Rubisco

I haven’t seen any of the show since they’ve added the colorful flags and costumes, nor have I seen anything past the opener, but what I did see seemed a bit too familiar. And they did just barely come out on top in VGE in both rounds of this contest (.1 points, or a half a point difference on the 100 scale). That’s not how it usually goes for them, and so I find that fairly telling. Of course, Paul McGarr having Blue Springs three points ahead of them in MGE in finals didn’t help either!

Oysters with pearls. Not clams. Clams rarely have pearls.

Hi there. Quick, unrelated question for you! Do you happen to know what the balls in TWHS' show are supposed to be this year? I was debating with a friend whether they were supposed to be stars or not, because I think the narrator mentions stars during the ballad. When I saw them, I immediately thought of Marcus' show in 2006, when the clams open up to reveal the pearls and the trombone girl dances around with one of them. I'm assuming they're not pearls, though!

I am curious to see how high the scores will go this season. Will they just sort of plateau in the low 90s before Nationals, or will we hit 95+ at San Antonio before we hit 98+ at Nationals?

The scores this year are probably the highest they've ever been this early. While I think there's a little bit of inflation, I don't think it's all that much. I just think that the groups that are on top are performing at a level that's higher than usual. Now, do I think that these shows are better written than usual? I'm not sure I would agree with that. But a great performance will improve a band's score in every caption. Regarding CTJ, their 90+ score last weekend was (and is) truly extraordinary. Anyone who doesn't think that they'll be fighting for that SA championship with Avon, FloMo, and Hebron will probably get a rude awakening Saturday night, if not Saturday afternoon -- although I'm assuming CTJ will be performing late on Friday as usual, so that could make it more difficult for them to come out on top in prelims, although it hasn't stopped them in the past!

That’s fantastic. And, honestly, not a bad sentiment, knowing UIL as we do.

I might suggest a red, Trump-style hat. “Make Band Great Again.” With a HornRank logo on the back.

Hahaha. Oh, probably. All I had to do was prod the wasp nest, and they’re already asking for HornRank merchandise. Strike while it’s hot, Jeremiah!

Eh. I don’t think it’s possible to “prove” anything in band. At the end of the day, HornRank is just a collection of opinions. Grand Nationals Championship placements are also simply the result of a collection of opinions. And I don’t think people need to have the judges make up their opinions for them. Last year I certainly didn’t need judges to determine that I thought Broken Arrow was better than Avon and Carmel. The people at HornRank apparently felt the same.

Obviously you’re responding to a particular part of Jeremiah’s post, but to address the broader issue of HornRank vs. Nationals: I would agree with what you’ve said if the HornRank rankings were meant to be Grand Nationals predictions, but that’s not exactly what they are, despite considerable overlap. If Grand Nationals is the Oscars of the band world, then HornRank is more like the critics’ Sight and Sound poll that the British Film Institute does every year. It’s feasible that the group that comes out on top in one might not come out on top in the other. The opinions of the people polled for HornRank may not even match the placements of the groups that went to Nationals. Certainly, if I were polled last year, I would have had Avon ahead of Carmel, despite the fact that Carmel was named the National Champion. So, while a Grand Nationals prediction based on HornRank would be speculative, I would prefer to view HornRank as its own thing.

Phil Geiger won Nationals in 2003, and then he retired. That’s the gist of it.

I do not envy the prelims panel here, especially the music judges. Judging over 60 bands, many of which are quite strong musically, gets pretty stultifying after a while. It’ll be a fight just to be remembered. (Cue the SFA parents: “Be Remembered!!!”) Sure, you’ve got your obvious title contenders near the top, like Flower Mound, CTJ, Avon, Hebron, Reagan, and Vandegrift. But those last few spots in finals are where it gets really interesting. This year more than ever there will likely be a “national finalist” quality group that won’t make finals. (Of course, as nationals becomes more and more competitive, “national finalist” quality is an ever-changing thing.) It’s pretty sad, actually. To think that groups as strong as, say, Keller or Cedar Ridge possibly won’t make finals. I think the very fact that there are often such huge rearrangements in prelims and finals placements is proof enough of the high quality of the groups. Heck, even the early season rearrangements have been quite striking, even when the improvements from the bands have not been. It really hits home how much a band’s placement depends on the panel it gets. Obviously, that has always been the case, but it seems truer in this era where every other band is driving with an 8-cylinder.

