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2012 Area D 5A Marching Contest


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Im suprised about Cedar Ridge (and RR of course), I really thought that they would be advancing to State... This really shakes things up for San Antonio. Not that it has a direct reltionship to poor scores in BOA, but I wonder how bands like RR are going to take this defeat, are they going to give up or have an amazing week of rehearsals...

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Im suprised about Cedar Ridge (and RR of course), I really thought that they would be advancing to State... This really shakes things up for San Antonio. Not that it has a direct reltionship to poor scores in BOA, but I wonder how bands like RR are going to take this defeat, are they going to give up or have an amazing week of rehearsals...

 

 

 

Round Rock will use this as motivation for BOA, believe me.

Edited by scoobydoo
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Im suprised about Cedar Ridge (and RR of course), I really thought that they would be advancing to State... This really shakes things up for San Antonio. Not that it has a direct reltionship to poor scores in BOA, but I wonder how bands like RR are going to take this defeat, are they going to give up or have an amazing week of rehearsals...

 

 

 

Round Rock will use this as motivation for BOA, believe me.

 

 

I hope cedar ridge does the same. I don't understand what the judges saw - there seemed to be some serious inconsistencies with tonight.

 

I'm new to this, but I really seem to prefer BOA judging.

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As an alum I'm disappointed Anderson didn't get another shot at state, and pretty shocked that they didn't even make finals. However, this is a very different area than it was 2 years ago. 3 of the finalists weren't even competing last time around, 2 of which are advancing.

 

Interesting to see that Churchill once again did not get a State spot. RR losing out seems odd as they seemed to be doing better than ever this year. Going first is the likely culprit.

 

I didn't see Anderson here, but IMO they don't sound quite as good as they did last time around. Less blend and more intonation issues. I haven't seen a lot but that was my assessment from Westlake. Their show seems more BOA oriented this year, which may have hurt them.

 

I haven't seen Bowie but they sounded STUNNING last year. I will be very, very surprised if they don't medal this year at State. They keep getting better every year which is incredible considering how good they are already.

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Anderson's prelims performance was well done, but lacked the energy it took to make finals in such a tough area.

 

Cedar Ridge was also very strong in finals and they very likely could have advanced out of some areas. They really turned it on in finals and jumping two places in finals into an alternate spot in one of the toughest areas in their third year of existence and after 9th place in 4A Area D last year is not a bad accomplishment whatsoever.

 

Bowie was very much so in a class of their own. Reagan's finals performance was considerably more clean than their prelims, which at times I thought would keep them out. Johnson is tackling tough music and a tough visual package and handling it extraordinarily. Westlake's show was both fun and impeccably clean. All four bands should have a great chance at state finals.

 

Props to Hendrickson and Lake Travis for successfully making the jump from 4A to 5A for the first time each! Especially with Hendrickson's miss of state last year for the first time in how long?

 

It was an awesome day in Round Rock for sure! Tons of great bands and Area D will be very well represented at state.

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Bands advancing to state: 1st - Bowie HS. 2nd - CTJ. 3rd - Ronald Reagan HS. 4th - Westlake HS. 5th - Lake Travis HS 6th - Hendrickson HS

Alternate: Westwood HS

 

Westwood actually for 6th during prelims.

They kind of appeared out of nowhere to, considering they placed 25th out of 27 at BOA regional last year and barely advanced to finals in 5A Area D competition. They didn't show up in usual competitions that they do this year, like Westlake competition, Vista Ridge competition, Texas Classical Marching competition, or BOA.

 

Bowie was just WOW. They did extremely well as usual.

 

The fact that Anderson, Round Rock, and Pflugerville didn't advance to finals was really surprising, they are really great bands. Round Rock did have bad luck in the weather and the draw for the performance. I would not like marching at freezing cold weather.

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I saw the last few bands of prelims and all of finals, and WOW! What a great showing of talent from central Texas. I remember being in high school and stressing so much over contest results. Now that I'm a few years out I realize how trivial and unimportant the rankings of a contest are. All of the bands should be proud of their product regardless of how they placed. That being said...

 

Here are my unapologetic rankings from finals haha.

1. Bowie

2. Westlake

3. C.T. Johnson

4. Ronald Regan

5. Westwood

6. Hendrickson

7. Cedar Ridge

8. Lake Travis

9. Churchill

10. Judson

 

Rankings may be trivial and unimportant, but it's still a lot of fun to play God.

