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6A Area A 2020


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I’m glad Tascosa moved down, they were having to drive 200 miles round trip minimum for all their away games, Frenship in Lubbock was the closest 6A and then the Permian basin schools and Abilene.

 

I’m excited about there being 3 potential advancers, this contest had the top 3 separated by 1 ordinal last time, Permian tied the 2nd place band in prelims and finals but lost the tie breaker and didn’t get to advance. As stated above, all 15 of these bands get 1s very consistently, so we should probably have 3 advance. The makeup here has changed a lot over the years with the Keller/Fort Worth schools getting removed, then the zones experiment in 2014, and the resurgence of Permian as a state contender. El Paso Coronado has a job listing on TMEA for head director so that’ll mix things up. Eastlake is coming off a strong season, they’ll do very well visually. Pebble Hills is stronger every year, they’ll do really well. Permian has been pretty consistent over the last 4 seasons, though their finish in Duncanville this fall has me excited for what they could do next year. Montwood, Frenship, Americas, etc. are all strong as well. Despite being only 15 bands, this should be fun to watch.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm a couple days late and that's my bad, things just kinda kept piling up and I lost track of the days of the week haha. This one may be more in depth than others because it happens to be the program I'm most familiar with. Anyways, here's the first band! 

 

The first band I will be discussing is the biggest old-timer (thus the quote) in the state, the Abilene High School Eagle Band! Founded on October 15th, 1926, the Abilene band was the very first high school marching band founded in the state of Texas (however, unfortunately not the first Abilene High School band, the high school band from the city of the same name in Kansas has parade pictures dating back to 1925). 

 

Despite their very long time as a program, Abilene has not had a ton of success on the state level. They have qualified only twice, in 1982 and 1983 and since then have not qualified again. Their last appearance in area finals was in 2014, the last 6A year before the realignment that isolated west Texas from competitors like the Keller schools. In 2016, they ended up 10th in prelims, but due to the smaller area only 7 advanced to finals. Since then, they have gone through many staff changes (that I think have finally stabilized), leading up to the year that will go down in Abilene HS band history. 

 

Following another director change, a young director straight out of college took helm of the marching band in 2018. This season was full of challenges, including an uncharacteristically wet fall (yes, the Texas washout even made its way out to the desolate desert that is west Texas). A total of 16 outdoor rehearsals were rained out, putting the already rushed show design on even more of a time-crunch. This led to the new director having to fragment many parts of the closer and minimal time to field it before area on the third weekend of October. At region, they narrowly advanced scoring a 1 1 2 from the judges, but it was a well-deserved 1 given their circumstances. At area, Abilene received last from every judge, far below where they have placed in a while. The perseverance displayed by the members and staff of this program is truly admirable, and that was put on full display in 2019.

 

Abilene’s 2019 production immediately was off to a far stronger start. The design was far more sophisticated and modern than anything put on by the program in years, featuring faster drill moves, music with more creative-liberty in the arranging, and an increased level of choreography. The show was entitled “Once Upon a Dream” featuring music like “Sweet Dreams” by Eurythmics, “A Million Dreams” from The Greatest Showman, and “The Sound of Silence” by Simon and Garfunkel. They attended BOA Midland, their first BOA contest in the history of their school, where they placed a very respectable 15th place out of 24 bands. I was able to see the show in person at their region contest and I could tell that the kids enjoyed performing the show and felt a strong connection to it. To me it felt like them saying “last season does not define the Eagle Band, we still have dreams to move forward” and I fully expect that they will. In my way too early predictions, I see Abilene as a dark horse area finalist this year, especially at their rate of improvement. I also believe that the Eagle Band will make their long-awaited return to state this decade and could also see an appearance in BOA Midland finals.

 
And for the next hint: "I've found such a quantity of cows... that it is impossible to number them, for while I was journeying through these plains... there was not a day that I lost sight of them"
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