Rubisco

No Timber Creek until later. But I want frogs right now!

Looks like the body bags are coming back into style. Last time I recall seeing those was PCEP's 2002 Elasticity show, although I'm sure they've been used since then.

Keller was fantastic. There was some phasing between the pit and the woodwinds at the beginning that gave me pause, but it was quickly dispelled. So much wonderful playing. Loved the end of the opener when the drill pulls apart into those two arrows. Ballad is definitely by Carol Britten Chambers and had a CTJ feel to it. I do wish it had a melody that felt a little bit more complete. As it stands, it sounds like an extended motif, but the playing is so beautiful that I didn't mind it all that much. Some lapses in the visual performance throughout, but I'd be surprised if it's enough to keep them out of finals.

Loved Keller Central's music. Visual wasn't always clearly defined, but I thought it was interesting.

Really? I'm familiar with that piece and am surprised I didn't recognize it!

Pac-man!

Oh, Pong. Something like that. Well, that makes sense!

Really enjoyed Palmview's ballad. What was that? I feel like I've been dropped into a Gameboy with Lubbock-Cooper. I missed the show title. What is it?

Dan Potter is keeping the energy up. Great announcing. No ads for me during bands. I'd be super angry if it were happening.

The Coppell band is just brimming with outstanding players. I'm always so impressed by the musicianship of this group -- and the many other top notch programs in Texas. It really shines during the soloist moments. Loved the colorful big hit of the ballad. Also, the minute I heard the beginning of Vogue in the closer, I said, "Woo!" out loud. I've been waiting for that since the Dallas regional! Somebody very fabulous wrote this show.

LD Bell was definitely better than last year. Solid performance and design, although lacking the energy of the old Bell. (To their credit, it was 7:30 in the morning!) Some of the woodwinds in the opening ensemble were a bit above the pitch, as was the horn ensemble later on. Some dirty moving files throughout. Finalist? Well, I haven't watched anyone else, so... who knows. Looked finalist-worthy to me.

Obviously, I don't think Cedar Park is like Marian Catholic -- you know, heck freezing over before they miss finals -- but it would be a little shocking to me. But then so many of these groups are at the top of the food chain that I guess I shouldn't be surprised to see a T. rex eat an Allosaurus.

I'm not big on sports, but I was very happy to see this!

And that appears to be the only time they missed it.

Yeaaaaah. I didn't watch any. Obviously, I'm not surprised to see CTJ on top. But do people think Cedar Park might not make finals? When's the last time that happened?

I'll probably start watching around noon. I wouldn't be surprised if the entire top half of finals breaks 90. Last year, only the top 3 did so, but the remaining four all scored 89s. And the ones right below that were 88s. I won't know who's going to win this until after I see all the groups, and even then it might be so close in my mind that I wouldn't feel confident calling it. Going in, I'm thinking Flower Mound, whose music could put them over Avon. On the other hand, I think that CTJ really has something special this year, and I could see them booting Flower Mound, Avon, and Hebron out of the top spot. Rounding out the top five, my gut says TWHS, whose placement will primarily depend on how clean they are, which could mean a placement of anywhere from 10th to 1st. Of course, Leander has been in the top three the past two times they've gone and shouldn't be overlooked, and Vandegrift and Reagan had fantastic starts to their seasons and could maintain that sort of success late season. And then there's the Marcus band, which has tackled a more difficult visual program than usual and could climb up the ranks. And then of course all those other great groups. What a show.

Also, on the note of marching and playing, I would definitely agree that TX bands don't write shows like Bell's 2002 show anymore. Holy cow. The Texas bands of today know they'd never be able to get that kind of show clean enough to win anything!

