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principalagent

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Everything posted by principalagent

  1. Marian’s opener leaves much to be desired but the ballad and closer were actually pretty great. In a weak year, this addition to their streak is well-deserved. Time for #TeamTexas!!!
  2. Cedar Ridge has had their best season yet this year!! So excited for their continued growth, and I really hope they go back to Indy soon!
  3. Pflugerville and Georgetown are in 5A. Can’t count them out yet!
  4. Just looked at Munford’s show and their design is very, very, VERY dated. I might give them the best playing band in TN, but Franklin and DB are light years ahead on visual performance and overall design.
  5. Yep, I had a perfect vantage point during finals of the whole 100 level. I knew where the two big VR groups were sitting in the top of 113 and the middle-top of 111. People stood up literally everywhere. And early. And often. And people CHEERED. Just a group of parents couldn’t produce the fervor I witnessed. Vista Ridge got to EVERYONE.
  6. Marcus for a 19.7 in ensemble music in 2012 prelims, but for overall it seems their 19.45 in 2007 finals was as good as it gets.
  7. Don’t forget our newly-adopted Texans Camdenton at 7:30 CST Friday morning! Adair Thursday at 9 PM will be good too!
  8. I’m gonna do my best to watch before class!
  9. Speaking of the middle school element, all of the high school directors in Leander ISD spend significant - I mean *significant* - time at the middle schools. To the point of teaching regularly scheduled beginner classes. It’s my understanding that the same goes for the big two NEISD schools and in Lewisville ISD. There’s another reason why those districts locked up the top half of both of the past week’s contests. Everything is in place and aligned from the first day of 6th grade.
  10. For one, it’s a little more BOA focused a website to make national comparisons easier. And second, the ranking contributions were due before 6A finals ends. Expect some more changes in next week’s ranking. I don’t think Vista will end up lower than 6th.
  11. North Shore was also in finals last cycle! I think Houston made huge strides this season even if the results don’t fully bear that statement out. Seven Lakes, Cy-Fair, Pearland and Oak Ridge are all clearly surging. JET and TWCP and North Shore (on a UIL perspective) are still maintaining. Friendswood might settle into something good with new staff. Sometimes these things are cyclical. The day when Spring, Westfield, and Langham Creek completely ran band in Texas with some support from Pearland and Dickinson and later support from The Woodlands and SFA wasn’t all that long ago. I think next season will be really telling.
  12. Surely they aren’t cutting LASA? Is it just the fine arts academies?
  13. HISTORY TIME! The Austin Area has not won a top class state marching title since Crockett in the 80s. Thank you VISTA FREAKIN RIDGE for bringing it home!!!!!! This is also Leander ISD's first gold medal (obviously) in the top class. In the modern era, they are the first band since Marcus to win on their first appearance in 5A/6A state finals. They are the first non DFW winner in 20 actual, full on years. Thank you Vista Ridge. And congrats to Vandegrift for pulling off a medal!! Now, half of LISD has medaled in the top class (Cedar Park in 2004, and the obvious). Leander almost did in 1996 and 2000, but did not quite get there. However, because Leander shot to 5th, LISD-South joins LISD-North as the only other school district to place three schools in the top half of the top class. This is also the largest amount of Austin Area representation in top class state finals in recent history. Flower Mound has nothing to be ashamed of. Their show was undoubtedly stellar, and a medal has been kept in Lewisville ISD for 7 cycles now. Collectively, Lewisville ISD has had three straight cycles of three bands in finals. I think this will continue for at least another cycle or two. Congrats to Waxahachie and Cedar Ridge for their performances!! Great entrants into the SMBC. Throughout the 80s and 90s, the power center of marching band was in Houston. Duncanville and Bell broke that and it stayed in DFW for two decades. Ever since Bowie started making a run at a state medal and Cedar Park and Vandegrift cleaned up 4A/5A, I knew the power was shifting to Austin. Especially once Leander and Round Rock began their renaissance. But it now finally arrived. I think the power is finally tipping towards Austin. As an Austin Area native, I cannot be more excited. (But maybe I should knock on wood - DFW did get one more band in finals than Austin did)!
  14. Wow. The LISDs really are dominant in UIL.
  15. LOVED it!!! Such a bright future ahead. Long the leftover in LISD, Rouse showed this year that they’re definitely next. Soon enough, LISD is going to regularly pump four or five bands into both San Antonio and 6A State Finals. It’ll be the 2020s version of early 2000s Cobb County in Georgia in terms of dominance by one school district.
  16. Instead of having 5 judges for each of two rounds, use 9 for both and have them switch captions. You can take that nixed judges pay and boost up the others for judging more
  17. Marcus 2007 and LD Bell 2008 are both waaaaaay up there for me. Marcus that year was just an incredible music performance in terms of musicianship and care. LD Bell was a very intentional performance - everything worked together to lead to something else. Marcus 2010 was also perhaps the best use of alternates to that point in time and it added so much to that show. In terms of total performance buy in by performers, Broken Arrow 2017 was amazing. Carmel 2017 was similarly "best" from a sheer visual proficiency standard of excellence. Flower Mound 2016 had the best total package, and CTJ 2017 in terms of achievement. I saw all of these live, sometimes on multiple occasions. I have others I would want to mention, but I did not see them live. There are also others that I did not get to see live in their best state (Hebron 2015 being the operative example), and thus don't want to put them on here.
  18. I think other people noted why a 7 judge panel won't really work if you drop high and low. I instead like a 9 judge panel, so 5 and 4, and drop the high and low within each category. Then you end up with 3/2 again. Or a 7 judge panel in which nobody is dropped, but the captions are more specific. That was, one judge only has a 14% influence rather than 20%, and they are looking for something a little more targeted.
  19. Happy to stand corrected on this issue, and it does settle my concerns quite some bit. So happy to see how successful your band is among some long-standing giants!
  20. One thing that I'm a little sad about it is the sheer and striking lack of socioeconomic representation in this year's group of finalists. It's overall a wealthy group from wealthy school districts. Probably the least affluent band in the bunch is Leander or Waxahachie, but Leander is still pretty solidly middle class (although with a sizable number of ECODIS students) and Waxahachie is experiencing growth driven by well off people moving outward. it was nice to have Duncanville or North Shore in finals to serve as a sign that this wasn't dispositive. Now, they're both looking like exceptions that proved the rule. Honestly I can't decide if this panel is more favorable to Vista Ridge or Flower Mound. It's anyone's game between those two.
  21. I'm actually seeing that they advanced to State Finals that year as well.
  22. I would put money on them moving up. 1st up is the worst!
  23. 6A Finals Bill Centera Albert Lo Frank Troyka Mark Waymire Nick Williams
  24. Right after the champion is announced tomorrow.
  25. Results aren't public, but the recaps are flying around. They're likely in your directors' packets.
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