What is ILMEA District 7 Senior Orchestra, and what is ILMEA All-State Orchestra?

ILMEA District 7 Orchestra is an audition based orchestra that is made up from students from all over District 7. It is representative of the best auditions from around the district.
Students from this group are also eligible to participate in the ILMEA All-State Orchestra, which is made up from the best players from each district throughout Illinois. The ILMEA All-State Orchestra performs at the Illinois Music Education Conference every January. Students will be notified if they qualify for ILMEA All-State Orchestra after the audition process is complete.

  • What are the important dates for ILMEA?

Auditions are Tuesday, October 3rd at Rolling Meadows High School. Maine District 207 will be providing bus transportation for those students who are auditioning. If you play well enough to qualify for the District 7 Senior Orchestra, you will be notified of the date and location of the District 7 Senior Orchestra rehearsals and concert.

  • Who should audition?

Students who love playing their instrument, and love performing with other high-level musicians should audition! Private lessons are a huge help for auditions like this. If you haven’t considered lessons, try them out this summer, and use the audition excerpts as the music to learn in your lessons.

How do I audition?
Instructions on how to register will be given in class during the first week of school.
Over the summer, simply prepare your audition excerpts, scales, and practice sight reading.

1. Download and practice Beethoven Excerpts:
Beethoven Excerpts - EVERYONE DOWNLOAD
File Size: 311 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
2. Download and Practice the "Supplemental" excerpts:
Violin Excerpts
File Size: 3088 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Viola Excerpts
File Size: 981 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Cello Excerpts
File Size: 1460 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
Bass Excerpts
File Size: 794 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
3. Download the following scale sheet, and practice the following scales:
  • C, G, D, A, E, F, and Bb Major
  • c and g melodic minor
  • Violin-Viola-Cello: Three Octaves
    String Bass: Two Octaves
  • Quarter Note = 120
  • Detached Bowing

Scale Sheets for Orchestra
File Size: 379 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
4. Practice Sight Reading. The files below are the sight-reading examples from previous years. They will not be the sight-reading used for this fall's audition.
district_sight-reading_fall_2015.pdf
File Size: 25 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File
district_sight-reading_2016.pdf
File Size: 25 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File