2025 Nebraska All-State Jazz Band

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ALL-STATE JAZZ BAND CONDUCTOR BIO

Dr. Eric Richards – composer, arranger, conductor, trombonist, and educator – is active in a wide range of musical media. His works have been heard worldwide in performances and recordings by numerous ensembles, including the U.S. Army Field Band and Jazz Ambassadors, USAF Airmen of Note, University of Northern Colorado Jazz Lab Band I, Oregon Jazz Ensemble (University of Oregon), National Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops Orchestra, Dallas Wind Symphony, Millikin University Wind Ensemble, A La Carte Brass and Percussion, Tommy Lepson and the Lazy Boys, and Sunrise String Quartet.

Eric is a regularly commissioned composer and arranger. Recent commissions include pieces for the USAF Heritage of America Band, UNC Jazz Lab Band I, UNC/Greeley Jazz Festival All-Star Big Band, Southeast Asia Symphonic Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, Hall High School Concert Jazz Band (West Hartford, CT), the Government of Thailand, and the Aiken Community Band (Aiken, SC).

Eric Richards is the Director of Bands and Jazz Studies at Sheridan College where he serves as Music Director of the SC Symphony Band, Jazz Ensemble, Jazztet, Concert Brass Ensemble, Trombone Choir, and teaches applied brass, composition, History of Jazz, Keyboard Theory, Music Fundamentals. He also serves as the Music Director and Lead Trombone of the Whitney Center Jazz Orchestra, Sheridan College’s professional big band-in-residence.

From 2008 – 2015, he served as tenured Associate Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies in the Glenn Korff School of Music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he led the Composition Program. At UNL, he mentored first-year through doctoral students in applied composition (classical and jazz/vernacular styles), and organized and led the award-winning UNL Jazz Orchestra “2.0”, an innovative 21st Century jazz ensemble combining traditional big band instrumentation with strings, horn, and percussion. He is the recipient of the 2012 Distinguished Teaching Award in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at UNL. Eric has led the Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming All State High School Jazz Ensembles as well as the Southern California Honor Jazz All-Stars in concert performance at the 2018 NAMM Convention in Anaheim.

His work as an educator is energized by his professional practice as a widely performed composer/arranger, conductor, and instrumentalist. Eric’s music has been heard on six continents in performances and recordings in major concert venues across North and South America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and India.

2025 ALL-STATE JAZZ BAND REPERTOIRE

2025 ALL-STATE REGISTRATION & AUDITION DATES

All High School instrumental directors have from September 17 at 8:00 AM CST until 11:59 PM CST on September 27 to make sure your students’ auditions have been submitted correctly. These deadlines will not be extended for any reason. Auditions must be completed in the timeframe approved by the NMEA board. No students will be allowed to submit an audition for All-State once the published closing date has passed because of illness or any other unforeseen events. Please make sure you follow all of the guidelines in this manual to help you and your students be successful.

AUDITIONS MANUAL

Click the link below to view the 2025 Auditions Manual for ALL high school All-State ensembles. You can use the Table of Contents to jump to any specific area in the manual. Please read through this document carefully as it contains important information, including All-State eligibility requirements and other policies, contact information, step-by-step instructions on how to navigate Festival Scores, and more! 

All-State Auditions Manual (ALL ENSEMBLES)

2025 AUDITION MATERIALS

NMEA will utilize the services of Festival Scores to collect student auditions. Auditions will include:

• Scales Set A
• Etudes Set A

*Special note for Drummers: ALL drummers will submit the auxiliary percussion audition excerpt instead of having a separate audition auxiliary percussion. the judge will select a primary drum set player who will mostly play drum kit and possibly some auxiliary percussion, and a secondary drum set player who will mostly play auxiliary percussion and some drum it.

The following audition materials for the 2025 All-State Jazz Band are broken down by instrument. Click each link to download the audition materials. 

VIBRAPHONE

TRUMPET

TENOR TROMBONE

BASS TROMBONE

PIANO

GUITAR

DRUM KIT & AUX PERCUSSION

BASS (ACOUSTIC OR ELECTRIC)

BARI SAX

TENOR SAX

ALTO SAX