 

Bowie was just "on another planet" good haha. I appreciated the small portions of The Planets suite rather than just playing it the whole time like so many bands have done before. They have a huge sound like always and had some great dynamic contrasts. The drill was clean although they are so huge it was information overload at times - almost impossible to see the whole picture at once. Very uniform marching fundamentals.

 

Westlake exceeded my expectations, and I already knew they would be great. They definitely had the hardest music of the night and they pulled it off. Great balance, great tone quality. The fast runs in Festive Overture at the beginning had some timing issues but thats my only music complaint from the whole show. Scottish Dances was a lot of fun and THOSE TRUMPET SOLOS! He deserved his own advancing slot to state. Individual marching was not as strong, fundamentals suffered on large step sizes. Their show concept was the best executed of the night. The choreography on the stair steps was very effective. This show is a perfect example of a UIL-BOA hybrid.

 

This was my first time to see Johnson and I loved it! There were a couple of moments when I thought I was listening to a drum corps. HUGE sounds. Their color guard threw down... 15+ girls tossing solid 5s in unison? That doesn't happen on the marching field very often. The tree props were beautiful but I think they could have utilized them more.

 

I saw Regan in prelims and finals and I thought they stepped up their game for finals. Intonation was a lot better in finals than in prelims, particularly in the solos and the dissonant trumpet quartet. The battle of the clarinets was a lot of fun. The plume changes were impressive and flawless. Actually, all the visuals were executed very well. Some slight spacing issues on free forms.

 

I didn't see Westwood in prelims and I have to admit, I was very surprised to hear that they made finals. But MAN was I wrong. There drill was easier than some other shows but it was so clean! Lots of really neat ripple effects. Their sound is very balanced from bottom to top, but there were a few times where the brass' tone got a little edgy. What great music arranging! I never would have thought you could combine Sheherezade with Alanis Morissette and Led Zepplin, but it worked so well!

 

Hendrickson's drill has cleaned up a lot since I last saw them two weeks ago. Individual marching is very uniform. They do some difficult pass-through drill and they execute it well. Color guard is pretty clean. The bassoon ensemble had some intonation problems, but what else do you expect from bassoons in 50 degree weather? After the bomb detonated they played Salvation is Created and it was a great moment. Their music was not very demanding and had some tuning issues, but they have great tone quality. If they can get their music a little stronger I think this show could do well at BOA San Antonio. Mad props for making it to 5A state for the first time.

 

I loved Cedar Ridge's show even though the friends I was with didn't haha. I really liked their pre-show, they made the bird theme evident from the beginning. They did fine with free forms, but their lines and block forms were kinda messy. All of their visuals were executed very well and fit the show concept. They have a very full sound and play in tune. I love it when a brand new program hits the ground running like this one, congratulations!

 

I love old movies and the 1920's era in general, so Lake Travis grabbed me from the beginning. However, I felt like their show concept only lasted about half way through the show. By the end I was on the verge of boredom. The sax solo was impressive. Their sound is very balanced and beautiful, almost sounding like a concert band at times. However, it was on the conservative side and lacked any "WOW" musical moments. Free forms had a LOT of spacing issues. Congrats on making 5A state for the first time!

 

When I saw those venus fly traps enter the field with Churchill I was really hoping for a Little Shop of Horrors show haha. But they didn't do very much with those fancy props. I've watched some videos of them and I don't think this was there best musical run. Not trying to be rude, but can we talk about A440 for a minute? Yes I get that it was cold, but there were way too many intonation issues. It was distracting. Straight-leg marching technique was executed well. I really liked when the guard tangled the band at the end.

 

Really cool to see the Judson band make a come-back. The teepee rotation drill at the beginning set a great tone for the show, but I think it would have served better as a pre-show. Because of this they went over a minute of their performance time without playing at all AND they ended their show with 30 seconds to spare... seemed like a bit of a cop-out. There drill was clean but there music was probably the easiest of the night. Lots of good solos with only minor intonation issues. Great drumline - I remember a bass line lick that was pretty sick.

