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I LOVE seeing bands make it to State for the first time!!! How incredibly exciting for those students, directors, and communities!!!!!

Yessir Cy Springs trumpet soloist 💪

Everyone here should do the Txbands.com predictions. I’ll post the average ranking here on Friday night to see where we as a group end up compared to official rankings.

I’m having a hard time picturing Lone Star above Leander simply because of how LS ended up 11th in finals a few weeks ago at BOA Prosper, and how Leander received several 2nd place ordinals at Area this past Saturday, ahead of both Rouse and of CP in several categories. I am not discounting Lone Star at all, in fact I LOVE their show! I just think Leander is being a bit underestimated here.

Well, it looks like this area will be an absolute bloodbath this year, but here's my prediction of every band this area: 1. Marcus 2. Hebron 3. Flower Mound 4. Wylie 5. Prosper 6. Mckinney 7. Wylie East 8. Braswell 9. Mckinney Boyd 10. Byron Nelson 11. Rock Hill 12. Lewisville 13. Allen 14. Little Elm 15. Plano East 16. V.R. Eaton 17. Guyer 18. Plano Sr 19. Plano West 20. Princeton 21. Northwest

Hey all, sorry I've been inactive most of the weekend. Was at an event and was just now able to get on here. Anyways, this weekend was an interesting one! Some new faces will be performing in the Alamodome for the first time as a State Qualifier and some faces are making a return for the first time in a while. Below is each Area with their qualifiers and their first/last time they have been to state (Bands that are bolded are first time state advancers!)- Area A- J.M. Hanks HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Lubbock-Cooper HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Lubbock HS (Last Appearance: 2023) El Dorado HS Area B- Wakeland HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Lone Star HS (Last Appearance: 2023) McKinney North HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Argyle HS (Last Appearance: 2021 (4A)) Area C- North Mesquite HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Mesquite Poteet HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Mount Pleasant HS (Last Appearance: 1989 (4A)) Lakeview Centennial HS Area D- Hendrickson HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Pieper HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Lake Belton HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Jack C. Hays HS (Last Appearance: 2020 (6A)) Smithson Valley HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Area E- Friendswood HS (Last Appearance: 2023) College Station HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Barbers Hill HS (Last Appearance: 2015 (5A)) A&M Consolidated HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Kempner HS Angleton HS Area F- Aledo HS (Last Appearance: 2023)) Midlothian HS (Last Appearance: 2019 (5A)) Colleyville Heritage HS (Last Appearance: 2021 (5A)) Burleson Centennial HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Richland HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Area G- Roma HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Sharyland Pioneer HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Brownsville Lopez Early College HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Sharyland HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Rio Grande City HS (Last Appearance: 2021 (5A)) Area H- Cedar Park HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Rouse HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Leander HS (Last Appearance: 2023) Glenn HS (Last Appearance: 2019 (5A)) Liberty Hill HS (Last Appearance: 2023) In total, 26 bands are making a return to state from last year, 8 schools are making a return after some time, and 4 bands are advancing to state for the first time! This is really exciting and I wish the best of luck to all schools!

Wylie beat Hebron in the caption award for best Colorguard and Show design and concept in Prelims and Best Colorguard in Finals at DMI. Wylie is definitely getting cleaner and better. I'm shocked that they beat Waxahachie and Keller at DMI. Wylie is definitely going for that 4th spot at Area.

At this very moment, UIL Area E is the most popular 6A predicted Area in Texas right now! Well for now, in the predictions tab. About 65 lists by the time I'm typing this 63 being Area C I think

I know it’s been a few days but I want to give my thoughts the area contest from this past weekend. Congrats to all 4 bands who made state out of this area! It’s awesome to see Wakeland, Lone Star, and McKinney North defending their state spots in this area and congratulations to Argyle for making the 5A state championship for the 1st time in school history, huge deal for that program, especially since they were a 4A only a few years ago, and it’s awesome to see them get their revenge this year after heartbreak last year!! I am sad for Lebanon Trail since they had such an awesome show this year and were 1 point away from Argyle in finals, but they should still be proud of the amazing product that they put out this year and we’ll see if they will get their revenge next year. Lone Star and Wakeland were also 1 point apart from each other so we’ll see how they do against each other at state👀. Shocked to not see Emerson and The Colony in finals, but with the area being the way it is, there will always be surprises. Congrats to all of the other finalists (Reedy, Liberty, Memorial, Walnut Grove, and Heritage) for amazing showings on Saturday night and I see very bright futures ahead for all of these bands!

