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I thought it'd be cool to make a graph showing the 5A State bands' placement relative to their band sizes. Got the member numbers from the UIL program Some points of interest and outliers: -Of the Top 10 largest bands, only 6 made finals. -Of the Top 5 largest bands, 4 were in the top half of finals, with the other one (Lake Belton, 4th largest band) missing finals at 13th, making them the largest band outside of finals with 223 members -Cedar Park (5A Champ) was significantly larger than any other band here, ranking as the biggest group with 267, far ahead of Lonestar's 2nd rank with 225 members. -Roma was the smallest band in finals, tying for the 26th largest band (154 members) and placing 12th in the competition. -BC was the second smallest band in finals, ranking as the 25th largest band, squeaking ahead of Roma with 155 members. They placed 9th in the competition. -Argyle was not too much larger, ranking as the 21st largest band with 168 members and placed 7th in the competition. -Glenn placed impressively high (16th in the competition) considering they were the 3rd smallest (36th largest) band here. -The largest size difference between two bands that placed next to each other in competition was a 98 member difference between Lakeview Centennial, who placed 34th in competition and had 198 members, and Lopez ECHS, who placed 35th in competition and had only 100 members. Lopez ECHS was also notably the smallest band at the competition by 20 members (Liberty Hill was 2nd smallest), while LC was the 11th largest band. -Close behind this difference is Glenn and Pieper. Glenn placed 16th in competition, just ahead of Pieper in 17th. Glenn (36th largest), with only 1 member more than Liberty Hill, had only 121 performers. Pieper (Tied 7th largest) had 215, making it a 94-member difference for the two bands. -Other neighboring bands with gaps in member size that are worth noting are Argyle and Lonestar's difference of 57, College Station and Liberty Hill's difference of 70, and Lake Belton and Colleyville Heritage's difference of 63. NUMBERS ARE COOL!

Also Rouse in 2021. Relatively small band getting 2nd in state.

I have no idea what that means but now I can't wait to see this dirty laundry hanging all over the field!

USBands might actually be more indicative of what happens at BOA San Antonio this weekend than what happens at 6A UIL State. Mike Anderson, Wayne Dillon, and Mike Stone, who judged visual, music effect, and visual effect at USBands tonight, will be judging at BOA San Antonio this weekend. What captions they will be judging at BOA-SA remain a mystery, but this could be a good sign for Flower Mound (at least relative to Hebron) if any of these men are assigned the GE caption in finals. Of course, I don't know what the USBands sheets look like. They may be quite different from BOA's. I'm assuming there's decent overlap.

FINALS RESULTS 1st place, 92.90- Hebron 2nd place, 92.70- Flower Mound 3rd place, 91.10- Marcus 4th place, 90.20- Coppell 5th Place, 86.40- Duncanville 6th place, 86.00- Waxahachie 7th place, 85.70- Southlake Carroll 8th place, 82.70- Keller Central Best Music- Hebron Best Visual- Flower Mound Best Overall Effect- Flower Mound Best Percussion- Flower Mound Best Color Guard- Marcus

Class 3A Final Results 10th Hitchcock 9th Orange Grove 8th Holiday 7th C.H. Yoe 6th Clifton 5th Whitesboro 4th Raymondville 3rd Redwater 2nd Atlanta 1st Mineola

duncanville, WHAT A SHOW!!!! after area last night i was so excited to see it and i was definitely not disappointed!! so aesthetically pleasing, great guard and a sound that blew me away. also the mashup of come together and royals was so genius omg wonderful job

safe travels and good luck and skill to all!!! try to get some good sleeeep!!!

