natertater21000

It’s not a rampant problem by any means but you’d be surprised.

The biggest difference in rehearsal time comes from some out of state bands using off Saturdays as essentially extra summer band days. With an 8-noon and a 1-5 rehearsal block. There are other differences that don’t involve rehearsal time as well. Carmel’s marching band for example is entirely voluntary. It isn’t like Texas where if you’re in band you do marching in the fall and concert in the spring. If you just want to do concert and pass on the marching you can. This means that every single student on the field for Carmel specifically chose to be in the marching band. That’s not always the case in Texas even within the top programs.

Cedar park vs Leander is probably bigger than CP vs Rouse which is relatively new. The CP/Leander rivalry has been around since the mid 2000’s. these days I’m not sure rivalry is the right word though, lots of positivity and support in the competitiveness of LISD these days

This is missing Cedar Park with a 90.65 at BOA SA.

Another strange thing to think about That’s not far from how the honor band taping process works…with human judges of course.

imagine a future where you have to upload the score and drill book into a contest computer and it judges your accuracy and spacing down to the inches.

This has more to do with different judges grading their individual sub captions during different runs and getting different results. These are still students after all so completely consistent run through quality (while that is the ultimate goal) is a bit of a myth. There is also the small amount of luck involved in where the judges eye happened to be in any given moment. As an example-Maybe the flutes on side two in the opener have had foot timing issues throughout the year. During pre lims the judge happened to be looking at side one and completely missed it. This ended in a higher individual marching score as a result. The judges in semis and finals did happen to be looking at side two in that moment and caught the small timing error. It's all how the individual numbers add up in the end. The judges don't all go meet in a huddle at the end of the show and decide on an overall ranking.

Of course, I would imagine the nastier comments on Instagram come from disgruntled students (or I would certainly hope that's the case) I don't ever look at the Instagram posts of the rankings.

The primary issue is the rankings routinely go against what the HornRank website says their process is. BOA is weighted higher (except when it's not) Finals results outweigh Pre lims (except when they don't) Head to head scores are valued over speculation (at least until the last 2 seasons) Do they matter? no. Do they effect/influence anything? no. But (and this is just my opinion) when you head the most viewed and popular ranking system for marching bands across the country, there is a certain level of responsibility to be as meticulous and "accurate" as possible that comes with it. It's also crazy to me how most of the people on Horn Rank can't seem to stand ANY criticism of the rankings. The moment any legitimate concern is brought up it's "UGH guys they're just for fun" or the comments are simply turned off lol.

The Woodlands are incredible all the way around but the guard is actually something else entirely. Absolutely INSANE ensemble timing.

Exactly, School districts don't just hand the band program a mountain of cash and say "now go win state!"

I think this is a very common misconception when it comes to a lot of these bands. I don't know a single school district that gives their bands a full budget to fund the entire show. Leander raised over 100,000 dollars through their March-a-thon fundraiser and every last dollar was spent on the show. Transportation, food, contest registration, props, drill, music, etc. These bands work extremely hard on and off the field to make everything happen.

Good grief Hebron...I'm just sad I will not get to have seen the show live.

100%

@2ndgenbandmom75 The horn rank rankings don’t even acknowledge head to head scores at BOA contests at this point, I wouldn’t worry about them.

Leander going from 1st in brass in pre lims to 7th in finals is a pretty crazy swing.

Marcus from 2004-2014 is the only other streak that can compare. Truly an incredible and historic accomplishment!

Wow, just WOW

It's the same piece of music

Aside from a very brief (usually 2 or 3 evenings in may) marching band camp for the incoming 8th graders, they are not taught any marching fundamentals at the middle school level. A fairly decent number of the middle schools in Leander ISD do have guard programs that primarily teach the fundamentals of flag work.

Anyone having trouble finding today’s stream on NFHS? I’m only seeing options for tomorrow afternoon.

I found it to be quite effective as well, generally speaking.

The SA super regional never disappoints. last night was filled with so many amazing performances from top to bottom. Huge night for Leander ISD which has had an insane amount of success over the past decade. There have been 10 SA supers from fall 2013 to now (no contest in 2020) and here is how the district has stacked up. Vandegrift- Attended all 10 and made finals at all 10, placing in the top half 7 of those times (2013,2016,2017,2018,2019,2021,2022, and 2023) and placed on the podium 4 of those times. 3rd overall in 2017, 2nd overall in 2019 and 2021, and of course 1st overall in 2023. Leander- Attended 9 of the 10 and made finals 7 times. They placed in the top half 4 of those times (2014,2016,2018, and 2019) and placed on the podium twice. 3rd overall in 2014 and 2016. Cedar Park- Attended all 10 and made finals 8 times. They placed in the top half twice (2014,2015) Vista Ridge-Attended all 10 and made finals 6 times. They placed in the top half 4 times (2018,2019,2022,2023) and placed on the podium once with third overall in 2019. Rouse-Attended all 10 and made finals twice. They also performed as the class 2A champion in 2018. They placed in the top half for this first time this year, and I expect we’ll see more from them in the future. Last night was also the second time ever that 5 LISD bands made finals with the first being in 2021. I have no doubt Glenn will follow a similar trajectory in the years to come.

It’s actually only been 2 competitive seasons. It just feels like a long time due to covid. Vandy won the music caption at SA in 2019.

10, 9, 8, and 7 all within a single point! Those recaps can’t come soon enough