McKinney Boyd is being placed a little low in all of these predictions. They just got all of their 4th movement on the field which makes a completely different show. They just performed the full show at the McKinney Crosstown Showdown game. Theres a recording on youtube but they aren't in their show uniform. I'll link it below. Tbh I think after a little cleaning they can do pretty good. This is for everyone wondering about them! Theres videos of McKinney High also on Youtube.

If forecast doesn’t change, Rockwall calls dibs on the Hebron boats from a few years ago.

Definitely I feel that is with any band! No one is guaranteed a spot this year! Which is so cool to see

Saw them at BOA Prosper, I think Boyds getting predicted a little low given that they didn’t have the closer on the field, but I dont see them above 6th tbh Wylie and Prosper are the contenders for 4th tbh, I would like them to tie so they both advance but for now I think Prosper is cleaner than Wylie with more marching and playing demand, but it could go either way and it wouldnt be surprising Braswell I think is getting placed a little high because of BOA success, even in 2023 when they beat Mustang at Midland they beat none of the McKinney schools at area, and even placed 16th at area which even with the argument of UIL funkiness (which does exist), being that far off of finals is telling. But I think they've made major improvements this year and is contending for finals, but they definitely have some dirt that UIL is going to punish Otherwise, I think McKinney High will likely be 6th, and Boyd/WEast will fight for 7th, and Braswell/Rock Hill/Little Elm are my personal contenders for 9/10, but thats more of a shot in the dark

I was just about to start an entirely new thread about this! TXBands is running so slow for me lately, and some times it won’t load at all. On Saturday I figured it was just because of Area happening all day and lots of people trying to post, but it’s all the time now. Any one else?

So to reiterate, the bands looking to point their way into finals, and upset Regular Finalists are Foster Pasadena Memorial Fulshear George Ranch Travis Elkins Ridge Point Bands who have made finals more than once in 6A Area E recently - Pearland, Dawson, Dickinson, Austin, Clear Brook, Clements, Brazoswood, Clear Lake, Clear Falls, Shadow Creek, (10 Bands) Yeah, honestly this area deserved 12 finalists gosh these bands are good, it's amazing.

Yeah I’m so sorry but Poteet should have not gone through, no less place 2nd. Even if their music performance was the at much improved, their marching is incredibly dirty. And this is someone who loves the pirate band and wants to be objective.

Bands will maybe only get a small amount of extra credit for having their whole show, otherwise the judges just judge what was performed. Not even close enough to warrant a 3 point gap. Point is, and same story with Wakeland and Lone Star's huge gap at BOA Prosper followed by a photo finish at Area finals, is that while competitions can give us hints at placements literally anything can happen in 1-2 weeks between performances.

just thought i should share this awesome visual i found of our show!

With how close CP and Rouse are, and how close Wakeland and LS were at area, I wouldn’t be surprised.

Yeah, I do agree with you. I think 5th or 6th is more realistic for them, especially like you said how Leander is really starting to come together and did place ahead of Rouse and CP by some of the judges and think them and Aledo will be battling in out for the last two spots in the top half. I do also think Leader is got a super strong shot at medaling this year, though ofc Wakeland is as good as ever. I personally think CP and Rouse have 1 and 2 locked down, but it could be closer than ever between 3rd and 6th. I'm really rooting for Argyle to make finals as well so they can have some strong momentum going into GN's!

This is just an observation: Wakeland does what they do VERY well, and I have the UTMOST respect for the product they put on the field, but I have to point this out. If you look at their show this year, they are marching in lines (and mini formations) that are just 2-5 people deep -- for the majority of the entire show. Of course the forms and straight lines and diagonals look cleaner, because it's minimalistic and lacks the degree of difficulty that bands with lines of 15-20 deep have. Before the comments flow in, and understanding the point I'm trying to make, take a few minutes to watch Wakeland's show and then tell me why I'm wrong.

They advance Marcus and Flower Mound and Hebron twice.