 

Pretty sure I sound like a condescending snob right now, but really, I thought all of the bands in finals were great. As for the mad surprises of who wasn't in finals... I durrnurr. Like I said earlier, the placements of these contests is not a big deal. My message to those students who are upset about not making finals: 2 years after you graduate, you won't care at all and will only remember the good times of high school band.

 

It's late and I spent way too long on this. Good night.

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Area D Finals Results....

Bowie - 1, 2, 1, 1, 1

CTJ - 4, 4, 2, 7, 2

Reagan - 2, 3, 3, 3, 9

Westlake - 3, 1, 8, 5, 3

Lake Travis - 5, 5, 7, 2, 6

Hendrickson - 7, 6, 4, 8, 4

Westwood - 6, 7, 6, 4, 7

Cedar Ridge - 9, 8, 5, 6, 8

Churchill - 8, 10, 9, 9, 5

Judson - 10, 9, 10, 10, 10

The first 3 numbers are Music, the last 2 are Marching

Edited by bksatx
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Area D Finals Results....

Bowie - 1, 2, 1, 1, 1

CTJ - 4, 4, 2, 7, 2

Reagan - 2, 3, 3, 3, 9

Westlake - 3, 1, 8, 5, 3

Lake Travis - 5, 5, 7, 2, 6

Hendrickson - 7, 6, 4, 8, 4

Westwood - 6, 7, 6, 4, 7

Cedar Ridge - 9, 8, 5, 6, 8

Churchill - 8, 10, 9, 9, 5

Judson - 10, 9, 10, 10, 10

The first 3 numbers are Music, the last 2 are Marching

 

I was running the pit warm-up area at the contest, so I only got to see the last two bands (Bowie and Westlake).

 

Bowie definitely deserve their score, their show was great and well performed. But everyone knows that, it's already been said

 

For Westlake, it's absolutely insane that one judge could rank them 8th in music. Their music was insanely well performed, and insanely difficult. Honestly, I would have ranked them above Bowie in music.

Edited by drummerjoe
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Anybody get the chance to see Round Rock this morning? Trying to find out what went wrong, besides the obvious tuning issues...

 

Actually, there weren't many tuning issues. Round Rock got robbed. The show wasn't perfect, but was quite good. I didn't see any perfect shows all day. It was very cold, very windy, and despite this they performed very well. They were a victim of a sliding standard so well known in UIL area and state competitions. It's tragic, but a fact of life in Texas. With BOA scoring, the result would likely have been much different. Going against 2 of the bands making the state cut at the Westlake contest, Round Rock beat them convincingly. In fact, they took every award and caption available. Neither of them even came in second. In fact, they were 5th and 8th.

 

I heard at least 5, maybe 6, bands in the finals that did not perform as well as Round Rock in the prelims. That's too bad for these kids, but I hope they know they didn't fail. The system failed them!

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Here's the direct links to the results:

 

Prelims

 

Finals

 

It's pretty insane how close it was between Johnson, Reagan, and Westlake in finals. Same thing with Hendrickson and Westwood. I think that's just the result of having so many high quality bands in this area.

 

Man, it's just a shame about Round Rock, and Anderson too. I thought they, RR in particular, were total locks for finals and state. I have a feeling they'll place ahead of a lot of bands at BOA SA though, especially after Anderson's success at the BOA St. Louis Super Regional.

Edited by OCPantherSnare
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Did any one find it odd that one judge was from San antoino judging San Antonio bands... Oddly enough all San Antoino bands made finals. Does UIL not have a "conflict of interest" rule.... Not being snarky ...just serious wondering.

 

Well, not ALL the bands from San Antonio made the finals. Madison, MacArthur, Lee, Wagner, and East Central are all from San Antonio, and there are a few more from the greater San Antonio area, and they did not make finals. Reagan and Churchill are fantastic bands who have a long legacy of excellence, and Johnson is definitely following in their stead and is likely to build a legacy in the coming years that is just as storied as the other two NEISD powerhouses. Those three bands are definitely finals quality.

 

Now, as far as Judson, their inclusion in finals was a bit of a surprise for me. I haven't ever seen them live or in person, but going off past year's results, I didn't expect them to make finals. However, they could have really stepped up their game from previous years.

 

Anyways, I'm pretty sure that this wasn't a "conflict of interest" sort of thing. I really think this just showcases the disparity in judging between the Westlake Marching Festival and UIL.

Edited by OCPantherSnare
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