Rubisco

Well, to all those that said a GE winner could place lower than 3rd, you just got your validation! Hahaha. Way to go Flower Mound! That must feel good going into nationals. The performance captions weren't surprising. I didn't see CTJ, but I know they sound excellent. Bowie was the group I had in second place after The Woodlands in visual performance, so if TW wasn't going to win it, I would have had Bowie next in line. Really puzzled by the absence of Hebron in the top 3 in class AAAA, though the top 3 is certainly a strong, deserving group. Maybe Hebron's visual performance was an Achilles' heel. I would say performance time, but CTJ performed the previous day and still ended up in the top 3. Mind you, the main goal of the judges in prelims is to determine the finalists, not the champion. That's a difficult enough task when you've got to judge 64 groups. Congrats to all the finalists! I'm excited!

CTJ sounded great in finals at Conroe, so I'm assuming they'll post a high score in music performance, as well as a very solid GE score. In fact, I think all the groups at the top will post high scores in music performance, which is why I think the groups will be distinguished more on the basis of visual performance and, of course, GE.

What about CTJ? For those that have actually seen them, do you think Marcus has the edge over them? Performing on the first day might not be all that helpful for them in prelims, though they did walk away with a GE caption last year after prelims. Coincidentally, it looks like the finals performance order in the middle could be Marcus, The Woodlands, CTJ, and Hebron, one after the other.

I guess I could see Marcus winning either of the performance captions. It's certainly not unreasonable, especially since it's hard to judge individual performance when you're not on the field. Heck, it's hard to judge anything when you're simply watching a video. Like most I'd imagine, I probably do better with live predictions.

I got a chance to watch the first three in the last block (TW, Bowie, Marcus). Then I watched Hebron from earlier. It was a little bit more of a direct comparison than what the judges got. (Unfortunately, I can't say anything about Leander and CTJ.) I think Hebron and The Woodlands are probably out in front right now, as many people predicted. I really enjoyed the additions Hebron has made. The pre-show, which really sets the mood, is so lovely, with all the guard girls mopping the field. Heck, the entire show is lovely, and their musicality is as predicted insane. They sound so fabulous. The ending is also so much more powerful than what they brought to UIL. On the flip side, I thought their show was clearly the least clean of the four groups I saw. I don't know how much that will hurt them, but I can't imagine it preventing them from winning, if they get the GE advantage. (Note how I said "least clean" and not dirty. The show isn't dirty, obviously.) The Woodlands show was like getting bitten by a rattlesnake. It's completely unsentimental (which actually could hurt them compared to Hebron), but so aggressive and so absolutely thrilling. They sounded and looked so much better than they did at Conroe. They also probably have the most creative show of the 4 groups I saw. It wasn't the cleanest run I've seen from them, but I'd still have them in first place in visual performance. I thought they were clearly the strongest of that first group of 3 in the final block, as amazing as that group was. That means that I'd be pretty surprised, though maybe not entirely surprised given the competition, to see Hebron or TW place outside of the top 3 in class AAAA, since even if CTJ is among the top 3, that leaves two open spots. So, based on the tiny bit I've seen, music caption in class AAAA to Hebron, visual caption to The Woodlands, GE to either Hebron or The Woodlands. Hebron and TW battling for first, with Marcus in third. (By the way, I adore both Marcus' and Bowie's shows. I'm just completely floored by the displays of talent. Also, I could see Marcus posting a high visual GE score. I just love everything about the drill and the color scheme, though I'd probably have them in 3rd after TW and Bowie in visual performance.) Wonderful performances all around. Finals is going to be amazing!

Hahaha. I don't know! Don't quiz me yet! I'll try to watch all of finals, and maybe as finals progresses I'll make an ordered list that I update occasionally. I'm going to be basing it off of videos, though, which isn't as good as a live performance, especially when Mr. Video is the "one" taking the video

I love visuals, even though they can sometimes be more difficult to clean than drill. I can't stand it when a band parks and plays. We're in the 21st century now. We can do better than that.

Prelims Assignments MPI - Carl Bly MPE - Chip Crotts VPI - Jeff Young VPE - Tim Ochran MGE - Scott Atchison MGE - Jay Webb VGE - Lee Carlson Finals Assignments MPI - Steven Page MPE - Paul McGarr VPI - Chris Moss VPE - Kyle Miller MGE - Allan Kristensen MGE - Ken Snoeck VGE - John Howell The only GE judge in finals that I think has also judged a previous TX regional this year is Howell, who judged visual GE at Conroe in prelims (and individual visual at Austin). I can't recall the last time I've seen Kristensen or Snoeck judging music GE for a bunch of Texas groups. Kristensen's a percussionist that judges individual music a lot. I know that because I've found some of his judgments strange in the past. Hahaha. Maybe it's because I'm a brass guy! Still, he's doing music GE here, which is an entirely different beast. Anyway, I think it's nice that BOA has brought in mostly fresh judges for this event.