They beat out some regular area finalists, crazy sight to see maybe they make area finals this year? They sounded pretty good.

I would say, Redwater for the win. Mineola Silver Atlanta or Howe for Bronze

Raymondville should turn some heads. Loved them at 4A state last year.

It's gonna have to be when I get off of work in a bit. TXBands is being mean to me and being slow lol

I'm too lazy to copy and paste the links but panther creek plays a few parts and farmersville has the same opener. Farmersville also has wakelands ballad from last year. I highly recommend watching those two shows they're both really fun and great shows to watch. Both can be found on YouTube if the name of the band is searched. Although they are pretty old runs and those bands have gotten significantly better over the past few weeks Panther Creek marching and Farmersville Marching Band

It's not banned because the band doesn't own the book. The band pays a composer to write their book and acquire copyright things to ve able to play it. Cedar park's show from last is being played in parts. The top 4as each have a part or two from Belle Mechanique. They also could give cedar park a run for their money. I'm joking but it's awesome to see. I would check it out.

Something I’ve noticed about Aledo’s show this year is how athletic it is. Up until the ballad those players are MOVING and visually this year is going amazing for them, I do think they will be battling with Lone Star this next Monday.

I have duplicate predications for 6A Area E can you delete it? it won’t let me send a picture here because it too big..

Lots of great bands. I don't think you can count out Whitesboro as they have a history of turning it up a notch at state and an experienced band. Same goes for CH Yoe and Holliday.....but no one from Area C should be excluded from discussion. Atlanta was fourth at area last year, yet ended up as the Bronze medalist band. Howe about that?

Should conditions warrant, the contest will be paused until officials determine it is safe to resume. If the contest is paused bands will be notified of any adjustments to the schedule. Be advised that if delays are significant enough to prevent the preliminary round and final round from being completed by about midnight, by rule the preliminary round may be declared the final round. Unless conditions are determined by contest officials to be unsafe the contest will continue as scheduled, which includes the possibility of performing in light to moderate rain.

So I know a lot of people are expecting Cedar Park to be the winner again but I’m just wondering what are the chances we see Rouse finally pull out a win here? Personally I think they could do it. They’ve gotten closer and closer each year, and considering they tied last saturday, maybe this might be the year.

That was an early run for Aledo as well though, they were missing their last movement and had an iffy run for finals. It will be super exciting to see Aledo and Lone Star battle it out at state though! I think both bands do different things extremely well.

I think this year will see Redwater, Atlanta, or Mineola take the title. I think Raymondville could get top 5. Can't wait to see how everything plays out!

Just curious what everyone is thinking for the State Contest. I have seen over half the bands that will be at State and it's a very hard decision to decide on who will win. I think it's just too close to predict an easy win for anyone and whoever medals will have earned it for sure. Based on what I have seen so far this year. I think it's a 3-way Race for 1st between Atlanta/Mineola/Redwater. I believe if you had five different sets of judges they would all end up with a different team of the 3 on top. All three shows I think are capable of taking 1st and are just outstanding. I know there is some love for Whitesboro but they have lost to both Mineola and Commerce this season, maybe they made lots of improvements to their show in the past few weeks. Redwater beat Mineola early in the season on a judges tiebreaker (neither show was finished) but placed 2nd behind Mineola in Area C Finals by 1pt. Atlanta has beaten Redwater twice and was first in Area C Prelims until they were passed by Mineola and Redwater in Finals. Mineola beat Whitesboro at Princeton and was 3rd in Area C Prelims behind Atlanta/Redwater and performed before Redwater/Atlanta both times that day to win Area C. I could maybe see a CH Yoe or Raymondville sneaking in for a Top 5 maybe even a Commerce or perhaps a Whitesboro.

I’m loving how unpredictable it all is this year. We might even see a new band at the top! 😍

It'll be so much fun to see how third through sixth shakes out. And while it feels that 1-2 is a lock, it's always exciting for the possibility of the establishment being challenged. You just never know ...

It’s difficult to rank bands I haven’t seen as much, but Leander is always incredible and never to be underestimated. Anything 3-6 is up in the air and will probably be very close. I don’t like taking BOA competitions from 3 weeks ago into account as much as Area, only 1. If you look at the breakdown scores, Lone Star was on par with Wakeland (bronze medalist last year) with only losing to them by 1 ordinal and having a better raw score. I have seen massive improvement from Lone Star these past few weeks and only see them improving more this week. Excited to see how the top 6 place!

