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UAB Bands College of Arts and Sciences

UAB High School Honor Band Festival

The UAB Honor Bands for high school students have become regarded as the best honor bands in the region. Students must receive a recommendation from their school band director to participate. This weekend festival is comprised of four high school honor bands that rehearse on a Thursday and Friday and perform a concert in the Alys Stephens Center on Saturday. The honor band festival takes place on the second weekend in December.

UAB High School Honor Band 2026

Event Dates: December 10-12, 2026

Deadline for Nominations: October 12, 2026

The 2026 UAB High School Honor Band will consist of four bands. Auditions for the band and chair placement will begin Thursday, December 10, 2026, at 11:30 am. All bands will rehearse Thursday through Saturday (December 10-12). The concert will be held Saturday, December 12th at 4:00 pm in the Jemison Concert Hall of the Alys Robinson Stephens Performing Arts Center.

  • Eligibility

    Ninth, tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade students are eligible. Band directors should recommend students across all 4 grade levels, as care will be taken in the selection process to include all grade levels. Over 300 invitations will be extended to students for participation in the UAB High School Honor Band Weekend.

  • Division of Ensembles

    A pre-determined instrumentation for each ensemble will be used (please see the enclosed breakdown). Top players in each section will be placed in the Festival Band. All remaining players will be divided equally between the Green and Gold Bands (ex. flute #1 – Green, flute #2 – Gold; clarinet #1 – Gold, clarinet #2 – Green; etc.).

  • Selection Process

    Priority for selection will be made as follows:

    • Band director's ranked order of recommendation
    • 2026 all-state students
    • Seniors with past experience at UAB Band events
    • ALL students with past experience at UAB band events
    • ALL students with positive band director recommendations

    Given these selection criteria, we will make every attempt to take all seniors who apply to the UAB High School Honor Band Weekend.Heavy emphasis will be placed upon each director’s ranking scale in making our preliminary selections – please give this careful thought. Obviously, any additional pertinent information will assist in the decision-making process. In order to have fair representation from all schools, we ask that you try to keep your number of nominees near 10% of your program’s total enrollment.

2026 UAB Honor Band Nominations

Please click on the link to nominate your students for the High School Honor Band Festival.

Submit a Nomination

Important Information

  • Upon notification of selection, there is a $85.00 non-refundable participation fee.
  • All participating students will receive a UAB Honor Band Medal as well as a UAB Honor Band T-shirt.
  • UAB Honor Band CDs, DVDs, and photos will be available for purchase at the festival.
  • Audition material will be:
    • 12 major scales and arpeggios (minimum 1 octave, extra credit given for 2 or 3 octaves) at a tempo of quarter note = 120 in eighth notes, preferred articulation is slurred ascending, and tongued descending
    • The technical exercise from the Alabama 2027 All-State requirements for the year. Access a list of the exercises
    • Sight-reading

*Pleae note: Percussionists may audition on either snare, timpani, or keyboards, but more credit will be given to students who audition on 2 or more percussion instruments: The overall score will be a TOTAL of all three areas together. Students who demonstrate skills in all areas will receive more credit than students who only prepare one (or two) areas.

  • Auditions will be Thursday, December 10, 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
  • The first rehearsal will be held from 7:30 – 9:00 p.m.
  • Directors, please contact Dr. Sean Murray, Dr. Gene Fambrough, Dr. Caleb Owenby or Dr. Cara Morantz if you can help with student auditions on either weekend.

Conductors

  • Festival Band: Greg Bimm, Director of Bands (retired), Marian Catholic High School, Chicago, IL
  • Green Band: Eric Allen, Associate Director of Bands, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX
  • Gold Band: Jonathan Hinkle, Director of Bands, Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction, CO
  • White Band: Susana Lalama, Director of Petrie School of Music, Converse University, Spartanburg, SC

Honor Band Tentative Instrumentation:

  • 8-10 Flute
  • 2-3 Oboe
  • 1 Eb Clarinet
  • 12-16 Bb Clarinet
  • 2-4 Bb Bass Clarinet
  • 1 Contra Clarinet
  • 4-6 Eb Alto Saxophone
  • 2 Tenor Saxophone
  • 1-2 Baritone Saxophone
  • 3-4 Bassoon
  • 10-12 Trumpet
  • 6 Horn
  • 6 Trombone
  • 1 Bass Trombone
  • 2-3 Euphonium
  • 4 Tuba
  • 6 Percussion
76-85 per band
Total Participants: 142-170