Pre-shows are not judged, but they are certainly part of a judge's first impression, if that makes sense. I'd like to address an earlier comment about reputation. I don't think LD Bell or The Woodlands will enjoy much, if any, of an advantage for being historically great. Any sort of reservations a judge might have about placing them lower have probably been squashed thanks to A.) LD Bell's results last year and this year and B.) TW getting crushed at Conroe in finals. I don't think there will be any fear of critical backlash for placing these groups outside of the top 5, if there was any fear to begin with.

Also, I'll be shocked if there's a caption sweep in AAAA in prelims or overall in finals. I can't think of a single group that I would consider to be that dominant this year.

Part of the excitement is going to be not knowing how Leander stacks up against the "big boys" until after finals, since Leander is class AAA, and BOA only announces the top 3 in each class after prelims. Add that to the high potential for rearrangement among all the groups between prelims and finals, and I think you've got a pretty thrilling competition.

What the UIL results seem to corroborate is that Marcus is visually cleaner than Hebron. I thought Marcus was cleaner than Hebron early season, though once I saw some of Marcus' later movements, I started second guessing myself. I wonder how close it is now. Anyway, it's nice that there's not some totally dominant group going into SA. I expect some considerable rearrangements between prelims and finals. Sort of like last year, I guess.

I'm a little bit concerned by CTJ's draw as well, mainly because UIL judges can be a little less forgiving to shows that are a bit more progressive. I really, really hope they don't get lost in the pack. They definitely belong in finals.

Prelims Ordinals (3 music judges, 2 visual judges + total) The Woodlands 1 1 2 1 4 (9) Friendswood 2 2 1 3 3 (11) Spring 6 5 3 9 1 (24) Pearland 3 10 4 2 7 (26) Dawson 5 7 5 4 6 (27) Brazoswood 9 3 7 7 9 (35) College Park 8 9 12 5 5 (39) Dickinson 4 6 8 10 12 (40) Oak Ridge 7 11 13 6 11 (48) North Shore 11 8 9 13 8 (49) Finals Ordinals Friendswood 1 3 2 2 3 (11) The Woodlands 2 1 8 1 1 (13) Spring 4 2 1 3 7 (17) Pearland 3 4 3 10 2 (22) Dawson 8 5 4 5 10 (32) North Shore 6 7 9 5 6 (33) Dickinson 9 8 6 7 5 (35) College Park 5 9 7 6 9 (36) Brazoswood 7 10 9 8 4 (38) Oak Ridge 10 6 10 4 8 (38) So, three of the five judges had The Woodlands first in both prelims and finals. Friendswood, Area F champion, had one judge place them in first in finals. The 8th place music score in finals, probably from the guy that gave them the 4th place visual score in prelims, did The Woodlands in. This is why there needs to be a bad judge rule. Interestingly, the guy had Spring ranked first in visual in prelims and in music in finals. Spring has a great show, but methinks this older man was living a little bit in the past.

I'd be a little bit surprised if Hebron or TW place outside the top 3. A little bit. Not really shocked or anything. Given the high quality of this regional, it's possible to see one or even both replaced by other really fine groups (Marcus, Bowie, and CTJ anyone?)

I can't attest to Leander's individual performances, since I've never been down on the field checking either out, but they should be just fine in both ensemble performance captions. I think they could pull ahead in Music GE, though they're obviously a dark horse. It's safer to have a group like Hebron or The Woodlands winning GE, but since I don't feel very strongly about who's going to be named the champion, I'm going to go ahead and go with my dark horse prediction

And, just to be fair, here's the performance I saw (actually from a better angle than I saw it). I got a few things in my description wrong, but I was mostly accurate. I see them as the clear victor in ensemble visual performance and visual GE at BOA San Antonio. Any dirt is dirt that is fixable within a week. They should also post very high scores in music, but I could see them being beaten in those captions by the likes of Hebron and Leander. Really wonderful, fascinating show. It's going to be a tough call! Edit: Sorry, I just wanted to add one more thing. I love, love, love, love, love the very ending drill. Notice how the character of the music switches from uplifting back to anxious as the arrowhead inverts its direction back downward toward the audience. I didn't notice it before, and it's freaking brilliant. Genius. That's visual GE.

To respond to a few of the previous posts: First, sorry about the Hebron videos getting removed! That may have been my fault for alerting people to them. Second, if Leander wins GE, there's no way in heck they're placing as low as 5th. 3rd place is probably the lowest I've seen a GE winner place, and it's always shocking. Lastly, I'd be a little bit surprised if Hebron is placed first by any of the three visual judges (Individual Performance, Ensemble Performance, and GE), though I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them place first in both overall Music Performance and Music GE, which is more than enough to win the contest (60% of a band's score).

