rocketfan86

Thanks for the kind words... I haven't been back to the SMBC since 2015 since Alamodome started cracking down on spectators bring in recording equipment such as the simple digital camcorder and external audio recorder. That year, I had my tripod confiscated but luckily had a small Gorillapod tucked away in my backpack... this was before Alamodome banned regular backpacks from being brought into the stadium. I perched myself into the camera-well high above the crowd along the 50 yard line at the top of the Alamodome. With how many bands performed in a block and how far away the concessions and restrooms were, it was difficult being a one-man operation. My brother was unable to join me in watching the bands that year. That's why I only did prelims because I was so exhausted. I do not think there is any way one could record the entire contest today. For now, I am content just going back to my home region (10) and recording/posting all the marching bands from there.

It's great to see the military bands (Kingwood and Atascocita) compete in open class... perhaps they compete next year in the military class with the combined 5A/6A state contest?

I will be on site for the Region 10 contest. I know there is at least one other person on this thread that will be at the contest too. I want to point out that the two 6A bands in Region 10 cannot advance past region since they are both competing as non-varsity bands.

Cool, the military band that went open class made the state!

These were pretty much the bands I expected to make finals. I did not expect my alma mater to make finals. There a lot of strong bands in 10 and 4. Splendora is an interesting newcomer.

I rewatched their performance from a week ago but I'd still say they are marching military style. In fact, their show design looks similar to the times they qualified for 4A state competition. Unless they are doing something drastically different between their region contest to area, they are still marching 6-5 with some well-known marches + some interesting percussion feature with a pit and showcasing their woodwinds for some technical runs. Here is an archive of the 1A, 2A, 4A, 5A contest from Region 4 back on October 12. https://c.streamhoster.com/embed/media/WasBNW/OkdiSASLs2B/r/kgas10122021 Their performance is around the 6 hour 3 minute mark.

While I understand that argument about band size, check out this school from the 2015 UIL 2A State Marching Contest. Sundown HS has ~150 in the band in this video while just checking the Legacy HS video posted minutes ago, has ~120 members. I do no not think Sundown HS can compete with similar sized bands from 4A, 5A, 6A classifications.

These are the 4A Area C Finalists: Lumberton Bridge City Pleasant Grove North Lamar Brownsboro Liberty-Eylau Little Cypress-Mauriceville Paris Spring Hill Henderson

i did not stay for finals. I was too tired. I am slowly posting them. I have 14/23 bands uploaded as I type this. You know where to find my videos. My brother and I will be at state recording 1A/2A prelims and 4A finals.

I had Friendswood, Dawson, and Tomball Memorial advancing to state but was very surprised at Barbers Hill. They have been 3A for a long time and moved up to 4A back in 2007 i think. They made the state marching band contest twice in 1998 and 2000 as 3A. They had a nice clean James Bond show but didn't expect them to make the finals much less state. I was disappointed Lumberton didn't make it. I saw all the Area F bands yesterday and Lumberton had one of the largest crowd reactions of the contest behind Dawson and Friendswood. Too bad there wasn't 25+ bands at the contest. Congratulations to all the advancing bands from Area F. One other thing, I was trying to record all the prelims but i couldn't get a clear video of Friendswood. Some over-exhuberant parent was waving miniature flags and couldn't find a good shot around her and ending up missing a good part of Friendswood's opener.

I didn't march military in high school but have a healthy respect for the marching style. I don't think Nederland will be in it. They never choose to participate in area. I questioned this and a student did ask their director. This is from a youtube comment they posted. "Alright so I got my band directors to answer why we don't go....apparently they're are certain things on the area contest judging rubric that we don't follow and therefore if we went would automatically lose points. One of my directors mentioned something about it with us not having a pit...and we, well, would ever use one of those. We just don't go because its a waste of a weekend apparently."

Yeah, i saw Tomball Memorial at the Galena Park marching festival and they were great! Oh, 4A Region 17 is done and Dawson, Friendswood, and Texas City made 1s. I went to school in Region 10 and it seems like Area F never had enough bands to have even 3 advance to state.

I have been watching some of the 4A Area F regions go today. Region 10 had 7 bands qualify this past Saturday. 1 band will probably no go because they never partcipate in Area. Region 19 had 6 bands qualify this past Saturday. Region 9 today had ALL 8 4A bands make a 1!!! That's at least 20 bands and we're still waiting for Region 17 scores to come up! This would be the first time Area F has a prelims and finals since I can remember! Potentially 4 bands going to state from Area F with Pearland Dawson and Friendswood going for sure barring anything catostrophic.