slowbrass

I think it’s pretty common practice for the 6a finals hopefuls to spend that extra day between BOA and state in San Antonio rehearsing and letting their students do class work. that’s the case for a lot of DFW area groups at least

Not a big fan of Hebron’s ensemble visual this year. As people have previously stated, they’re moving better and faster than ever, but it’s going to be a pain to get clean. Everything looks sort of blobby even when the feet are in time. Vandegrift on the other hand has a really great look IMO, just very challenging. I think they’re on schedule to peak precisely on finals night for state. Flower Mound also looks really good, their choreo is probably my favorite of any band this year. Music hasn’t cleaned up as fast as in previous years, but then again they’re on a different timetable. I’ve got them medaling at the very least here, regardless of who else is on the podium. I’d be kind of surprised to see this show win, but also not really. They are Flower Mound, after all. CTJ could absolutely take this thing, just depends on how much they can get done in the next week plus. They strike the balance between demand and showmanship really well. Vista Ridge I think has the furthest to go cleanliness wise, which is great for them because they have Grand ambitions. I don’t think it’ll be at the level of the other bands yet, but I’m not a judge or a band director.

I’m glad you said that about the props in particular, Hebron’s set pieces have always left something to be desired. I almost think the show would be better off without all the pens cluttering the field, especially since the drill doesn’t seem to really care whether a student is standing right behind one or not. I’m hoping that Hebron’s new CG head/show designer can help them grow in that aspect. It is a marching band /show/ after all.

CTJ, Reagan, The Woodlands, Vandegrift, Vista Ridge, Hebron, Marcus, Cedar Ridge, Cedar Park, Leander, Rouse, Keller, Coppell all feel like firm finalists to me right now. Kinda crazy.

FloMo is the prohibitive favorite. But I’m having a little trouble keeping track of who’s actually attending state and who isn’t.

Honestly I’ve got more doubts about Reagan after tonight than Vandegrift.

I’m dying for some recaps over here

advancing groups: 5th - Wylie4th - Sachse3rd - Marcus2nd - HebronArea Champion - Flower Mound congrats to everyone! And nice job sachse

Duncanville was also 3rd in prelims, but fell to 7th in finals. All in all, the spread from 4th to 8th in finals consisted of only 6 points.

Bell was 4th in prelims, and actually tied with Timber Creek for 5th in finals. However, Timber Creek won the tiebreaker.

Bell didn’t advance? Wow

Predictions? I’ll start - 1. FloMo 2. Hebron 3. Marcus 4. Prosper 5. Wylie 6. Plano East 7. Sachse 8. McKinney Boyd 9. Rockwall 10. Allen predictions are hard.

Its pretty clear now that they’re playing the long game. I think they may have the most demanding show of the all potential finalists except Broken Arrow.

Area Champion - Vista Ridge 2nd Place - Vandegrift 3rd Place - Westlake 4th Place - Lake Travis

Wylie! That was powerful. Also we out here

Vista ridge by one point!

Have to respect Allen for what they can do with so many members (600+!), they sound really good. I shudder to think about what they could do with a smaller competitive group.

Pretty sure, just saw them tonight at a football game and they had fleshed it out quite a lot. It hasn’t been Hebron’s MO to do a different ending for UIL and BOA since 2014. If anything, the tag ending is the one we saw at BOA Dallas.

It’s a completely random draw as far as I know. Sucks big time.

Yes to both, about 20-30 seconds worth I’d say. Not a ton but it gives the show a bit more finality, especially from a music standpoint.

Just saw Hebron’s new closer 🏎🏎🏎

Better hope your director doesn’t browse here!

The only other group that could really match their presence was LD Bell.

That’s really awful. I will say that there are some directors who are stricter than others about conduct while in uniform/at a contest. But I don’t think any of them would be ok with that.

Got the chance to see Flower Mound in person last night. From what I saw, I think they have a bit more planned for the vocal soloists from the tuba feature. I hadn’t noticed it before (possibly due to only seeing videos until now) but that group of five or so marchers spend the rest of the show without instruments. They still have their own drill and choreography though. In general they’re sounding pretty good, /very/ loud.