principalagent

While they likely won't challenge the top 4, I do want to shout out JP Stevens. They were a welcome surprise at BOA Austin, and I think a cleaner ballad may have snuck them into finals. I definitely see them making finals here and possibly grabbing an alternate spot. Hopefully they continue to improve on their current trajectory.

No big changes except for Westlake, Leander ISD, and Judson out.

Everyone else really is playing for the silver this year. That show is built to win. EDIT: Flower Mound won every judge in prelims and all but one judge in Finals - 2nd by .1 in MPE to Hebron. Dominance.

Bell, at least on the webcast, was a notable step up from earlier today with a much better musical run. I think we all know winning is out of the question, but would love to see a medal for them.

Honestly, Flower Mound was the most inexplicably amazing thing I've ever seen on a football field. WOW. Speechless. I don't see anyone beating them in-state all season. Seriously. Period. Probably not even close.

Well Coppell has been one of the strongest bands in the state for a while, but they've had a formula for sure. Very "to the book" and decidedly not progressive classical music without much of a theme, until fairly recently when they started relaxing that - especially in non-State years. Their visual packages have also been... less than interesting. This year shows a marked difference; you can tell it's still Coppell, but there is tons more visual depth and they're playing a much more thought out and unique music book. I'm interested to see what that director team does at Coppell.

If I'm not mistaken, Bell, Coppell, Marcus, and Whitesboro.

Just to be clear, Leander got 2nd and 3rd (each round) at 2014 BOA SA. They had won a regular season regional before in the 90s. Also, a year may not be a while for CTJ, who actually won BOA SA in 2014 and placed 3rd in 2015. I will agree that anything can happen this season, and especially tomorrow!

What UIL says now is correct. The first edition posted in December had some small changes like Cy-Fair being in Area D that they eventually switched back around.

Well it can't be Harrison or Blue Springs since they're not going I think that Homestead has a spectacular show that is going to shine when it's clean. If Owasso and Union are on like last year, they could make those last two spots. Ayala and Wando are also bands to watch for the last couple spots too. I don't think there will be any new bands in GN finals this year, but I would bet on Castle or Franklin if there were.

I think Westlake has a decent shot at state finals, considering their strong start and their typical growth trajectory. The big issue will be making it out of area. Area H could potentially advance only 3 bands, and they would have to fight Vista Ridge for that 3rd spot (who I think could also sneak into finals).

Conroe is definitely one of the harder regionals in the nation to both make finals and win at, but I think Austin and Dallas are both top to bottom more stacked. The last couple of years (and this year should continue the trend), bands that placed towards the bottom of finals at Austin would move up a few places at Conroe.

This is such a clever comment and I'm upset that nobody caught it / directed attention to it. I agree with the above poster who noted that Vandegrift was performing on an extraordinary level at BOA Austin finals. Having been there all day, I completely agree. If they have a performance like that, anything can happen (and a shakier performance by Leander in finals certainly helped too). I think both them and Leander will make a huge splash - I would be a little surprised to see either place out of the top 8, at this point. I've noticed a general shift, especially recently, in UIL judging priorities to more of an achievement model of scoring rather than pure execution, which others have alluded to. I believe this helped CTJ a lot in 2014 and I can only see that helping them, as well as Leander, score well this November.

There's actually only a week between BOA SA and GN this year, with state in between. Leander, Reagan and Johnson will have virtually no extensive practice time except Monday and perhaps Thursday. I would assume they're going to be as ready as they could feasibly be for GN at San Antonio. I am curious about how this will change the pacing calculus of these groups. They won't have the time to make extensive changes or incredible progress like Round Rock did in 2013, Flower Mound in 2014, or Keller last year. But I think the three aforementioned groups in particular won't have a problem scoring very well in Indianapolis this November

Marcus and Hebron better watch out at State. Vandegrift was absolutely incredible in finals. Ridiculously clean and awfully strong. Leander and CTJ are off to impressive starts too. They'll both go way far with complete shows and refining. Two more than solid shows for GN.

At Austin today and Hendrickson is out of this world awesome. So happy for their progress over the past few years. Definitely in the medal hunt tonight.

Also notably, this is the first time a 2A band medaled in Texas in at least a solid decade, and probably closer to 15ish years (maybe Leander or The Colony?). Just kidding - Vandegrift did so at Houston in 2010. Still pretty rare and a nice accomplishment! Bowie is in great shape judging by winning every judge in prelims and finals. Can't wait to see them amongst peer competition in Plano.

1) James Bowie - 77.30 2) Pioneer - 73.30 3) Harlingen - 73.20 4) Lake Travis - 70.15 5) Homer Hanna - 69.10 6) Judson - 68.15 7) Robert Vela - 66.85 8) Edinburg North - 66.15 9) Hidalgo - 65.95 10) Lopez - 62.40 M: James Bowie V: James Bowie GE: James Bowie

But they're playing in the 6A division for this contest.

I think Whitesboro stands a really good chance depending on the prelims days work out. Seeing that they'll like perform on Friday, if the Indiana and Ohio and Kentucky small bands get performance times on Thursday, they can have a clear path to semis - and they would be the first A or AA band from Texas to do so. Even though the race to semis and finals is an absolute mess for the bigger schools (I counted about 37 bands that should be in semis and another 10-15 that would at least be on the bubble in a normal year), this is a relatively calm year for Class A. It would be absolutely amazing to see every Texas band make it to semis and have five make finals again - this is as good a year as any to make that happen.

I went to AISD's Band Jamboree and asked a band parent who confirmed that they're going.

Probably worth noting here that UIL's handbook has been updated to state that should there be 36 or more bands at SMBC, then 12 bands will advance to finals. Finals will also now be a full retreat.

Grulla and Judson not being on that list (especially considering the latter's chance for a medal) calls the whole list into question

I've heard Wes Cartwright is back with LD Bell as a show designer, perhaps full time. If this is true, expect a medal from them.

7:15 Wylie H.S., TX 7:30 Coppell H.S., TX 7:45 L.D. Bell H.S., TX 8:00 James Bowie H.S., TX 8:15 Mansfield H.S., TX 8:30 Lubbock-Cooper H.S., TX 8:45 Wakeland H.S., TX 9:00 Plano East H.S., TX BREAK 9:45 Independence H.S., TX 10:00 Keller Fossil Ridge H.S., TX 10:15 Waxahachie H.S., TX 10:30 Azle H.S., TX 10:45 James Martin H.S., TX 11:00 Whitesboro H.S., TX 11:15 Timber Creek H.S., TX 11:30 Marcus H.S., TX LUNCH 12:30 Prosper H.S., TX 12:45 Carroll H.S., TX 1:00 Keller H.S., TX 1:15 Hebron H.S., TX 1:30 Aledo H.S., TX 1:45 Colleyville Heritage H.S., TX 2:00 Birdville H.S., TX 2:15 Wylie East H.S., TX BREAK 3:00 L.V. Berkner H.S., TX 3:15 Keller Central H.S., TX 3:30 Byron Nelson H.S., TX 3:45 Lake Hamilton H.S., AR 4:00 Liberty H.S., TX 4:15 Winston Churchill H.S., TX 4:30 Southwest H.S., TX 4:45 Flower Mound H.S., TX 5:00 Exhibition: University of Texas at Arlington Music Panel – Chip Crotts, Matt Harloff, David McGrath, Kyle Young Visual Panel – Michael Gray, Frank Miller, Juno Orefice Chief Judge – Gary Markham