Really like how this contest just said “ahh screw it I know area is over but what if we just combine bands from Areas B, C, and J as a little appetizer before state and see what happens 😎”

On the bright side that's 4 stops at buc-ee's

As someone from Rockwall. I just wanted to say one thing in this forum about them. We killed it. We absolutely killed it this season. School history was made with this show and we will keep writing history until there’s nothing left to write. As a senior who had the same thing happen to her during her freshman year (one placement off from state) it’s a bittersweet full circle. I appreciate everything this band has done for each other, some of the best community I’ve been apart of, and I may just be a random guard member to everyone in my band but in reality I am so dedicated and so invested in how this band succeeds and I can’t wait to sit back, relax, and watch the next generation of our colorguard, band, and people grow. Jacket fight never dies. -The obnoxious guard captain

they look so clean this year! normally CS tries to push the limits and play super difficult stuff, but it seems like this year we toned it back and really focused on getting a clean show. I'm proud of my alma mater and how far we've come. just a few years ago we were a fully military style, so it's nice seeing us really settle in to the corps style

We are waking up early and traveling from the Houston area but staying the weekend for state on Monday. The original plan was to come back to Houston and leave again on Sunday.

Our bands earliest call time this year was 3:45 am, the morning after a football game. We usually do an hour visual rehearsal on the morning of a competition at the school before eating, dressing and inspection. This was for a 9:30 am performance time at a stadium about 30 minutes away. The kids rocked it though. Luckily our state performance time is late morning we drive up Sunday night and stay not too far away but we'll still get a practice in that morning somewhere.

WOW! Great job to all the bands today 🙏honestly Duncanville has been on there best lately don't yall think? And flower mound being so close too, I can't wait to see them competing this weekend!!

I saw the bands from beginning to end, and I will say that this was a great group to have the first ever world class event in DFW. In my opinion, AT&T has better acoustics for marching bands than the Alamodome. I think the Alamodome has much more reverb. Quick Note! Jeff Harper was one of the judges here tonight and (correct me if I’m wrong) will also be a music judge at the 6A State Marching Contest. This could be a different Jeff Harper, but how exciting he will see these bands AGAIN during their prelims performance. I think it could give them a slight edge in the prelims contest!

No Dayton, but it looks like they've signed up for the Tampa and Orlando regionals. Essentially, as you move up from A to Open to World, the skills become more advanced. Originally, A class was the beginner class in WGI, but now it's regarded as more of an intermediate class. That's why in the Texas Color Guard Circuit and other local circuits nationwide you've got a number of other types of A classes besides National A (like Regional A, AA, and regular ol' A) to accommodate units with more beginner-like skills. Actually, WGI has Regional A class at their regional competitions, just not at the World Championships. So then, the three WGI classes at Dayton are A - intermediate, Open - intermediate to advanced, and World - advanced to standard setting. The classes have quite similar scoring sheets and have the same judging captions (equipment, movement, design analysis, and general effect); it's just that the average model (paradigm) that you're compared against becomes more advanced as you climb up the classes, which means that a score in one class is not comparable to a score in a different class. A class scoring is interesting in particular, because WGI weights Excellence (execution) a bit more than Vocabulary (variety/range/depth of skills demonstrated). This is to encourage a solid technical foundation, and is not done in the higher classes. Guards can choose whatever class they want to compete in. They usually choose the one that they think best matches their skills and where they'll achieve some degree of success. It should be noted that if a guard is too advanced for their class, they're at risk of being reclassified by the WGI Steering Committee, which reviews videos of the top 2 guards in the A and Open classes at each WGI regional. (In Regional A, it's even possible for the chief judge at the regional to promote you to A class between prelims and finals!) It's not a perfect system, as we saw a couple years ago with Jordan HS, who was reclassified from A to Open and then didn't have "marked success" in Open, which typically means making semifinals at Dayton. (This year Jordan has returned to A, which will be interesting.) Technically, reclassification is different from a promotion, which is what happens at the very end of the WGI season, when the top 3 to 5 guards at the World Championships in the A and Open classes get automatically bumped up into a higher class for the next season.

Man what a season Duncanville is having. As an alumni I’m so happy for them.