I’ll break my vow of silence to say this about Broken Arrow: their music is absolutely magnificent — probably my favorite of the year at this stage — and the movement from the band is quite extraordinary. But the overall visual program is disappointing in its familiarity. The cynical part of me (which is honestly probably most of me) wants to say that Wes might have decided to do a sequel this year just to show his other clients that he can win Nationals even with recycled ideas, although probably it has more to do with the fact that he didn’t have as much involvement last year as he wanted to have.

Oh, and as far as high school is concerned, I graduated from Westfield decades ago. Because where else would the Michi Kakutani of band thrive than in the old region 9? “A weird woman who seems to feel the need to alternately praise and spank.” -Salman Rushdie

Well, now that that’s out of the way, let me rephrase and elaborate on what I said in a way that’s a little less snarky. The truth is that HornRank is largely the outgrowth of people’s inherent desire to know how their programs “stack up” against others around the country. Obvious, yes? In some ways, it’s sort of a balm for those kids who ask about their own programs on discussion forums each season with annoying regularity. HornRank is done in a way that is very appealing and has a sort of sophistication to it, no doubt, but there’s nothing particularly convoluted or magical about how the rankings are determined. The people who are polled to create the rankings are experienced fans who see the same shows that everyone else sees, although sometimes earlier than others see them. Perhaps the main difference is that HornRank allows these experienced and (mostly) objective viewers to “let their hair down”. That is, they can be brutally honest in a way that many of them might not be in a public forum. (As for me, I’ll never be accused of “keeping my hair up” on forums. I can’t count the number of times I’ve made people and directors apoplectic with rage!) Anyway, it’s all a combination of personal opinions about these bands’ likely season trajectories mixed with the hard realities of these bands’ performances at contests. What it isn’t is something to get worked up over (“Why is band A ranked higher than band B?! What’s wrong with these people?!”) or something to enshrine as some sort of objective truth (“Contest A has more bands in the top 30 on HornRank than contest B, so contest A is more difficult!) At the end of the day, it’s simply a fun diversion.

<3

Oh, my sides! Actually, my comment suggested nothing of the sort, but I suppose I wouldn’t expect strong reading skills from an abecedarian.

Oh my goodness. Remind me again why people care so much about these rankings. It’s because it has its own website, isn’t it? It does make it seem more official, I suppose. Reminds me of that Mark Twain quote: “Many a small thing has been made large by the right kind of advertising.”

I can't think of a single instance going back to the beginning of the San Antonio Super Regional in 2003 where this statement is true. And, just four years ago, Blue Springs placed 6th at the SA Super Regional and failed to make finals at Nationals. It's hard to overstate how much more difficult it is to win Nationals than it is to win San Antonio. The bands that Texas groups compete against at Nationals have the best design staffs out there, and they have all the time in the world to clean their shows. There are probably just as many (if not more) instances where a Texas band has dropped in placement at Nationals relative to their SA placement than the opposite. Last year provides a pretty good example, as the third- and fourth-place performers at San Antonio placed 6th and 9th at Nationals, respectively. And I have add that last year the top groups weren't even particularly strong! Obviously, Texas has a lot of depth in its musical programs, but much of what is being posted here is breathless silliness.

I still lurk here every now and then! I'm just not commenting on any specific program. What I will say is that based on what I've seen -- and I've probably seen most of the Texas heavy-hitters at this point, besides Marcus and Reagan -- is that everyone seems to be stepping up their performances this year. Let's call it the Flower Mound effect. I think that's something to be thankful for. I was very impressed by the groups in finals at Austin, and I'll probably be very impressed by the groups in finals at Southlake and the other Texas regionals.

