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Rouse, Wylie East and HP we’re definitely the top 3, all with spectacular preformences!!! BC and friendswood were also amazing and could see all 5 in finals

Round Rock 2021 > Round Rock 2019. Be ready for seven more performances from them.

Everyone say it with me, bands can have different performances between prelims and finals. Bands can also have different levels of improvement between contests. You are not guaranteed anything based on your past performances, and it would be stupid if you were. If you cannot comprehend basics about marching band, you should not be complaining. There a thousand different factors to a performance, and everyone needs be on top of their game as in districts like this only your best performance can get you in.

I'm sorry, but I cannot see Seven Lakes or Pearland beating any Austin area band this year. Pearland got lucky in 2019 in beating out Cedar Ridge and Westwood. That certainly won't happen again. Cedar Ridge, Round Rock and Westwood are just NOW PEAKING. This hasn't happened...ever. They are united and out for blood. I never in a million years would I have thought this would be possible. But you bet that RRISD having 3 bands at State this year has brought these three programs together. That being said, CTJ tweaked their show at Area..and I FREAKING LOVED IT. It's the first time that I'd rank it higher than Reagan. Austin area bands rock.

Go to the 2019 5a thread and look for yourself. Not my rule. Admin’s aim is to keep the advancing students from seeing their prelims placements and being demoralized. This is why UIL keeps them under wraps until after the competition. I think we can put aside our vanity as spectators and just wait 24 hours so the students have their best shot at a great performance.

Friendly reminder: If you somehow get a picture of the prelim score sheets by the end of today, don’t post them on here until after finals are done tomorrow.

I'm so proud of Southlake Carroll. When I was freshman just four years ago, making finals at Area or BOA was a longshot, and now they've qualified for state with a 3rd place finish in the most competitive area in Texas. I saw a video of the drum majors' reaction and it shows just how much this means to this them. It's tough to see so many great bands not advance, but to see my school's name listed above such storied programs like LD Bell and Duncanville is unbelievable.