They did not do a retreat due to lateness of the hour (thank goodness 😭) announcer announced scores over PA

AT&T stadium parking sucks!

i think with this post the “larger = always better” truthers can put it to rest. awesome post and very informative

Congratulations to all 5A bands across the state of Texas! This year was by far the best and most competitive I’ve ever seen. So many memorable shows and moments from this year, and thank you to all students, directors, and parents who have made this season possible. All of the bands here should be extremely proud of what they have achieved this season, these finalist bands define excellence. Special shoutout to LeanderISD for sweeping those medals, that is absolutely incredible with such a competitive competition, congrats. Also to Area B for having all 4 bands advance to finals, and FriscoISD for having 2 schools in the top 6. And last but not least, to Aledo, for coming back from not making finals last year to coming top 5 at state, amazing. To you students: whether you won the gold, or had your final run of your show in Prelims, be proud and don’t take for granted what a privilege it is to be a part of your program. All of you are wonderful and belong where you are. Thank you for such an incredible season. Can’t wait for what you have to bring next year!

Personal attacks on other posters and bands will not be tolerated. You have been warned. If you disagree with a placement or don't like a show, that's totally fine! Please find a respectful way to communicate that. Thank you.

I usually don´t mind early performance times, but man does it suck seeing those stands empty. Hopefully sachse gets a nice crowd!

I've seen our band do it both ways. Call time at the band hall as early as 3:30 AM for an out-of-town competition with an early performance time, or stay overnight, like our band did this past Sunday night for a (relatively) early call time for State Prelims on Monday morning. Staying overnight works better for the kids, I think, but it's definitely all about the budget. Like @Miyazuu pointed out, the District is more likely to pay for overnights for UIL.

Yeahh, BOA was a lil more tiring due to travel back and forth, it was our bill. We stayed overnight if it was State because the district pays for it, so finals day was a lot easier since we can sleep in but the prelims day was a bit longer.

There is one small revision to the schedule (Sandra Day O'Connor moves to end of block 1 on Friday at 12:00 and Veterans Memorial moves to 10:00) so I have revised the OP to include the changes. Good luck everyone!

absolutely. it was mind boggling to me seeing the difference in numbers between cedar park and them back in 2021 yet they were competing at the exact same level. glenn and liberty hill this year reminded me a lot of them back then as well

Very neat to have a marching band competition on a Wednesday evening with this really awesome lineup of bands. The show ran a bit late. All I could think was that this competition was not the well oiled machine that BOA is. Flower Mound was excellent. I love this show from them and the kids perform the snot out of it. Thought they won last night, personally. Hebron's music, as always, propels them to the top. I didn't think it was their best performance, but the show is cleaning up nicely. That closer is insane. We've heard Rocky Point on the field before, but it seems like they just grabbed the hardest sections of it and stuck it on the field. Somehow this show is even higher in difficulty than their past 3 years. These recaps have to be very, very interesting. How does FloMo win 3 captions and not win? I suppose Hebron must've been like .05 or .1 behind in each caption to still win by .2. But surely Hebron didn't crush FloMo by over a half point in just music. AT&T is an absolutely horrible stadium, so so so echoey. It's hard to hear any clarity since everything sounds like a one big warble. This sets up a wild SASR and SMBC. FloMo has been nipping at Hebron's heels this entire season and they could take over down in SA. Hebron needs to clean clean clean the next few days. Throw Vandergrift, Reagan, and TWHS and you have an absolute bloodbath for the gold medal and podium spots.

id beg to differ. ive seen endless complaints by people specifically in terms of area placements of judges preferring bands solely due to their size. burleson centennial, roma, glenn, liberty hill, and lopez are all prime examples of the opposite.

If larger ALWAYS equalled better then Lake Belton would be in and Roma would be out, and Glenn would not place above a band like Jack C Hays. Having a larger band helps but it does not always equal instant success. look at highland park in 2019 as well.

I haven’t seen them, but they are not useful. UIL judges use the numbers loosely just to be able to rank the bands. Some judges will take that number more seriously than others but you have no clue of each judge’s philosophy.

After winning the guard caption at the US Bands Southwestern Championship this week, Marcus shows us why they’re knocking on the door of World Class.

A very experienced panel! Looking quite TMC-ish, so hopefully those bands have availed themselves of the judges' original commentary. Actually, quite a few of these judges were on the Grand Nationals panel last year as well, which perhaps shows just how much this event is respected. May be a double-edged sword, however, depending on what you thought about the National Finals results last year and the gaps that opened up there... 😅 Also, how have your predictions changed? I'm genuinely curious.

