FIND YOUR NEXT OPPORTUNITY

Honor Bands & Programs

Explore honor ensembles, auditions, assessments, and important deadlines.

Music organizations

Find your next music opportunity

PLAY WITH A SELECTED ENSEMBLE

What is an honor band?

An honor band brings selected students from different schools together to rehearse and perform. A district, region, state association, or university may organize it. Selection can involve an audition, a director’s nomination, or both; honor choirs and orchestras work similarly.

What you can gain: experience with new conductors, challenging repertoire, feedback, musical friends, and a record of an earned selection for your résumé. Participation can help you prepare for future auditions and explore a college campus. It does not automatically earn college admission or a scholarship.

LEARN OVER A FEW DAYS OR WEEKS

Camps & summer programs

Music camps may offer ensembles, lessons, jazz, composition, production, leadership, or instrument-specific study. Day campers commute; residential campers stay overnight. Some programs admit all eligible students and use auditions only for seating. Others select students before acceptance.

What you can gain: focused practice, faculty coaching, performances, new skills, and a taste of college life. Look for financial aid, commuter options, and instrument requirements before comparing prices.

PERFORM, PREPARE & GET FEEDBACK

Auditions, festivals & assessments

An audition is a selection or placement step—not the festival itself. Festivals may include performances, clinics, or workshops. Assessments usually let a soloist or ensemble perform for adjudicators and receive feedback; some also award ratings.

What you can gain: a clear preparation goal, performance experience, and feedback to guide your next practice steps. Your school director may need to enter you or your ensemble.

EXPLORE YOUR NEXT STEP

College visits & music pathways

Open houses, trial classes, ensemble visits, masterclasses, and pre-college programs let you explore a school before applying. Audio production and sound design can be relevant even if you do not want a performance degree.

Before applying: check grade and residency rules, nomination or audition requirements, every deadline, fees, aid, housing, and travel. A campus visit or camp is separate from a university admission application. Dates marked tentative or not confirmed need another check with the organizer.

Start here: choose a state, then a location and event type. Open Show events to compare listings from the same organizer. Each listing links to its source and shows the date it was checked. You can also ask OpenScores to help you find a match.

Choose an area yourself. We never ask for your home address or device location.

Area filters include the cities within a district. School membership and eligibility still follow the organizer’s rules.

On a phone, choose Explore map to pan and zoom. Choose Done to scroll the page again. Pins show event cities or general regions, never your location. Association pins represent states, not event venues.

Explore opportunities

Published dates

Programs · dates pending

Dates can change. Check the official organizer before registering or traveling. Listings are curated, not a live feed; costs, exact venues, and eligibility are shown only when confirmed. Program-specific opportunities have been researched across all 50 states. Published dates are listed separately from programs whose next dates are not confirmed. This is a curated directory, not every music event in the country.

Official state music associations →