Top of the Nation High School Honor Band

Application Deadline – November 15, 2024

for all applications to be fully considered for membership in either the auditioned Symphonic Winds ensemble or the director-recommended Concert Winds ensemble.

• Audition Information
• Registration
  

  Recorded Audition Procedures and Information for Band Directors

  If submitting an audition for the Wind Symphony ensemble, please follow these guidelines:

  1. All auditions must be uploaded and submitted by November 15, 2024.
  2.  Recordings must be in one of the following formats:
     a. mp3
     b. mp4
     c. wav
     d. maximum file size is 10 MB (10,000KB)
  3. State clearly the student’s name, instrument and identify which portion of the audition material the student is performing (i.e. A-flat Major Scale, Excerpt #1, etc.) before each audition.
     a. EX: James Lind, Trumpet, A-Flat Major Scale
  4. Include the student’s name, instrument, and portion of audition material in the file name that you upload.
     a. EX: Trumpet_James_Lind_Major_Scale (preferably in this order)
  5. Record each student’s audition in a practice room, with a minimal amount of activity happening outside of the practice room to avoid “sound bleed”.
  6. Audition material should be recorded and uploaded in the following order:
     a. Major scale
     b. Harmonic minor scale
     c. Full range chromatic scale
     d. Excerpt 1
     e. Excerpt 2 (if a second excerpt is listed)
  7. Audition results will be emailed to directors by December 6, 2024. Music will be emailed to directors by December 13, 2024.

   

While there is NOT a fee for registration and submitting auditions, there is a $40 non-refundable fee for all students who are accepted to the festival.  Please check to make sure that all students are available during the dates of the Honor Band festival.  Payments must be received by Friday, January 31, 2025.  You may mail your payments to:

Adams State University
Music Department
c/o Dr. James Lind
208 Edgemont Blvd
Alamosa, CO 81101

Guest Conductor of the Symphonic Winds

Dr. Shannon Kitelinger

Shannon Kitelinger is Professor of Music and Director of Bands at San Diego State University (SDSU) where he oversees the university Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, and Concert Band as well as teaching courses in conducting, wind literature, and serving as the undergraduate music education advisor.

Dr. Kitelinger received a Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) and Master of Music degree in conducting from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. His primary conducting teachers include Eugene Migliaro Corporon, Dennis Fisher, and Jack Stamp.

Shannon has taught at the high school, middle school, elementary, and university levels, as well as serving as the assistant conductor for the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, a professional wind band based in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. During his time at SDSU, ensemble enrollment has tripled, and his groups have been featured at several local, state, and regional conferences. The bands at SDSU actively collaborate across the School of Music and Dance and are integrally involved in the music education curriculum. Dr. Kitelinger has worked as a guest conductor and clinician across the nation as well as receiving invitations to Europe and Japan.

Dr. Kitelinger has been a recording production assistant for the critically acclaimed GIA Windworks series, the Klavier Wind Project, the GIA Composer’s Collection, Naxos Wind Band Classics, and also the Teaching Music Through Performance in Band series. He is published in twelve volumes of Teaching Music Through Performance in Band as the author of teacher’s resource guides ranging from beginning to advanced repertoire.

Awards and honors include: Music Educator of the Year from the California Music Educator’s Association-Southern Border Section and IUP Young Alumni Achievement Award. Dr. Kitelinger’s professional memberships include: The College Band Directors National Association, Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, Tau Beta Sigma, and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Music Fraternity.

Shannon is grateful for the impact and inspiration that all his teachers and colleagues have had on his personal and professional life, including his wife, Jennifer, his daughters Alexis and Alyssa, and his family and friends.

Guest Conductor of the Concert Winds

Mr. Mike Mozingo

Mike Mozingo taught band for 38 years and retired from Lewis-Palmer School District where he taught for 27 years, including 5 years at Lewis-Palmer High School and 22 years at Lewis-Palmer Middle School. Mr. Mozingo received a Bachelor Degree in Music Education in 1978 from Lamar University in Beaumont, Texas and a Master Degree in Education from Lesley College of Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1999.

Bands under his direction have performed eight times at the Colorado Music Educator’s Clinic/Conference. He was honored as “Outstanding Band Master” by Kappa Chapter of Phi Beta Mu in 2012 and was recognized in School Band and Orchestra Magazine’s “50 Directors Who Make a Difference, Outstanding Music Educators” in 2014. In 2019 he was recognized by the National Band Association with a “Citation of Excellence”; in 2021 he received the CBA Hall of Fame Award and was inducted into the CMEA Hall of Fame in 2023. He performs with the Pueblo Symphony Orchestra, the Little London Winds, and the Monument Hill Brass Quintet and lives in Monument with his wife, Laurie.

In 2008 he took the LPHS Symphonic Band to INdianopolis to perform at the Music for All National Concert Band Festival.

He has been the clinician for multiple Honor Bands throughout Colorado, including:

• Boulder Valley-St. Vrain Schools Honor Band
• Douglas County Honor Band
• Pouder Schools Honor Band
• Pueblo All-City Honor Band
• Monte Vista Area Honor Band
• San Luis Valley Honor Band
• Widefield District 3 Honor Band
• Arkansas Valley Honor Band
• And many others

He served as Secretary/Treasurer for the Phi Beta Mu International Bandmasters Fraternity Kappa Chapter from 1999 until 2019 and remains on the Kappa Chapter Board at this time.

He was the CMEA District 5 Instrumental Representative from 1998 until 2003.

He has adjudicated Concert Band festivals for Colorado Bandmasters Regional Festivals, CHSAA Large Group festivals and New Mexico State Concert Contest.