I'm sure seeing the bands via high cam at BOA San Antonio will change some minds, especially as we move from the outdoors to the indoors, but as of right now, my opinions for the top haven't changed from what they were around October 1st. I usually stick with my first impressions, so I guess that isn't unusual. I could still be spectacularly wrong! The things I like about the very top groups, I still like about the top groups. The things that gave me a little bit of pause are still giving me pause, although maybe a little bit less now, as the performances have improved. Overall, super impressive stuff, given the myriad challenges of this season. To keep the discussion going: Vandegrift, I mean, whoever did their set design this year deserves a raise. We've seen letters on the field before, but these ones quite literally pop out of the ground. The white letters create such a great contrast with the beautiful red trench coats from the dance team, who move superbly well. That opening piano solo, that sense of yearning, followed by the arpeggiated triplet figure in the front ensemble, to that punchy opening statement from the full band. What a marvelous moment! When Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture starts up, my interest dwindles a tiny bit, but I think that's just because I've heard that piece so many times before. There's something old-timey about it. (Well, it was written in the 1800s, so there's that.) But if that piece is too old-fashioned for you, then you won't mind the ballad, which is Christina Perri's "Jar of Hearts". Another big musical moment for Vandegrift. One criticism I will make: when you have the band spread out across the field so often like this, and there's so much going on at once, it can be a little difficult to know where to look. Also, it makes everything look like a BIG visual moment, when maybe you'd be better served by a smaller visual moment. It also makes the drill harder to clean. But overall, a very elegant and engaging show this year. Somebody on a different thread mentioned mise-en-scène, which is a term from theatre/film criticism that refers to the arrangement of all the elements on a stage or within the frame of a movie. I found it an inspired use of the term, and I'm going to borrow it to refer to what I love most about The Woodlands' show this year. Even just ignoring the movement from the "actors", the total elements on the field strike such an appealing balance, like a plate served up by a master chef. Consider the "proscenium arch" decorated with "lights" and those stages with the yellow and pink "spotlights" against the silver curtain backdrops-- just totally gorgeous set pieces, and the drill fits so nicely within all of it. Clarity, clarity, clarity. It's true that this band's cheerier, character-driven style is no longer as fresh as it was in 2019, but this more slowed-down version allows the big moments to really linger, like that electrifying interpretation of Cabaret's Maybe This Time. Such a brilliant arrangement of that piece, as well as the clever Cell Block Tango/Roxanne mash-up. The guard won't have any near-equals at this contest, and is performing like a top-half WGI World Class Finalist. The show falters a bit in terms of the variety of emotions it elicits and drill demand (at least until the final movement). The ending also feels very... frantic, afterthought-ish, tacked-on... but might not be that way anymore. Reagan has really carved out a niche for themselves these past few years. You've gotta respect a group that doesn't use the fancy set pieces that the other groups use and still manages to put out a fantastic, engaging product. Much of that credit goes to Aaron Guidry, whose musical arrangements are just so cool, so interesting (and so ballsy) every single time. I'll say it again, Reagan's 2005 music arrangement is my favorite of the entire marching arts. So many risks taken, and to great effect. Obviously, this is an arranger that loves that 80s sound, so Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" fits in perfectly. Their drill this year has really great clarity again. The kids look a lot better than they did in that very first video I saw. Spacing, alignment, the guard, all of it. I love the opening with that tree trunk and the mixture of guard and band kids up in the "leaves." Lots of rather ramose drill sets this year in Reagan's show, probably to reflect the branching paths. As I've said before, I wasn't a big fan of the excessively symmetrical drill design of their previous years' shows, but they've seemed to really improve that, which they didn't have any incentive to do given their high visual scores, but it's nice to see anyway. While I find this show well-rounded, I do wish the designers had struck a slightly different tone or look for the show. Some moments, like the big hit of the ballad, seem a bit borrowed from 2019's program. And overall I don't feel like this show would be that out-of-place if it were performed in the early 2000s. But hey, for some people, that's a great thing. The golden age of Reagan! Claudia Taylor Johnson caused such a splash on these forums when that first video dropped. It's not hard to see why. Their show this year makes every other show look like child's play. They're flying around the field, like with jet-packs or something. Are they wearing jet-packs? I wouldn't doubt it. The kids at CTJ are absolutely unbelievable performers, and I love that their staff trusts them enough to give them such intense, simultaneous (!) responsibilities. But I'd be lying if I didn't sort of expect this level of demand from CTJ. They were my first place band going into this season, because the level of demand from their COVID show last year was much closer to the demand of one of their normal shows compared to the other bands in UIL Finals. So, I just knew that CTJ would probably be challenging themselves this year in a way that was simply impossible for the other groups to do and not look foolish. And CTJ delivered, for sure! The show is called Opposites Attract, so we get a lot of opposing music, opposing moods, dueling pianos, dueling banjos, etc. They do a really good job this year communicating their theme, which is something they might have struggled with a little more in 2018, for example. (The ships and the sailors and the clams and the AMERICA!) CTJ's great strength in the effect caption, besides the incredible performances, is the sheer variety of the music they play. Eclecticism is their thing, maybe to a fault at times, when it borders on kitchen-sink. There is some significant dirt in this show, both musically and visually, and there's one part in the show where the momentum seems to halt, but again, you have to acknowledge the significant challenges this show imposes on the performers. I've touched on Hebron's show a little bit already. Just absolutely tremendous musicianship. Pretty much every year I'm reminded of their 2017 show, which literally brought tears to my eyes. How often does that happen for me? Just about never. Too much of a perfectionist. But that year, I was so blown away by the playing. Such warmth, such technique, such phrasing, such control, even when playing above the tessitura of a piece. And the irony is that I wasn't jumping up and down about Hebron's 2017 show at BOA Dallas that year. It took seeing it at San Antonio for me to go, "Wow!" with tears in my eyes. Could that be what happens this year? Well, I won't be seeing any of the shows in-person, so there's that, but I'm hopeful that I'll get to hear the same level of execution and emotion through my computer speakers. (Don't fail me, Box5!) Visually, as I mentioned, Hebron's show has some set pieces that are just sort of... there. They get moved around a little bit, and change a little during the ballad, but I'm not sure they're really even necessary for this show. Yeah, the title of the show is Penstriped, so I guess the pens make sense from that perspective. But I really feel like if you're going to have something like that on the field, you have to make sure it actually elevates the program.

