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BOA San Antonio Finals Results


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with how kids in Texas bands these days are sloppier and care less than back in the old days, I don't see how they could even be capable of creating something clean enough to break the old record--even a band as clean as Marcus...especially under the 8-hour rule (which I can't recall whether or not it existed yet in 1993).

 

 

I don't know which Texas bands you've seen rehearsing every day, but the ones I've seen are no where near sloppy. Our school district sends several high schools to these competitions and I've seen all of them rehearsing. They are among the most dedicated and hard working group of kids anywhere in Texas or any other state. It's not the 8 hour rule that is the restriction. It's what you put into those 8 hours.

 

"Old Days"??? You're a kid yourself. The old days were back in the 70's when marching was straight lines marching up and down the field. If you put a design in your performance, you were considered quite the rebel. We stood in the shap of a locomotive and played Chattanooga Choo-Choo. The audiences loved it, but other bands thought it was silly.

 

Marching band has evolved and continues to evolve every year. Every new band director that takes on their job comes with new ideas. How long has the head band director been in place at the "top tier" schools? Some for many years and some for only a few. The evolution continues.

 

You can't compare today's scores to the scores of old. Performances evolve, judges evolve, and ultimately scores evolve.

 

My congratulations to all the bands that competed yesterday. They all deserve accolades for the hard work that goes into reaching this level. Band kids at most schools do not get the recognition they should from their peers. That is usually given to athletes that do well. Those of us who are involved in the fine arts should continue to build up those programs and perhaps not spend so much time arguing among ourselves over things that will become irrelevent is a very short time.

 

Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it, and my opinion is we need to say more good things about the band programs we like and a little less bad things about the ones we don't.

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Question about Bell...is that little girl a high school student, and if no, can a person not attending your school participate in your show?

 

Good question. I was walking with Sanchez to the other side of the Alamodome after Prelims when we saw the little girl in yellow. She was so tiny! The effect she brings to the show is so creepy. I'm never having children, haha.

 

All participants in the show must be students. Bands of America defines the word "student" as:

 

A person currently enrolled in a high school or a lower grade school, as well as home-schooled

children from the school’s geographic district enrolled in band subject to state law and/or school

policy.

 

You don't necessarily have to be in high school to perform. As long as the kid lives in the District and the participating high school follows school and State policy, it's all good.

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I'm pretty sure Bell stole my innocence.. Lux was beautiful though.. Way to go to all competing bands!

 

Awesome!

 

At the contest, I told people that I would describe TRANSCENDents as a show that would rip out your soul and then show it to you just before you die.

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I'm hoping i don't step on anyones toes with this just I was hoping Bell would win this one because i enjoyed their show alot more then marcus's.

 

I was sooo crazy and happy when ever i saw marcus go on the field just their show lacked something ... so it didnt really interest me as much...

 

But when ever i saw bell it sent chills through my body the whole time and i loved it... I'm not biast or anything and i'm hoping i spelt that right just one had better effect then the other in my opinion.. but thats just my opinion out of millions ..

 

and don't you love how bell went right after marcus :)? It was look good vs. Evil

 

Hopefully i didn't offend anyone and if i did just tell me and ill take down my post

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Is anyone else confused as to how Marcus got the visual caption?

 

At first, I questioned it. After replaying what I saw, my speculation was that Visual Performance was probably the closest caption of the night, possibly dediced by no more than .6. I felt they deserved it.

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I don't know which Texas bands you've seen rehearsing every day, but the ones I've seen are no where near sloppy. Our school district sends several high schools to these competitions and I've seen all of them rehearsing. They are among the most dedicated and hard working group of kids anywhere in Texas or any other state. It's not the 8 hour rule that is the restriction. It's what you put into those 8 hours.

 

My intent is not not to discredit the hard work of our state's kids (I can use 'our' now bc I'm no longer one of them). The kids of Texas are more dedicated than kids from any other state, this is why we can do so well even though we rehearse much less...but if you compare the level of discipline now with the level that existed 15-30 years ago....you'd know kids these days as a whole care less about excellence, care less about structure and tradition than ever before.

