Hastings Honor Band and Choir
The Hastings College Honor Band and Choir are the longest-running high school music honor ensembles sponsored by a college in Nebraska — and features some of the best high school musical talent throughout the region!
The 63rd Annual Honor Band and 55th Annual Honor Choir will be held January 17-18, 2027, at Hastings College! Student check-in begins at 3:00 p.m., Sunday, January 17, and the concert is 5:30 p.m. in Kiewit Gymnasium on Monday, January 18. The concert is free and open to the public.
Auditions are due Tuesday, December 1, 2026. Scroll down for details.
Audition materials are submitted through a Google form (requires sign-in), with one form per student audition.
Music teachers: You can complete the form on behalf of your student, but note we require student name, email, address, graduation year and birth date in order to keep data organized in our system. Thank you!
- Band and Choir accepts students in grades 10-12
- Audition deadline is Tuesday, December 1, 2026
- Honor band and choir auditions can also be used as a Hastings College scholarship audition
Directors for each ensemble are noted below.
Housing/Places to Stay
Congratulations to all students who were accepted to Hastings College Honor Band and Choir! If you are looking for a hotel in Hastings, here are our recommendations.
Questions? Contact Dr. Miggi Angangco at miggi.angangco@hastings.edu or 402.461.7371.
Honor Band
He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Trombone Performance and the Bachelor of Music Education degree from Hastings College, where he was the institution’s Theodore Presser Scholar in 2006. He earned a Master of Music degree in Trombone Performance from the University of Utah, where he was a graduate teaching assistant for Utah Bands and served as a guest conductor with the acclaimed University of Utah Wind Ensemble. Dobbins holds a Doctor of Education in Music Education degree from the University of Georgia Hugh Hodgson School of Music.
Dobbins is active as a conductor, clinician and adjudicator. In addition to his academic conducting engagements, he is active as a guest conductor, conducting numerous performances of honor bands, music festivals and academic and community ensembles in the U.S. and abroad. A strong advocate for new music, he has been part of more than 60 world premier performances since 2011. You can view his full bio here.
Honor Band Audition Guidelines
Wind and Brass students are asked to record the following:
- Selected portions of a prepared solo or etude (preferably showing contrasting styles),
- Chromatic scale (two octaves when possible).
Percussionists — see the tab below.
Students are encouraged to audition on more than one percussion option.
Percussion Audition Guidelines
Percussion auditions should include at least two of the following:
1) Concert Snare Drum Etude or Solo
- Recommended collections include: Peters, Cirone, and Delécluse.
2) Rudimental Etude or Solo (Snare or Tenors)
- Recommended collections include: Freytag, Keown, Pratt, Wilcoxon, and Tompkins.
3) Keyboard (Marimba, Vibraphone, Xylophone, or Glockenspiel; 2- or 4- mallet; memorization is preferred).
- Recommended composers include: Zivkovic, Goldenberg, Koshinski, Green, J.S. Bach, Davila, Abe, Peters, or Stout.
4) Timpani
- Recommended collections include: Lepak, Vic Firth, Goodman, and Carroll.
5) Hand Percussion (e.g., West African, Brazilian, Cuban, Middle-Eastern) • Recommended collections include: Sampaio, Keita, Spiro, and Velez.
6) Drumset (unaccompanied solo, solo w/track, or demonstration of 3-4 styles)
- Recommended collections include: Houllif and Thompson.
The following links have excellent tips for preparing to have a successful college audition:
- Todd Meehan (Liquidrum)
- Will James
Honor Choir
The honor choir will be led by Dr. Raoul Carlo (Miggi) F. Angangco, assistant professor of music and director of choral activities at Hastings College.
Dr. Raoul Carlo F. Angangco, also known as Miggi, is a Filipino choral conductor, sopranist and composer-arranger. He holds a Doctor of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
He directed the IU All-Campus Chorus and University Chorale, and was assistant conductor for the GRAMMY-nominated Singing Hoosiers, the award-winning contemporary vocal ensemble NOTUS, and the treble ensembles Pro Cantare and Voces Caelestes. He was also assistant chorus master for productions of Verdi’s Falstaff, Lehár’s The Merry Widow and the world premiere of Shulamit Ran’s Anne Frank. Miggi’s full bio.
Honor Choir Audition Guidelines
Pre-recording preparation: Before recording your audition, be sure your recording device is positioned in such a way that it results in a clear, authentic representation of you and your singing. You must be fully visible in the video, as if you were singing in front of a live audition panel. It is recommended to wear comfortable yet presentable attire.
1. At the start of your recording, please introduce yourself by completely stating the following:
- Your name (first and last)
- Your high school
- Your expected year of graduation
- Your voice part (SI, SII, AI, AII, TI, TII, BI, BII)
2. Demonstrate your vocal range.
- Upper Limit: Starting in the middle of your range, sing major triad arpeggios (1-3-5-3-1) on an open vowel “ah”. Modulate upward by half steps until the upper limit of your range is reached.
- Lower Limit: Then, go back to starting in the middle of your range and sing descending 5-note major scales (5-4-3-2-1) on an open vowel “ah”. Modulate downward by half steps until the lower limit of your range is reached.
- Apart from the upper and lower limits of the vocal range, good intonation and tone quality will also be listened for in this exercise.
- It is highly recommended (but not required) to be accompanied by a pianist for this vocal range exercise.
3. Sing your prepared vocal solo.
- Prepare a full vocal solo (of approximately 2-5 minutes) that best showcases your vocal ability, musicianship, and expressivity. Your selection will preferably be from the classical art song tradition, in any language. Selections from musical theater repertoire would also be acceptable.
- Before singing, state the title and composer of the song you will be performing. (Ex. “I will be singing ____________ by ____________.”)
- It is highly recommended (but not required) to be accompanied by a pianist for this vocal range exercise. Pre-recorded accompaniment is also permissible, for as long as the track is a minus-one (i.e. the track is only instrumental and no vocal part is heard in it).
Video submission: You may submit your audition recording as a video file upload, or as a YouTube link (be sure the video privacy setting is Unlisted or Public, NOT Private).
We look forward to hearing your audition!