In regards to Dawson, I don’t normally get heated about results but to think that a bands season was cut short due to 1 judge’s decision to put them at the bottom of the barrel, while none of the other judges felt close to the bottom (one even saying they were at the very top) I think it is absolutely awful. I am not trying to take anything away from these bands (advancing to state or not) but it seems like UIL is. Area E has a history of poor ethics and overall unfair competitions, From Friendswood 2017 and Ridge Point 2021’s hard work being completely disregarded by a technicality resulting in a 2nd division rating over something the kids had no control over (even though all three judges from both situations awarded the bands with unanimous superior ratings), to the allowance of a judge (formally a director of bands at a school participating in the contest and who lives in the area) to give a band a 9th place vote when EVERY OTHER JUDGE GAVE THEM 1st place (Clements 2018) resulting in the band of which that judge formerly directed placing first. This year takes the cake however, the absolute chaos represented in the scores from Saturday potentially degraded 19/23 bands through the obvious biases and vastly different standards of excellence in the judging panel. We saw numbers like 1&13 given to a band using the same rubric (Clear Falls), also a band who won the visual caption in prelims barely making it into finals (Austin), to the worst case which was in finals where a band who has been consistently making state, sometimes even finals, was cheated out of their state performance by 1 ordinal point (Dawson). I am disappointed in UIL because kids should not be set up poorly like this, Congratulations to all of the bands who advanced, including my favorite, Brook, but even more Congratulations to the programs who didn’t and still are holding their heads high. p.s. don’t even think I didn’t notice the weird shadows in the draw order, that’s a whole other thread.

I think it’s pretty common practice for the 6a finals hopefuls to spend that extra day between BOA and state in San Antonio rehearsing and letting their students do class work. that’s the case for a lot of DFW area groups at least

I don't see why not, results wise they've been having a solid year, on top of the fact that they typically peak late. Placed above bowie in Austin, and were competitive with the bands in area D. Personally I see them making it this year if they have a solid run

Rouse and BC both made so much sound for smaller bands. Really shocking

Another student from Dawson here. Thank you for the overwhelming support about our situation with Area. We are all very upset, but are still looking towards our performance at BOA San Antonio. And a good thing to note is we are not the only band experiencing this. LD Bell, James E. Taylor, Cy-Fair, and Prosper are just some of the highly competitive bands that didn’t make state alongside us. Overall, thank you for the support for our band. Reading these forums has lifted some of our spirits and motivated us to push through.

Hello, I am a student at Dawson. I think I can safely say most of, if not all of us, are deeply upset with the scores. After reading this thread, all I can say is THANK YOU for all the support. On behalf of the Dawson Eagle Band, it really means a lot to all of us that we aren’t alone in this.

Yes Summit! Even if that was the last competitive run of the season, you've done a tremendous job pushing this program to it's highest heights! Congrats on a great season. I know all of us alums are super happy for you!

Ummmm…sooo are we not gonna talk about westwood going to state??😂

Hebron is my pick right now to win state. Flower Mound won area C by one point, but they were neck and neck with Hebron who won prelims also by one point. I think Hebron's show is tailor made to succeed at UIL though, with the insane music book and execution they have. It's about time they finally win given how incredible their program is.

I would be very, very cautious about using UIL Area scores or placements as a barometer for how this contest will play out. Historically, UIL Area hasn't been super useful for predicting BOA, or even for predicting UIL State. I guess you could argue that UIL's system has become more content-oriented, like BOA, but clearly that did little to fix the sloppiness of the judging. (Exhibit A: Area B! Anybody want a 1-1-12?) That being said, there are some things that caught my attention about this weekend's scores, for various reasons. First of all, I feel a little bit vindicated in the CTJ versus Reagan match-up. Going into the Texas Marching Classic, I accurately predicted Vandegrift would win that contest, along with the way the captions were awarded, but I would have had CTJ ahead of Reagan on the strength of music performance. CTJ did, in fact, end up ahead of Reagan in music performance at the TMC, but it wasn't enough to overcome Reagan in effect or visual performance. Reagan's 4-4-4 in music and 1-1 in visual at UIL Area is actually closer to what I would have expected. I don't think Reagan is bad musically or anything like that; I've just thought that they could use some work in that area all season (along with pretty much all the other bands). Now, am I convinced this is how it's going to play out at San Antonio? No. Vista Ridge ahead of Vandegrift at Area H was really the only big surprise for me, mainly because Vandegrift's show is a little bit more old-fashioned and also better performed than Vista's, based on the most recently available videos. Vandy's show seems right up UIL's alley. I'm wondering if this is a case of the new content-related criteria boosting a group, because Vista's show is definitely the more difficult of the two shows. Overall, although I won't read too much into the result, it does give me at least a tiny bit of confidence in predicting Vista for the top half of finals at BOA SA, with some real potential to crash the top 5. Hebron and Flower Mound are closer than I think most people are assuming. UIL Area results showed this, but so did BOA Dallas results. Flower Mound topped Hebron by only about one half of a point. In fact, more judges had Hebron in 1st place at BOA Dallas finals than those who had Flower Mound in 1st place. I think Hebron is a much bigger threat for the top at this contest than people think, especially on the strength of their music, but their visual program also got a perfectly fine score at BOA Dallas, so visual concerns may be a little overblown. The Woodlands getting 1st place from every judge at UIL Area prelims is a bit of a nothingburger for me. Yes, they excelled despite UIL's wonky judging, but as fine as the groups in Area F are, TWHS had absolutely no competition -- even less than they did at BOA Conroe. I still think they're a threat for the top here, but San Antonio is the first time this season they'll encounter any sort of challenge. And performing after CTJ in prelims is oh-so-unfortunate for any group! Cedar Park got a massive 93.6 at Waco. Warranted? I don't know, but it makes me think CP will be able to break the top 7 here, which apparently will be filled with 95+ scores, unless BOA tones it down a little. It's okay. I don't mind it.

