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2019 BOA San Antonio


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I don’t think it’s a matter of peaking. BOA San Antonio is so much more difficult than Grand Nats. They should really rename it Grand Nats San Antonio. If Carmel and Avon came down to TX for this contest there would be different results than Grand Nats.

I agree with this statement. With Grand nats basically being the same week as UIL state and a week later than BOASA now, its hard to make a case that bands performing at Grand nationals are all that much better than they were a week before at Boa San Antonio, given how hectic their schedules are. 

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Simply performing the show in competition so many times over the course of a week or two helps them improve, even if there isnt much time for actual practices.

 

Peaking in any performance art is a real thing. The more professional you are you can extend your period of improvement, but there comes a point where your excitement and energy for the show are so intense that they cant be genuinely reproduced again. So it is the goal of bands that go to GNats to reach their maximum intensity at the last performance that matters most. This is why so many big groups save big surprises for GNats.

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Simply performing the show in competition so many times over the course of a week or two helps them improve, even if there isnt much time for actual practices.

 

Peaking in any performance art is a real thing. The more professional you are you can extend your period of improvement, but there comes a point where your excitement and energy for the show are so intense that they cant be genuinely reproduced again. So it is the goal of bands that go to GNats to reach their maximum intensity at the last performance that matters most. This is why so many big groups save big surprises for GNats.

That is definitely true as well. Im sure those kids at Prosper this year were much more confident with their show after their stellar performances at BOASA and 6A state this year. 

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With bands missing finals in San Antonio but making it in Indy becoming more common now, I wonder if we will ever see a band miss finals at a regular season regional and go on to make finals in Indy. 

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Don't underestimate the amount of practice time available in Indy during Grand Nationals. It is indoors in the convention center (although some may go to other local venues), and many of the out of town bands utilize the available rooms heavily. In other words, the bands get plenty of practice time during the 3 or 4 days they are there. Some of that available time is during the "academic school day" on Thursday and Friday as well, so there are some twists and turns with the 8 hour rule for TX bands, since that only applies outside the "academic school day".

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With bands missing finals in San Antonio but making it in Indy becoming more common now, I wonder if we will ever see a band miss finals at a regular season regional and go on to make finals in Indy. 

 

Austin regional is looking like it might be there soon. Specifically in 2017, Westwood got 11th at the regional and proceeded to place 6th at St. Louis and 19th at San Antonio (just behind Round Rock, who did make finals). Even more of note in STL prelims, Westwood placed 4th (ahead of Owasso and Grain Valley) and even beat Blue Springs in music. Looking further in depth, had Westwood attended they would've most likely not made it considering Round Rock was also the last group to make it into finals, but I would confidently say that they would've been in the top 16. 

 

Taking a look at who missed finals these past 2 years, we have Pflugerville, Carroll, and Westwood at Austin. Pflugerville is working their way up and Carroll kinda came out of no where and didn't ever have surprising results again the rest of the season. Westwood is the only group who's performed at a near-GN finals level in recent years, so I'd say that would've been the most likely to have made it in 2018.

At DFW, Coppell was less than a half of a point behind 10th and 1.5 points ahead of 12th and considering their 18th place finish at SA (same as Round Rock in 2017) they would've had a solid shot this year. They also tied for 10th in 2017, making them an 11th place finalist. It's a shame they decided to drop for 2019, but I could easily see them medaling at STL so that is exciting. In 2017, Pflugerville placed 12th, just .15 behind Coppell and Timber Creek.

For Houston, we had Stephen F. Austin and Pearland just out of finals. SFA has a history of making finals at Grand Nats and while they may have dropped out of that level in recent years, they're on their way back up and as I've heard might be planning on returning in 2020. Pearland was 12th in both 2017 and 2018, and based off of their 2017 SA results, it's safe to say they would've been in finals had they attended. I'm not including JET in the mix from 2017 because they rose up and made finals in 2018, and they tend to have stronger early seasons anyways, but who says they'll be that way forever. 

 

All in all, I could see this become a reality with the rate the activity is continuing to grow in Texas. We are at a point in Texas' density of competition where I could confidently say that the top 35ish bands would make top 25 at Grand Nats easily and all of those groups would contend for finals with a few years of improvement, bar the SA top 20 who I'd say are already all safe bets if not locks. 

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My mistake! I meant Bedford. Prosper came 9th in prelims, but finals was cancelled

 

Gotcha, I was really confused for a second lmao. But I agree, Prosper placing 9th and making Grand Nats finals (and placing as high as 7th in semis) is a great example of the relative competitiveness of Texas regionals against out of state.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Westlake (Utah) looks like it will be making the trip out here this fall. I pass by the school on my way to work every day. I dont know much about the band except that they are growing and improving. The school is in a rapidly growing area (think almost as fast growing as Frisco, but just not as big yet) so there is lots of turnover. I think it is splitting off into a new school in 2020.

 

Also apparently their assitant director did their student teaching at Keller? I don't know anything about it but thats pretty cool.

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Westlake (Utah) looks like it will be making the trip out here this fall. I pass by the school on my way to work every day. I dont know much about the band except that they are growing and improving. The school is in a rapidly growing area (think almost as fast growing as Frisco, but just not as big yet) so there is lots of turnover. I think it is splitting off into a new school in 2020.

 

Also apparently their assitant director did their student teaching at Keller? I don't know anything about it but thats pretty cool.

.

 

I saw that in the MFA forum. I am excited to see more out of state bands coming to the dome!

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Westlake (Utah) looks like it will be making the trip out here this fall. I pass by the school on my way to work every day. I dont know much about the band except that they are growing and improving. The school is in a rapidly growing area (think almost as fast growing as Frisco, but just not as big yet) so there is lots of turnover. I think it is splitting off into a new school in 2020.

 

Also apparently their assitant director did their student teaching at Keller? I don't know anything about it but thats pretty cool.

That’s awesome! I’ve got family and friends who’s kids go there. I’ll have to see if any are traveling with the band.

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Westlake (Utah) looks like it will be making the trip out here this fall. I pass by the school on my way to work every day. I dont know much about the band except that they are growing and improving. The school is in a rapidly growing area (think almost as fast growing as Frisco, but just not as big yet) so there is lots of turnover. I think it is splitting off into a new school in 2020.

 

Also apparently their assitant director did their student teaching at Keller? I don't know anything about it but thats pretty cool.

I really ought to do more research before I post. Westlake is splitting this coming fall, not 2020. And the director who has experience at Keller is at another school in the same district, Skyridge. See the MFA forums for people who actually know what they arr talking about haha
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