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principalagent

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Everything posted by principalagent

  1. Granted, I didn't see TWHS, North Shore or Dawson because I went to Area E for their finals, but I think this makes sense given what I saw of finals and in prelims. I wouldn't think too much of the Woodlands getting 4th. Cedar Park got 7th in prelims and barely advanced out of Area D in 2011 and then won SMBC and it wasn't even close. The Woodlands cleans late season like very few other bands. North Shore in a clear first is in no way surprising - they were that clean. Congrats to The Woodlands College Park for their first trip to the state marching contest.
  2. They're still working through prelims for another couple bands. The announcement is slated for 8.
  3. Finalists in Finals performance order: Pearland Oak Ridge College Park Klein Oak Kingwood Spring Klein North Shore The Woodlands Dawson I think these are the right finalists. I'm a little shocked about the actual placements from prelims though. I imagine it'll work itself out tonight.
  4. Finalists: Brandeis Del Rio Judson Lake Travis Leander O'Connor Stevens Vandegrift Vista Ridge Westlake
  5. Some thoughts: The Woodlands had an amazing show - probably my favorite of theirs in a while and I already tend to like their shows. It's not quite state finals ready yet, but I think they'll get in. Their ballad might be my favorite of the year and their visual demand is quite high between drill and body work. I think they have a good chance of playing spoiler next weekend towards the medal chase, as well. The show is there, but they just need to get rid of visual dirt. Already mentioned North Shore. Still think they're holding in 2nd, and they were clean enough to potentially steal a judge or two from TWHS, I believe. Dawson had a well-performed show with a lot of fun elements. I'm confident they'll be in the night show. I would put them on the bubble to advance with Oak Ridge. Oak Ridge's drumline was strong as they're known to be and it's nice to see their band grow in the last couple of years. I don't get to see military marching bands often, so I really enjoyed Kingwood. There are a couple of military marching judges on the panel so maybe they'll get some due recognition and a night performance. I have to mention Westfield too. It's not 2003, but they performed pretty darn well considering their size (and honestly, in spite of it too). If they found their way into finals, I wouldn't be surprised. Klein had an early performance with some bobbles, but I still have them in finals for now. Overall, it's been a fun day. A lot of bands with interesting show concepts and solid performances. I would have been at Area D or H today otherwise, but Area F hasn't disappointed. Excited to see Pearland, Spring and College Park later this afternoon. Depending on who advances to finals, I might go to Area E finals instead. Otherwise I'll stay here at Area F.
  6. I'm at Area F today supporting a friend's program and I've got to say that North Shore was quite impressive. They'll for sure advance to State and may even place somewhere in the top half.
  7. Yes, there will be. Edit: oops, didn't see Xenon's reply!
  8. Only Johnson is missing state. James Bowie, Leander, and Ronald Reagan will all attend, should they advance (and they should all advance).
  9. UIL just isn't everyone's top priority. Some find it too archaic or dislike the time constraints it requires. I would imagine more bands would actually stop going or occasionally opt out if it weren't for heavy amounts of school district and administration pressure to go every year. Perhaps Johnson wants to spend their time focusing purely on Grand Nationals - which makes sense (but does bring up the argument that 2015 or 2017 were just fine years to attend GN as well).
  10. They will all be fine. Their first performances in Indianapolis are all on Friday.
  11. It looks as if we will definitely have a 12 band finals on Wednesday morning!
  12. I don't think this is the strongest Atlanta ever - unfortunate because St Louis was the best it's ever been and San Antonio is shaping up to be a bloodbath (something we say every year, but this is a new standard). I'm not confident in Sherman's chances - they've seemed to have a shaky season. Even in a not-so-tough Atlanta, I'm not sure. However, anything can happen. Fun fact: a Texas band has never missed finals at Atlanta since it became a Super Regional.
  13. http://johnsonband.instantencore.com/web/page.aspx?title=2016+Competitions This is where I found that CTJ intended to only perform in preliminaries. Perhaps it's changed, but there's contradicting information from official sources, it seems.
  14. I've seen Round Rock in person and it's very strong. I thought they would challenge for third at BOA Austin. It's a cleaner effort than both 2012 and 2014 and I would be more than a little shocked if they didn't advance this year. The music book is still toned down from 2011-2014 Round Rock but it's very well done and much more clear.
  15. I'll second LKendrick. Some programs (Marcus and the Woodlands stand out) have well established and even harsh rules on social media and forum posting for good reason. Even things that seem harmless can be misconstrued and directors and show designers and drill writers 1) do look at this forum or 2) can easily be sent a link or a screenshot. I'm a few years removed from my program but I still shy away from saying critical or negative things about other programs here simply because I don't want it to reflect poorly on their success, should someone discover and make a link to my alma mater.
  16. They are enormously high. One culprit is the move to a top and bottom draw. It pretty much creates a not-so-organic gap at the break, especially when the performance differential at the middle of the schedule is large (as it was tonight). Also, strong bands will never go early and set a decent scoring pace, leaving the judges no choice but to pop 19s when BA came around near the end of finals.
  17. It actually seems that CTJ is only performing in Area Prelims according to their website. So that opens up one more spot to advance and in finals. Haven't seen anything conclusive about Reagan following suit.
  18. Texas is actually the only competitive state with hard, prescribed limits. That's because of an arms race of sorts decades ago that led to some bands even practicing on Sundays. Indiana, Florida, Georgia, California, Ohio and Oklahoma all have no such limits from their major marching circuits - all of those states being perhaps the most consequential in band besides Texas. On occasion, band would also skip UIL entirely to get around the 8 hour rule. TEA still limits school week practice to 8 hours, but it opens up Saturdays for practice.
  19. Broken Arrow does up to 20 hours a week depending on if they have Saturday rehearsals or not. A lot of others trend around 10-11. Some calendars are readily available online to see.
  20. The schedule also allows for a lot of bubble band comparison too, which is also nice. Including: Westlake - Cedar Ridge Vista Ridge - Keller Central - Hendrickson - Dripping Springs Rouse - Churchill Oak Ridge - Keller Pretty much the first half of the middle block on Saturday too!
  21. I've always thought that a "bonus" advancer for the area that produced a champion or even a medalist in the last SMBC would be a good way to add breathing room in competitive areas. Area D and Area B could have both used that at times. Or, perhaps, a bonus advancer if every band from a given area makes state finals; a harder target to hit but one that would certainly show worth of an extra advancing unit.
  22. William Mason has been winning regionals in Ohio by an increasing amount of points (2-6!!) for years now against similar bands each year. Yes, the gap in quality between Mason and PCEP is different than Flower Mound and Marcus, but it's still reasonable that Flower Mound can be four points ahead while practicing the same exact amount of time. Unless what you're *actually* trying to suggest through your example is that a band may be breaking the Eight Hour Rule.
  23. I only saw the webcast but Flower Mound honestly looked *that* much ahead. And a finished show, that polished, should score 4 points ahead of the crowd - even when the crowd consists of 3 BOA GN medalists and two other finalists. Flower Mound's win isn't even the most egregious this season in BOA. William Mason won Toledo with an incomplete show by almost 6 points over Plymouth Canton. To be honest, I don't find that suspect either.
  24. It's definitely 1 per 5 starting at 15. That rule isn't written well, but Area D will have a maximum of six advancers. Note where it says should 15 or more qualify, then the 1 per 5 rule kicks in.
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