Leander sounds soooo good! Such a beautiful ensemble sound and great dynamics! They make the softs sound just as important as the louds. I love the interplay between the horn soloist and woodwinds in the ballad - it just shimmers! And holy tuba low note! I felt that note down to my toes!

LEANDER OMG!!!! That was amazing!!!! This show has come so far, and they rocked it!!!

CP and Hendrickson both were great! I just love those rotating X's the woodwinds do in CP's show while playing all those notes. It's incredible. Hendrickson is not even the same band that I saw at BOA Austin - what a great trajectory of improvement since the beginning of the season - wow!

Don’t underestimate Round Rock, they are famous for recovering “up hill”, and they are a good example of being the “Ave Phoenix”

Yes and it was amazing. I’m thinking top half for finals. Definitely a finalst

Just needs a bigger flag!!!

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the UIL doesn't like that info getting out until after the contest is done. I mean, there's a reason that they (and also BOA for that matter) don't post the full recaps until after finals is finished. Also, I think another reason is that they don't want to chance the finals judges from seeing those results and possibly allowing them to form an opinion before the first band of finals even takes the field. Whether that would actually happen, I don't know. But why even take that risk with so much on the line. I think we can just chill and wait an extra day before pouring over the results. And also, it just adds to the suspense of finals retreat.

We had photos of the sheet from Prelims of the 6A State contest at the end of the day in 2018 on here. Nobody died, nobody was harmed. It wasn't taken down. I don't see a problem.

I'm just so proud, of course I had to shed a few tears. Summit was awesome and I got to see my son on their way out and give him a little kiss. 😭❤️

Marcus always stays over from BOA to state. So they'll be okay. Besides, if anyone remembers Unwritten in 2019, they went first at like 7:30 at BOA SA on two hours sleep. They won the 4A prelims music caption--that performance was electrifying. There's just something about being the early band on the lot.

Dawson was amazing. They absolutely should be at state.

Never Underestimate Bands, you never know when another band might pull ahead. This is why I love marching contests, because you get to see how a band grows to prove themselves overtime.

I think there is zero chance Cedar Park doesn’t make finals here. Fight me. 🤪

Congrats Coppell! They are having such a strong season and hopefully we see them making SA finals as well. The more DFW rep, the better! So happy with how Keller's show is progressing. While I am biased, I think they well place higher than people expect. Seems like it will be a common occurrence for them to have 1 judge that disagrees with them and the other judges lol. Carroll making the jump to 3rd definitely surprised me, especially after seeing their prelims placement. Another band having a fantastic season and making state finals will make it even better. I'm still confused on what exactly their show is about but I don't mind the ambiguity. I do find myself spacing out here and there but maybe their show is hypnotizing me. I absolutely love listening to Waxahachie. They play so well and their ballad is one of my favorites of the season. And I believe they will be attending SASR for the first time? A little bummed that their first appearance is with a show that feels less BOA than recent years but I know they will still do well. Hearing LD Bell announced in 6th was bittersweet. Sad for Bell, but very exciting for TC. The kids and parents were so excited (including myself). And after the awards, the Keller and TC's drum majors were hugging and jumping up and down. It was the highlight of my night. This is my favorite TC show and I hope they can squeeze into finals this weekend. Very sad for LD Bell not advancing since they aren't attending SASR either. The ballad is easily my favorite part of their show. Beautiful soloist and the color guard with their yellow dresses. I find myself wanting a lot more from their music in most of the show and I hope they can pick themselves back up in the future. Lake Ridge has a very cute show based on Where the Wild Things Are. They were pretty close to taking that 5th spot in both prelims and finals. I think I heard a mom in prelims celebrating and saying that they are performing 2nd to last because they got 2nd in prelims. I hope they weren't let down after finals because Lake Ridge did amazing! I always have a lot of respect for Duncanville. A lot of their show music is from Crown 2016 and Crown 2014 so I enjoyed it a lot, but it was also a little hard to not compare them to Crown lol. After their placement at state in 2018, I sort of felt like we could be seeing them miss out on advancing eventually. Their prelims placement certainly made me think I was wrong. 3 KISD bands in finals always makes me happy! Great job KC for making area finals again. Their color guard was actually warming up in the tennis courts where I was playing before halftime on Friday. I wanted to ask to toss a rifle or flag lol. And their guard was on fire at area finals. Maybe we can see 3 KISD bands advancing to state one day. Lake Highland's opening hit was certainly a statement! They looked to be smallest of the finalist and then this huge hit came. Very fun show as all of them eventually went from red uniforms to blue. Their show title was "Ass1milated".