Yes newcomers like Farmersville and Aubrey. They have never made it to state and they look pretty strong. They will definitely live up to their respective areas.

Congratulations to Mineola on 1st place!!! Tbh, I was a little shocked about Whitesboro, especially going from 1st to 5th in one season, but the top half was super competitive, and every placement was earned. Congratulations to everyone band who competed tonight, and congrats to all the 3A bands on ya'lls seasons!!

I promise you those Heath kids are not upset. They shouldn’t be at least because they have just made SCHOOL HISTORY! First time in Area Finals so I wouldn’t be upset if I were them.

lol having active student members on these threads definitely leads to interesting results😂

Ok, my last Area C 24 post, unless drawn back in! Any Waxahachi people here? My 6th grader daughter was worried about the young marcher that tripped, stumbled, and fell pushing a section of your city. My daughter audibly gasped and was worried about you. This girl bravely made it to standline? Stood with head held high despite clearly being upset and probably in pain. Finally hiding under a front ensemble piece until show over. Bless you, know that my daughter prayed for you and hopes your ok and ready for state.

I don't find it suspicious, but it's interesting. I guess it goes to show how much difference a different performance and different judge can make. I was surprised that the percussion were scored so low for prelims in comparison to their other rankings; I figured I must have missed a big hiccup. I'm not sure about the percussion, but the Aledo band as a whole had a significantly cleaner run in finals than in prelims. Overhearing discussion afterward, Aledo is THRILLED to have tied Wakeland. There has been some friendly rivalry there, but Wakeland has historically come out on top.

I get it, you're an Argyle fan. And they are good, no doubt. But you are making a lot of suppositions and including a lot of conjecture. Cedar Park has been doing this for a long time and they play with all of the really big boys in 6A and at Grand Nats, year in and year out. Rouse has been right there with them for the last few years and even they have been unable to unseat the king of 5A. Yes, Cedar Park's string will end at some point, but claiming with any level of certainty who will dethrone them is just silly. Maybe it will be Argyle, but I think it's MUCH more likely to be either Rouse or a promotion to 6A.

I will very happily eat my words about what I said about Leander earlier! Way to go and jump Wakeland! Of course congratulations to Cedar Park for their seventh UIL state title in a row! What a dynasty.

Congrats to Lone Star on their best ever state finish as their progression continues to ascend at that level. And Area B … just wow All four make finals and place 4, 6, 7 and 10. Take a bow …

As a percussion centric fan, something seems off with the final results. Aledo Percussion jumped from 13th in prelims to 1st in finals. That is a BIG jump for a group who has a stellar band but not normally in the discussion for percussion prowess. I get that subjectivity is always part of the scoring, but this raises some suspicion in my mind. Especially given that there was no change in band placements from prelims to finals. The judging was pretty consistent, except for percussion. Does anyone else find this mildly suspect?

Good luck with that. 😁

Well, those bands didn’t have 2 chances, they had one which was cut off in the middle, and had to restart already fatigued, some had to go incredibly late and were incredibly tired, and it was either restart your show after 30 minutes of having to stay focused, and “re-warm up” over and over, or it was just start where you stopped and hope the judges remember how good you were.

I can't think of a better quote for Area I, specifically Cinco....so much irony this year. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." - Elbert Hubbard

Having seen one bootleg video of Panther Creek: They are going to win State, and it’s not going to be close. The demand is off the charts for 4A and they’re pulling it off pretty well for early October. I can’t imagine the horror of any band going after them in the Alamodome. Having also just seen China Spring live: Possible medal incoming. All the usual tiny nitpicks I have are pretty tiny. The biggest problem I have is phrasing and the occasional balance issue. There’s some tuning stuff, but that’s always there.

I agree. I have only seen videos but they are Solid for sure! I also think the bands from Area A are going to bring it. Canyon is looking really strong.

Calling it now, Panther Creek is going to be the 4A state marching champion.