 

You can't compare today's scores to the scores of old. Performances evolve, judges evolve, and ultimately scores evolve.

 

More like they 'devolve'. As bands as a whole get sloppier they lower the standards to keep the scores high. The same way they dumbed down the SAT because too many kids were failing it and they wanted to raise the pass rate which had been slipping in recent years at that time. Kids these days don't study as much as they used to and teachers spend more time trying to invent new fun ways of presentation to get their kids into the material than they do actually TEACHING. I think this has trickled into the fine arts as well....though I'm not going to go as far to say that directors implemented design concepts purely to cover the increasing precision flaws of their bands? Of course I won't.....

 

Marching band has evolved and continues to evolve every year. Every new band director that takes on their job comes with new ideas. How long has the head band director been in place at the "top tier" schools? Some for many years and some for only a few. The evolution continues.

 

Shows have definitely evolved over the years. They're more about design now than about precision and quality. A band that's not perfect but has an incredible show concept, like Cypress Falls, can beat bands who are the epitome of perfection but are boring to watch, like Duncanville. The Duncanville kids don't take to show concept and visuals--that's their philosophy.....but who strived for perfection? Duncanville...but they were still defeated by Cy Falls at the Sam Houston festival. The ethics of this is always up in debate as the scoring philosophies of today's judges are challenged.

 

My congratulations to all the bands that competed yesterday. They all deserve accolades for the hard work that goes into reaching this level. Band kids at most schools do not get the recognition they should from their peers. That is usually given to athletes that do well. Those of us who are involved in the fine arts should continue to build up those programs and perhaps not spend so much time arguing among ourselves over things that will become irrelevent is a very short time.

 

Such is not the case with DCI and even more mainstream entertainment venues.....like the NFL. Just like with the Super Bowl, all that transpired will be almost entirely irrelevant within a few short years.....do football fans go on about how we should care less about the game and the teams and more about the hard work and dedication of the players who beat out thousands of other players to make the teams they are on today? No....leave that to the players and team managers to worry about how they got there and where they are going.

 

Marching band and Drum Corps contains many different kinds of supporters....kids, who want to do the best they can and make their experience memorable, parents who want to encourage their children to be the best they can be, Staff who have the responsibilities of their position to worry about, but also care about the kids and want them to do well, because they were likely once in the same position, and then you have enthusiasts much like myself who watch the sport for its entertainment value.....it's a hobby; the scores, the predictions, getting to watch all different kinds of productions of art. I was once a competitor myself so I can appreciate the work that goes into these productions. So you shouldn't generalize the activity into just "those who are involved in fine arts".....there's another niche in the activity that appreciates it for its entertainment value, like Football and thus treats it as such. I care about the kids....but I also care about the scores and rankings. I understand the frivolity of it all, but it's still a hobby.

 

Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it, and my opinion is we need to say more good things about the band programs we like and a little less bad things about the ones we don't.

 

I agree....'course personally I don't have any programs I don't like so that doesn't affect me much ^_^. I'm looking forward to seeing as many great shows as I can from this season.....Knowing the hard work that went into it just makes them that much more fun to watch.

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My intent is not not to discredit the hard work of our state's kids (I can use 'our' now bc I'm no longer one of them). The kids of Texas are more dedicated than kids from any other state, this is why we can do so well even though we rehearse much less...but if you compare the level of discipline now with the level that existed 15-30 years ago....you'd know kids these days as a whole care less about excellence, care less about structure and tradition than ever before.

 

 

You should really try to generalize less in your posts. Were you alive 15-30 years ago?

 

The kids of today are being asked to do a lot more than they were back then. Sure this might be cause for some dirt in shows but I would by no means call it "sloppy."

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Is anyone else confused as to how Marcus got the visual caption?

