slowbrass

Hebron very quietly dropped their show title via press release a few days ago: “Penstriped.” Community preview show is on Saturday at 11.

I remember one BOA Dallas back in 2013, it was probably a little less hot than it is right now in McAllen but the effect was much the same. One of our quad players fainted marching off the field and nearly cracked the back of his head open. Too bad we can’t get more indoor venues for these contests.

I’ll trade someone a Hebron vid for a glimpse of CTJ lol, I’ve been looking forward to hearing them. edit: dang, you guys weren’t kidding

This may be the best woodlands show since 2013 (in my opinion). I’m gonna be so sad if they end up pulling out!

I was at that game too! Pretty cool to see a marching band on a baseball field. I believe the show title was “Pinstripe” or “Pinstriped.” And yes, that Church Windows hit was something!

It’s possible they don’t want to “tip their hand” with only a few weeks to grand nats, with a show that’s likely more demanding than the average year and on an extended timeline in terms of cleanliness. Or perhaps just getting to use those days for rehearsal is reason enough. No matter what, I’m expecting big things from them.

I love how so many Texas bands have such distinct identities. Flower Mound has become known for impressionistic shows about art and artists, ctj are the innovators who excel in both traditional marching and their own brand of experimental visuals, and now the woodlands seems to be leaning into Broadway-esque big band music. I’m really excited for them, they’re a group that’s always just one great design away from the podium.

Dang Hebron, congrats on sweeping the two visual judges! That’s what I call marching and playing 😎

Really enjoyed following all the groups this year even if these state finals felt like a bit of an anticlimax. Congrats to CTJ, it was cool to hear them referencing shows that they had originally performed while I was still marching alongside and against them. FloMo, loved your rocky point. I have to echo LCG’s sentiment though, seeing Hebron fall short again is hard to swallow. I hope the kids understand just how impressive it is to even reach second place and that they’re doing all the alumni proud. 4 second place finishes and a fourth place is an incredible decade for this program.

I think if there was a world class corps that had a more established/storied history in Texas it would be a lot different. Crossmen have been the only representative until Genesis joined WC, and as great as Bones has been, they only moved to Texas in 2007. I had always heard that Texas ‘adopted’ the cavaliers, and lots of people are aware of the pipeline UNT has to Rennick groups. A truly Texan corps would be incredible though, as I can’t even count on my fingers how many people I know personally who marched BD, BC, Cadets, Vanguard, Phantom etc during high school and college. How does “Star of Texas” sound?

Hebron is gonna be playing the old marching band standby St Michael the Archangel this year, along with some more deliciously fugal and low brass heavy symphonic music. Didn’t recognize most of it instantly from a recording I heard, but it’ll be great to hear them return to a classical repertoire.

Congrats to Vandegrift! texas has sorely missed the eagle. And I'm glad Hebron won the music caption, not only because they deserve recognition for the challenging repertoires they perform every year, but also because when I saw their standstill preview way back in august, I predicted they'd win it so thanks for proving me right guys

vandysweep, has a first time attendee ever done that?

That's a bummer. In that case I'll try my hand at a few predictions; it's crazy how much more competitive the activity is than when I was doing it. Leander sweeps 3a (duh) Class 4a goes Vandy, Avon, Hebron Avon takes visual, vandy takes GE, Hebron takes music (could go to them or Vandy but imo hebron has closed the cleanliness gap enough for their repertoire to make it a tough decision for the judges) CTJ makes the top 6, Woodlands is the top group in the bottom half And finally, these finals are going to be the most epic thing in marching band history EDIT: rewatching carmel, I think they might actually take visual, which could be enough to bump hebron out of 3rd in 4a. But who knows?

Will the scores from semis be available before finals? Or do we have to wait for the whole contest to finish up