Music GE - Before a band can score high in effect, the band better be performing its show at a high level. This goes for both music and visual GE. There's a common misconception that GE is all about design and not about performance. This is nonsense. We're talking about music educators here. Part of general effect is being entertained by a performance, and a bunch of people with music degrees and/or vast experience in music education won't be entertained by a poorly performed show, no matter how brilliantly-designed it is. Among the things a music GE judge should address: communication of a show theme, flow from one movement to the next/coherence, are the kids connecting with the audience through the performance/"selling" their show (audience response could actually be considered), and originality/creativity. A music GE judge might also remark on the demand of a show and the level of accomplishment. Visual GE - Like with music GE, you better be performing your show at a high level if you want to get a high visual GE score. Important considerations include: communication of the show theme, how well does the visual package fit/enhance the musical package (don't want these judges blindfolded), are the kids selling the visual package well, and originality/creativity. Note that the flashiest drill isn't always the most effective drill, especially if the music doesn't call for it. Of course, the overriding consideration is if the judge is entertained, which, again, is a combination of performance and design variables. I'm doing this from memory, so it's possible I'm leaving some things out. After years of being baffled, I'm at the point where GE is more intuitive. It comes with experience.

Your 2014 BOA SA Adjudication Panel Music Scott Atchison Carl Bly Chip Crotts Allan Kristensen Paul McGarr Steven Page Ken Snoeck Jay Webb Visual Lee Carlson John Howell Kyle Miller Chris Moss Tim Ochran Jeff Young If anyone knows the specific prelims/finals assignments, feel free to post them!

Watching Hebron's area finals performance, I could see how visual performance might have cost them a little bit. It's not quite as clean as I would have expected. Also, I agree that the ending seemed a little abrupt, though you have to remember that this is UIL, where bands are limited to 8 minute performances. I wouldn't be surprised if there's extra stuff that Hebron adds for BOA San Antonio.

For the record, I'm not predicting the other placements yet because I work from the top down, and I don't have the top figured out!

I also want to add that I think Reagan was low-balled at Conroe and could place considerably higher than expected.

My 200th post will be completely wrong predictions for the top 6 at this Saturday's BOA contest. (Go Leander!) I've tried to watch the most recent videos of groups possible, and I just saw the Area F contest live. For those of you that are interested, there's a video of Hebron's Area finals performance already up on YouTube. Just search for "Hebron Nix". Great video and great performance. If I get a chance to watch the SA finals stream in its entirety, I'll be sure to update these predictions with ones that are much more accurate and complete. Hahaha. I certainly don't feel all that confident! 1st Leander 2nd The Woodlands 3rd Hebron 4th Claudia Taylor Johnson 5th Marcus 6th James Bowie Outstanding Music Performance - Hebron Outstanding Visual Performance - The Woodlands Outstanding General Effect - Leander Recent videos of Leander, Hebron, and Marcus are available on YouTube, but there really isn't anything recent for the other three. I just saw The Woodlands live, so that leaves CTJ and James Bowie as my "wild cards". The Woodlands' show has changed... uh... a lot since Conroe. Another very avant garde show brought to you by the guy that brought you Star '91, Blast!, and the Bluecoats' Tilt show. To paint a picture: the arrow props that spin and are moved around on the field are now painted magenta on top, which looks so much better than the blue (I think) they were colored before. The band begins in the endzone in body-sculpted chaos. As a pre-recording of Radiohead's Everything in Its Right Place plays, the band creeps out onto the field LD Bell 2006-style, Broken Arrow 2012-style and the arrow props that are already out on the field begin to spin chaotically. The opening set congeals, and after the announcer finishes, the band begins with The Canyon, now with added movement. Speaking of added movement, it's all over the place-- typical for late-season Woodlands. Even transitions into certain drill sets, like into the arcs of the ballad, have been made to look more "chaotic" with added movement. Even so, the show is clean. (I only see Bowie possibly challenging them in the visual caption, though who knows.) Big musical hits have also been modified. For example, they now end the opener with 3 power chords in what is clearly a homage to last year's show. They've also added some brass parts to the opener that I think were previously only played by a synthesizer. Throughout the show, Thom Yorke's distorted voice from EIIRP pops up in a way that's effectively disorienting. The band itself sounds great, very controlled, loud, though I'd prefer even a little bit more volume and energy. The enormous 50+ member guard is extremely well-integrated into the show, demonstrates a variety of skills, and is probably better than it has been since 2007. Unlike your typical Wes Cartwright show, they don't abuse the flag ocean, saving it only for the powerful last statement of the show. Anyway, my head says The Woodlands (or *maybe* Hebron) will win on Saturday, but my heart says Leander. So, I'm going with my heart, though I reserve the right to change my opinion when I realize that I've placed everything in its wrong place.

The finals rankings seem pretty accurate to me based on what I've seen. Bowie is performing their show at a very high level. I wonder what cost them 1st place in prelims.