 

Not completely. Marcus was on fire last night and that included the absolute exactness in their drill. Sure it wasn't hard drill at all, but it was EXTREMELY well done and the individual effort put out by each member was amazing. Bell also had a great performance of their hard (in the first half) drill, but it was pretty clear that the prelims run was much better. There were some significant visual ensemble and individual issues in the ballad which I think contributed to what I bet was the very small difference in Visual scores. I personally had Bell on top in Visual, but I can understand Marcus.

 

I am betting that Visual was very nearly a tie, GE was quite close, and that a large amount of the 1.4 point difference came from the Music caption.

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More like they 'devolve'. As bands as a whole get sloppier they lower the standards to keep the scores high. The same way they dumbed down the SAT because too many kids were failing it and they wanted to raise the pass rate which had been slipping in recent years at that time. Kids these days don't study as much as they used to and teachers spend more time trying to invent new fun ways of presentation to get their kids into the material than they do actually TEACHING. I think this has trickled into the fine arts as well....though I'm not going to go as far to say that directors implemented design concepts purely to cover the increasing precision flaws of their bands? Of course I won't.....

 

blame it on TAKS..

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LD Bell's show had tons of people asking what Pan's Labyrinth was about, so they could understand the girl and the yellow cloaked figures.

Just like last year, their show gave me the "creeps" but in a good way.

Marcus had another light and happy show that was well rounded in G.E. (our group 'ahhhh'ed when the flowers opened up and the band members were inside).

I personally liked LD Bell's show better, but I guess I can see how Marcus got the scores/captions they got.

 

I only got to see finals, so I don't know how these band performed in prelims, but congrats to them.

 

I was glad to be able to see Churchill's guard, which is absolutely phenomenal, every year.

I thoroughly enjoyed Brazoswood also, and was dissapointed to see them placed so low. Their last set made everyone in our band say, WE HAVE TO DO THAT ! lol.

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LD Bell's show had tons of people asking what Pan's Labyrinth was about, so they could understand the girl and the yellow cloaked figures.

 

I have not seen Pan's Labryinth, but I will probably rent it to see what the buzz is all about. I believe I will have an even greater appreciation for the show once I get a little more info on the backstory.

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While I agree with you for the most part, I wouldnt really consider this part of the season "early." This was most everyones last performance of the year

 

My mistake....You're right, I was thinking early in regards to Grand Nationals (and even then, I guess it wouldn't be appropriate to refer to SA as "early").....if Marcus were going to Grand Nationals there's a chance they would break the Nationals record....which I don't think should happen unless the band is clearly superior to the last record holder. That's what I was getting at.

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I just got back from the competition and I too have no affiliation with the bands tonight, but I too believe that the scores were a bit off. Just an opinion. I think the placements were ok, I think there could have been some flip flopping here and there...I also think the top 5 all marched better in Prelims than in Finals...but I guess we will have to see what the judges say about that. I think we (Texas) are very fortunate that we have a handful of strong groups going to GN. From what I saw tonight....The Woodlands, Bell and Reagan, all have a shot at the top five if they EXECUTE. I think Reagan was the most improved from Houston to SA, so you have to wonder if they are climbing the mountain and are striving to peak in two weeks.

 

Out of site, out of mind. Don't forget SFA! Many think that they could have a better show than The Woodlands, Reagan and even Bell.

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I have not seen Pan's Labryinth, but I will probably rent it to see what the buzz is all about. I believe I will have an even greater appreciation for the show once I get a little more info on the backstory.

 

It really is a great movie. I would suggest watching it as soon as you can. It'll really clear up the whole story behind the little girl and the end of the show in particular.

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"Shows have definitely evolved over the years. They're more about design now than about precision and quality. A band that's not perfect but has an incredible show concept, like Cypress Falls, can beat bands who are the epitome of perfection but are boring to watch, like Duncanville. The Duncanville kids don't take to show concept and visuals--that's their philosophy.....but who strived for perfection? Duncanville...but they were still defeated by Cy Falls at the Sam Houston festival. The ethics of this is always up in debate as the scoring philosophies of today's judges are challenged."

 

Well they didnt have GE... what did you expect. They beat Cy in a caption or two I think...Not for sure on that though.

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