I think these shows all hold up pretty well. You have to go back into the 90s to find shows that really don't. I was watching Centerville's championship show the other day and was thinking the same thing I thought when I first saw it: "This was the best show in 1992?!" (Love the cheesy drum major salute, though.) I went to Nationals in '02 in support of Spring, although of course by that point I knew there was a snowball's chance in heck of them making finals. Nevertheless, 2002 was really a watershed year for Texas bands on the national stage. Three new finalists in Stephen F. Austin, The Woodlands, and Ronald Reagan, and four TX bands total in finals. That said, the very best shows from that year weren't from Texas. Lassiter's Liturgical Sketches and Marian Catholic's Dialogues with a Muse are masterpieces and both would probably still factor into my top 10 of all-time. The endings of both of those shows are unforgettable -- obviously Lassiter with their horn choir, but Marian Catholic, too, with that soft chord that slowly crescendoed to a climax as they performed some of the most breathtaking drill I had ever seen. Carmel probably had my 3rd favorite show that year. Easy to see why they came out on top in GE at San Antonio, despite the fact that the music performance was competent at best. I also enjoyed Lawrence Central's first chair show, because I love a good Barber show, and the performance was highly refined. Out of Texas, definitely I thought Bell was tops. Reagan obviously had great things in their future, but the '02 show wasn't the most refined production, and there was an awful lot of parking and playing, which caused a bit of a controversy on the BOA forums back in the day. You know, people timing how much marching and playing they did and whatnot.

A chief judge supervises the judges. To use an example from personal experience: let’s say you’re a relatively new judge and you watch the first band of the day and you’re unsure if the score you’ve awarded is within the “correct” range given the guidelines, and you’re afraid it’s going to screw up the rest of your scores. A chief judge could take a look and say, “Yeah, that seems about right.” Obviously, it never turns into the chief judge telling the other judges how the bands should be placed. It’s more guidance.

Also, I would be cautious when using results from an invitational to predict BOA results. The adjudicators at this contest seem to be a mix of BOA adjudicators (like Gino Cipriani, who will be judging at Nationals this year) and other, more UIL-oriented people.

It's not like Marcus has ever really stopped being Marcus. They're still an absolutely fantastic program, and this year more than ever they seem to be challenging themselves. So, it's not impossible that they're simply starting to peak at the right time.

I'm not convinced TWHS belongs in the top 3 this year. There was a video on YouTube of their UIL performance, and the drill from the ballad to the end still lacks a lot of readability. To be fair, it's extremely difficult. They perform all of those woodwind runs and syncopated brass attacks in their closer while on the move, and they jazz run into their final set. The show itself is quite excellent, sans the weird balls, and I think it has a higher placement ceiling than any of the shows they competed against at Conroe, but clean it ain't. Then again, they're notorious late-season bloomers, and they've got a couple weeks for cleaning. Can't wait to see all of the shows from high up in a dome setting!

I have absolutely no idea who is going to come out on top here, and I’m loving it! After watching the YouTube video of Avon from Indy, I’m wondering if they’ll reach the level of cleanliness they’ll need to be at to win SA. The top performing Texas groups from a few weeks ago (namely Flower Mound and Hebron, but also Vandegrift and CTJ) sounded better than Avon currently sounds. Avon will want to remedy that by next Saturday. Then, of course, there’s the fact that early season regionals haven’t been terribly predictive of late season success in Texas recently. There has been a surprising result in at least one round of the SA contest every year since 2013. I’m not convinced that’s going to stop this year. It keeps things interesting anyway, even if I don’t always agree with the decisions. I will say this: now that I’ve seen all of the top groups, I’m still waiting to be wowed. There are parts of shows that I find very impressive, like Carmel’s marvelous drill (Michael Gaines is still the only person who writes drill as well as Michael Gaines) or Broken Arrow’s wonderful, sweetly sentimental ballad, but I’ve yet to see a group that has the whole package. The shows really need to start coming together within the next week or so. Best of luck to all!

I was referring to a 3-point gap out of 100. The .6 difference b/w Blue Springs and BA in finals is equal to 3 points on the 100 scale, which is the scale the judges actually use when judging bands.

All that being said, I would caution against comparing scores across regionals. These contests all had different panels, and it’s completely plausible that some panels are just stingier than others. If you think, for instance, that Avon is in trouble because they essentially scored the same as CTJ did a week ago, I would say that you’re probably setting yourself up for disappointment. Assuming that you want an all TX top 3, of course!