list of students auditioning to me by e-mail: abackes@athenscsd.org by January 9, 2026. Note any audition schedule requests on your list of students auditioning, and we will do our best to accommodate them. You will email me your students auditioning, but all checks should be sent to Ryan Hurd, our OMEA D17 District Treasurer:
Ryan Hurd, OMEA District 17 Treasurer
Jackson High School
500 Vaughn St.
Jackson, OH 45640
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me by e-mail
Aaron Backes
740-797-4521 ext. 1011 (school)
OMEA District 17 Middle School Honor Band
Saturday, March 14, 2026
Ohio University School of Music
Ryan Hurd and Mallory Scaife-Wilson, Co-Chairs
rhurd@jcs.k12.oh.us and mwilson@jcs.k12.oh.us
Audition Submissions are due January 30th, 2026
Link to District 17 Middle School Honor Band Information