By Dana Hess
For the S.D. NewsMedia Association
PIERRE — The South Dakota High School Activities Association is looking for some direction from the state’s high school band directors about how to change the procedures for conducting auditions for All-State Band.
After a lengthy discussion at its meeting Wednesday, June 12, SDHSAA board members voted to convene a meeting of SDHSAA staff and high school band directors to find some common ground.
The current procedure calls for the association to use the state airplane to fly judges to audition locations across the state for two weekends in January. The judges are driven to the audition site on the third weekend. If inclement weather grounds the plane or forces a school hosting auditions to close, students record their auditions.
Recorded auditions are traditionally used when students try out for All-State Jazz Band. Some high school band directors have been hesitant about using recorded auditions for All-State Band because they believe it’s best for have students perform live for the judges.
Kimberly Carda, the band director for Roncalli High School in Aberdeen, told the board that live auditions give the students a “real world, life experience.”
According to SDHSAA Executive Director Dan Swartos, inclement weather has played havoc with auditions the past two years. Two years ago, after two weekends of live auditions, bad weather caused students on the third weekend to send in recorded auditions. This year weather was bad on the first weekend, so all students sent in recorded auditions.
“It’s not a good situation,” Swartos said. “To get three straight weekends of good weather in South Dakota is a crap shoot.”
SDHSAA Assistant Executive Director Brooks Bowman, who handles fine arts activities for the association, said the main concerns are keeping students safe during inclement weather, missed class time for students and band directors and the inequity of holding auditions over three weekends, essentially giving some students one or two more weeks of practice before their auditions.
Bowman offered the board two options to consider. One option was video-recording all auditions. All auditions would need to be turned in to the association office by Jan. 25, 2025. Band directors would ensure that students met all the audition requirements. SDHSAA would develop and distribute guidelines for making recordings.
According to the report Bowman gave the board, that option handles concerns about safety and inclement weather, lost class time and the inequity of some students having longer to prepare for their auditions. His report does note the concern that not all schools may have adequate recording equipment and that the option would create more work for some band directors.
Currently audition judges are paid a flat fee of $1,500. Bowman suggested changing that fee to $10 per audition. With approximately 650 auditions that cost would be $6,500 annually.
The second option Bowman gave the board was for live recordings of all auditions on Jan. 25, 2025. The chairs of the eight music regions would be tasked with selecting host sites, scheduling audition times and hiring proctors to do the recordings.
In the second option, Bowman proposed purchasing video recorders for each region as well as two SD cards for each recording device. This would result in one-time costs to the association of $9,500 for recorders and $1,520 for SD cards. Bowman estimates that hiring proctors would cost $4,600 per year as well as the $6,500 cost for hiring judges. Region chairs would be paid $200 each.
While weather could still play a factor, Bowman’s report said the second option addresses the equity of having all students make their recordings on the same day. There could be concerns about mechanical or technical issues with the recorders.
Swartos said that the association is more concerned with safety and equity than it is with costs. Currently the association budgets $25,000 for All-State Band auditions. Because of the inclement weather this January, the association spent about $7,000 on the auditions. Bowman said about $1,000 of that amount came from hotel rooms that he could not cancel.
Asked by the board which option he preferred, Bowman chose the first. “If we do recorded auditions, we don’t have to worry about kids traveling in bad weather,” Bowman said.
A vote to accept the first option resulted in a 4-4 tie with one board member missing. Four band directors were in the audience. When asked to pick their favorite option, that vote resulted in a 2-2 tie.
On a 7-1 vote, the board decided to have SDHSAA staff and high school band directors meet to work out a solution. The board will make a decision about how to conduct All-State Band auditions at a special meeting in late August or early September.