After doing a little research with Area scores and watching what videos I could find on YT, here are my predictions for Finals! Bottom 6 is pretty much based on what I’ve heard from others, last year, and Area scores from Saturday since I don’t know much about most of them. 🥇Cedar Park 🥈Rouse 🥉Lone Star 4. Wakleand 5. Leander 6. Aledo ———————————— 7. Hendrickson 8. Midlothian 9. Argyle 10. Friendswood 11-12 bubble: Centennial, Colleyville Heritage, McKinney North, Roma

I do agree that Cen10 is very advanced for the amount of players that they have and who they compete against. However I do think that for this year that are a little more outmatched than they were last year. But again, anything can happen

This is a little late, but I want to extend my congratulations to all of the bands that performed on Saturday!! I wasn’t able to watch everyone since I was performing with my own group here, but the sounds even from the lot were POWERFUL, and I think it goes without saying that the competition here was incredibly fierce, dare I say more so than the previous years! Everyone did amazing, and it’s so sad to see so many talented groups who deserved to qualify for State not make the cut, but those who did make it definitely deserved it, too. Everyone should be super proud of their hard work and their performance regardless of their rankings, because all that effort was reflected on that field. Great shows all around, and they just keep getting better every year!! Looking forward to see how things go at State, best wishes to everyone on the way there!

I don't think this will really be similar to the Alamodome. There aren't seats and people and things that naturally absorb some sound. The bounce back is going to be a mess. When the bigger bands are spread across the field, they will have challenges from echos & reverb. Having a large percussion section could worsen this. Smaller bands might actually sound bigger or fuller (think singing in the shower). JMO... Check the low ceiling in those pics...

That's my point. Aesthetically, it's pleasing and precise -- as Wakeland shows have come to be known for. However, it lacks degree of difficulty and the "wow" factor they've had in past years. It's TOO minimalistic.

The amount of people saying “these results are wrong” are crazy to me. Like the judges are the judges. I’m sorry if you don’t agree with what they have and yes some things don’t make any sense. Rockwall got 13th in musical ensamble but 3rd and 4th In brass and WW. You can be mad at all these results but you can’t change what these judges put so you can’t say that these results are “wrong”.

I think it makes perfect sense. This activity is subjective and if half of the judges decide a band is at a high enough caliber to be a state marching band, there should be no circumstance where they don't advance.

What if Dobie high school made state

Me too a lot of groups stepping up and excited to see the shows.

Here is the offical release of the sceduale: 11:00 am Goose Creek Memorial High School Baytown, TX Group II 11:15 am Veterans Memorial HS San Antonio, TX Group II 11:30 am Wharton High School Wharton, TX Group II 11:45 am South Hills High School Fort Worth, TX Group II 12:00 pm Lamar Consolidated High School Rosenberg, TX Group III 12:15 pm Baytown Lee High School Baytown, TX Group III 12:30 pm Spring High School Spring, TX Group III 12:45 pm Magnolia High School Magnolia, TX Group III 1:00 pm Airline High School Bossier City, LA Group III 1:15 pm Clear Creek High School League City, TX Group III 1:30 pm Magnolia West High School Magnolia, TX Group III 1:45 pm Cypress Springs High School Cypress, TX Group III 2:00 pm MacArthur High School Houston, TX Group III 2:15 pm INTERMISSION 2:45 pm Parkway High School Bossier City, LA Group IV 3:00 pm Klein High School Klein, TX Group IV 3:15 pm Klein Collins High School Klein, TX Group IV 3:30 pm Willis High School Willis, TX Group IV 3:45 pm Oak Ridge High School Conroe, TX Group V 4:00 pm Jordan High School Fulshear, TX Group V 4:15 pm Cypress Park High School Cypress, TX Group V

I believe That after the Gulf Coast Classic, With George ranch competing with a strong clear brook and clear creek -as well as out placing a Very strong Clear falls and Grand oaks- may be a dark horse for area finals this year, in the words of a judge at UIL region, this is the best George Ranch has ever been. while peoples finalists for Area may have a name for themselves, I would count George Ranch out quite yet.