2023 Nebraska All-State Chorus

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Conductor Info
Registration & Audition Dates
Repertoire
Audition Materials
Rehearsal Tracks

The following information will be posted at a later time:
Audition Manuals

 

2023 ALL-STATE CHORUS CONDUCTOR BIO

Gary Packwood serves as the Program Administrator and Director of Choral Studies at Mississippi State University, where he oversees all artistic and administrative aspects of the choral area. As professor of music, he also serves as the coordinator of graduate studies in music and for 5 years coordinates the music education area.

Recognized as an inspirational and motivational conductor, pedagogue, and lecturer, Dr. Packwood has appeared throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia, and has conducted all-state and honor choirs in 39 states, including the 2022 Texas All-State TB Choir, ACDA Region conferences for Eastern, Midwestern, and Northwestern conferences. In 2023-2024 he will conduct all-state choirs in Georgia, Nebraska, Kansas, Alabama, and is scheduled as artist-in-residency for East Tennessee State University, Northern Iowa University, University of Colorado (Boulder), and Wagner College (NY).

Choirs under his leadership have performed at state, regional, and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, the National Association for Music Education, and the National Collegiate Choral Organization. Dr. Packwood has published articles in the Choral Journal, Teaching Music, the 2nd Edition of the AmeriGrove Dictionary, book chapters in GIA’s and Hal Leonard’s publications of Conducting Men’s Choirs and Choral Reflections: Insights from American Choral Conductor-Teacher, respectively. A Lifetime member of the ACDA, Dr. Packwood is a past president of Southern Region of ACDA and Southern Representative for the National Collegiate Choral Organization. His choral series and compositions are published with Santa Barbara Music Publishing, MusicSpoke, and Gentry Publications.

2023 ALL-STATE REGISTRATION AND AUDITION DATES

August 14 - September 4: All-State registration for students open ($25 application fee).

September 5 - September 11: Late registration for All-State available ($50 application fee).

September 11 @ 11:59 p.m. CST: Registration closed, no more applications accepted.

September 21 @12:00 p.m. - September 23 @ 11:59 p.m. CST: Website portal opens and closes for choral audition uploads.

October 16 @ 8:00 a.m. CST: All-State selections announced.

2023 ALL-STATE CHORUS REPERTOIRE

PLEASE NOTE: We are currently working with publishers to avoid minimum order requirements and get the best price possible for our members. We will inform the membership as soon as we have that information.

TITLE COMPOSER VOICE PARTS PUBLISHER
Laudate Jehovam omnes gentes (sung in Latin) Georg Philipp Telemann / arr. Erich Valentin SATB Baerenreiter-Verlag
I am Loved Christopher H. Harris SATB, divisi Hinshaw
Rytmus Ivan Hrusovsky SATB, divisi Santa Barbara
There Was A Time Elaine Hagenberg SATB, divisi Elaine Hagenberg Music
I Am Glad Daniel Schreiner SATB, divisi, soloist Santa Barbara
Sa Nuit D’Été Morten Lauridsen SATB, divisi Peer Music Classical
I'll Make the Difference Moses Hogan SATB, divisi, soloists Hal Leonard

 

2023 AUDITION MATERIALS

Please note that the arpeggio section has been reintroduced to the chorus audition and the sight-reading portion has been eliminated. If you have any questions, please contact Director of Choral Affairs Michaela Babic at [email protected]

NMEA will again utilize the services of OpusEvent to collect student auditions. Auditions will include:

  • Scales
  • Arpeggios
  • Excerpts from the All-State Chorus music (which will be made available on the NMEA website when the chorus audition window opens on OpusEvent)

All available audition materials are listed below.

1. All-State Scales

Scales should be performed without accompaniment. Only the tonic pitch will be sounded 4 times in tempo. 

  • Soprano and Tenor: F major ascending and descending one time only a cappella
  • Alto and Bass: B flat major ascending and descending one time only a cappella

2. All-State Arpeggios

Arpeggios should be performed with chordal accompaniment only. The tonic pitch will be sounded 4 times in tempo. Download this Scale Sheet PDF for further instructions.

  • Soprano and Tenor: E flat major one time only with underlying chords provided
  • Alto and Bass: C major one time only with underlying chords provided

The rehearsal tracks for scales and arpeggios can be downloaded by clicking the links below. 

Soprano/Tenor Scales & Arpeggios
Alto/Bass Scales & Arpeggios

3. All-State Chorus Music Excerpts (available on the NMEA website when the chorus audition window opens on OpusEvent)

REHEARSAL TRACKS

Rehearsal tracks for the 2023 All-State Chorus are now available for purchase. NMEA is partnering with Choral Tracks again to provide rehearsal tracks for S1, S2, A1, A2, T1, T2, B1, and B2 at the cost of $14 each. Click the link below to purchase the tracks through the Choral Tracks website.

Purchase Rehearsal Tracks

Questions about rehearsal tracks can be sent to the Executive Director at [email protected]

Teachers and students are reminded that rehearsal tracks are intended for sale to single, individual students. NMEA asks teachers to be on the honor system and not purchase a set (a "set" is one of each voice part) and distribute them to multiple students. Anyone making an individual order is asked to not share their purchased MP3s with anyone else.