No one is going to talk about round rocks closer? It might be the most ambitious music I have ever heard them play

This makes me kind of wish that if BOA continues to add contests in Texas, they try to cater them to smaller bands. There are so many great 5A, 4A, and 3A bands that could be competitive in BOA but don't ever take the chance because the contests are flooded with 6A schools. I don't think it would be within MFA's mission to have an enrollment cap but one could imagine that would be cool.

Mansfield Legacy kid here to cheer on summit. So proud of what y’all have done not only for your school, but for MISD. Legacy will get there someday lol. Go jags!

Dawson's a very talented band that's been improving a lot the past several years but unfortunately I think the level of competition here is too high for them to make finals. There's absolutely no shame in that though, because this is easily the most competitive event of the year (except Grand Nationals this year might actually be tougher for once) and just making the top 30 at San Antonio is a notable accomplishment for any band.

bro alex y dont u follow the westwood band account smh

no worries - bigger flag ordered 🤪

Well I had just gotten into the dome, LoneStar was the only one I heard, didn’t hear cedar or hendrickson. But even if I had heard them, LS puts on a good performance, even early on in the season

This area contest was intense! Congratulations to all finalist bands, especially to Harlingen, Hanna, Edinburg North, and Alexander! Keeping the Area G title stored in Laredo!

For Waxahachie and Marcus - if they aren't getting to San Antonio the night before, thats a hellish logistical nightmare for the band. If the band truck is arriving at Alamodome at 6:30AM, subtract 5 (maybe more) hours from that for a reliable departure time from the Dallas area. Those kids will be exhausted before the contest even starts and thus won't be as well rested as some of their counterparts competing for finals. More importantly, all 3 bands are strong contenders for finals (or even locks in Marcus' case). The bands need to perform strongly enough to remain in the forefront of the judges' minds for the rest of Prelims. A judge may be more conservative in scoring a band at the very beginning of the day vs. later on - thus the bands who went earlier may get lower of a score than they would have if they had competed in a block closer to other potential finalist bands for a better judging comparison.

The first few performance times (generally anything within the first block) aren't preferred because judges tend to underscore the bands in those times in order to save room for later in the day. If a judge gives the first band a 95 out of 100, and then later in the day he thinks other bands performed better, he's only given himself a five point margin to score those bands, so they usually start pretty conservative with the scoring to give themselves leeway for later bands. In 2018, the Woodlands and Coppell, two excellent and historic programs with a lot of success, were the first two bands to perform at state. The Woodlands ended up placing 12th in prelims, the last band to make finals, while Coppell placed 15th. So bands generally want to avoid drawing those first block spots for that reason and the fact that it can be hard on the students to get up at 4 or 5 AM and get ready for a major performance.

I so darn agree with that! This band is not the same from past years.

Westwood is in the bottom half of SA finals for me. They really fought for that last qualifying spot yesterday and I expect them to keep fighting for the remainder of the season.

This may be the wackiest scores I’ve seen in quite some time

Some random predictions: Hebron will get 2nd 13th place will be a round rock isd band Leander ISD Will take the other two medals CTJ and Reagan will inexplicably place lower than everyone expects Some judge is going to give one band like close to dead last when every other judge has them in or just out of finals

this is going to be the most wild grand nats i think we will ever see. there will be potentially 5-10 bands that are going to be left out of finals that likely would've made it in any other year. plus i don't think anyone at this point right now can predict a top 10, everyone is just so close. i could not be more excited to see the developments in the next two weeks and for this competition.

I saw most of finals, and I have to say those are some wacky scores. Not much agreement on any band in any category. All the bands were great, but Im surprised by the results.

I believe Central won Area in 2012. But still an impressive record.

Woah is that actually true? That's very impressive. I know they were in the area with the schools out west for part of that but still!