This is a very difficult contest to predict the winner without seeing anything. I suspect that Vandegrift and Reagan will be pretty polished early on, unless they plan on challenging themselves more than last year. Speaking of last year, I thought Reagan was obviously the best at Conroe, even though my opinion changed quite drastically after seeing the groups at San Antonio. Reagan could come storming out of the gate again this year, but it seems unlikely that they'll win three years in a row, especially given the increased competition. Something to keep in mind is that this contest is a *little* later than usual (I think), and that could benefit late bloomers like Round Rock or The Woodlands. By how much? I don't know. I'd also like to throw in there that groups like Hendrickson, Bowie, and Churchill probably pose more of a threat to the "top 5" than we think. After all, Hendrickson was awfully close to The Woodlands last year.

Oh, not the Dallas regional, the Austin regional. That was the one.

I'm pretty interested in seeing what happens with L.D. Bell this year. As I said on a thread in the Music for All forums, it was pretty surprising to see them flop last year, since Wes Cartwright had returned and Van Mathews was still there. I'm wondering if L.D. Bell's return to form might just be a little bit delayed. If, by chance, they are able to reach the level that they were at before (as recently as 2011), then they'd be a very real threat for 1st place at both the DFW regional and at the San Antonio super regional. Probably the only thing that makes me hesitate to predict Flower Mound in first at DFW or San Antonio is that a group hasn't won a Texas regional three years in a row since SFA in 2002-2004, and never at the Super Regional -- and that includes Marcus and L.D. Bell, who were even more dominant than Flower Mound is. That said, it's a little bit hard to see anybody beating them, if they maintain the level of performance and design that they have the past two years (except maybe L.D. Bell, if they're suddenly as good as they used to be). Marcus and Hebron are both fantastic programs, and while I think they could challenge Flower Mound in the performance captions, the past two years haven't suggested to me that they could challenge FM in the effect captions, at least based on design elements. Maybe Marcus, but even their programs are beginning to feel a little dated. Elegant, yes, but they do need to try some new things. Honestly, if I'm being realistic, from an effect -- and in particular a design -- perspective, the only group in Texas I see maybe toppling Flower Mound (and by that I mean like a 40% chance) is The Woodlands, who beat FM in GE in prelims at SA last year (along with Vandegrift actually, who then dropped from 3rd to 7th in finals). Of course, there are such sudden shifts year after year in Texas these days that everything is pretty hard to predict. Oh, and I loved Vista Ridge's show last year. If I recall correctly, I thought they should have placed higher at the Dallas area regional last year.

I could definitely see Churchill surging. They're working with Alan Spaeth, who designs for Flower Mound, and a good design is often a catalyst for a strong (and effective) performance. As for the new visual criteria, I'm left wondering if any bands will really change all that much. Some directors will probably wait to see how they affect their groups' scores before they make any significant changes. They'll probably just add some extra visuals here and there.

I know a lot of Texas directors who would agree with you. I know a lot of UIL judges who would agree with you. I agree with you. However (!) I'm not convinced BOA's adjudicators will agree with you. Avon plays with a great degree of technical accuracy, and does so while performing very difficult drill. BOA's judges will pick up on this. Conversely, they might not pick up so much on the quality of the sound being produced. Heck, in a sea of large, loud, blaring Texas bands, Avon's music performance might actually even seem refreshing to them. While I think it's unlikely that Avon will walk away with the music caption at San Antonio, I wouldn't put it outside of the realm of possibility. Last year at Nationals provides a pretty good example. While your typical Texas director would probably say that Cedar Park gave the best, most symphonic performance of the groups in finals, BOA's music performance judges very clearly preferred Avon. That's not entirely unsurprising when you acknowledge that a lot of BOA's judges come out of the DCI world, and so they might prefer a sound that more closely approximates the drum corps ideal.