LHSax

Really surprised to see that Spicer didn't end up at Glenn instead...Really odd to see him bounce around the way he has...don't really know what is end game is. Either way, whatever he touches turns to gold, so good for Rouse!

Always wondered what a Cedar Park show would be like if they played some contemporary music. If I'm not mistaken, I don't believe they've played anything contemporary in at least the last decade? (maybe I missed something). Don't get me wrong, I love what they do with the classics, and they practically play these pieces straight from the original sheet music. But that raw power and technique applied to some of the music of contemporary composers? I have a feeling it would be stunning. I think the same could be said for Vandy as well? Although they have a little more modern take on some of these classics. Guess I just wanna see them get out of their comfort zone a little bit. I can dream!

I still wonder how the finals draw ended up working out that way...The LISD bands seemed very intentionally placed. Maybe it was random...but I do think it worked out well because a very direct comparison of these top bands was allowed. Would've been a little more dramatic if the they were the last 4 bands as opposed to the first 4 Great finals overall though. VERY strong collection of bands that will only get stronger in the next cycle. Someone remind me...which LISD schools are going 6A next year? (I know this has been rehashed multiple times) These upgraded band(s) will definitely give us a feel for how 5A/6A state measure up to each other. I really do think the top 5-6 bands would be competitive for 6A finals, and I think the medalists in 5A would have a shot at the same in 6A.

Results already up! Wow! vandy and CP tie, but CP takes the tiebreaker!

Dripping Springs gets overshadowed a bit by the LISD bands, but they still perform some of the cleanest shows I've ever seen. I have no idea how they get their show that spotless!

5 Area D, 4 Area B and Waxahachie. No real surprises here. The judges are gonna get a reallllly good comparison of the LISD bands. There's no way that's random, right? What could possibly be the chances the 4 of them would start out finals?

Leander/Cedar Park are just on a completely different level then the rest of this competition. It's them, then everyone else. As to who takes gold tonight, I have no idea. But there's your 1-2.

I'm not a drumline guy, and rarely notice them, but Vandy's drumline is on freaking fire! They command your attention! This show has really grown on me throughout the year.

Would hate to be BOA's phone today

Geez...what a mess. No one to blame but the weather though. I'm sure BOA and the school districts are doing all they can to make this work. I do feel that the school districts are being a bit overprecautionary though...but then again I'm in Dallas and not Austin. Better safe than sorry I suppose. To add to the misfortune, a lot of these bands that may not get to play are premier programs that will likely compete for finals spots. Drumlins battle for the final spots??? Lol

While I don't read much into these...It does bring up a good point that no one has repeated since Bell in 08-09, which is awesome...we've also had 4 different champions in the last 4 years. I predict a 5th different one this year

This part still wow's me in Vista's show. It gets a little overlooked because they make it looks so easy somehow...but they're not only playing in 7/8 and 9/8 sometimes...they're marching 4/4 (5/4?) at times, while playing 9/8 music...Still have no idea how they pull that off so well.

While it creates some issues, I'm gonna play devils advocate here and agree with PA...this was obviously a move to allow for those 1A schools to get a chance to perform in front of a substantial crowd, and I honestly think it's a pretty admirable move if this is the case. Logistics wise, yeah, its causes some weird obstacles, but as PA mentioned, this will likely give these schools a chance to play for a crowd 10 times larger than what they've seen before. UIL will get some upset parents over this move...but I say kudos for understanding that the whole point of UIL is to give schools of all sizes a platform to create memorable/once in a lifetime experiences, and I think this does that.

I think one of the major faults in your argument is that not a single judge agrees with you, in the entire day. I understand being upset by highly inconsistent judges (kind of), but there's not much to be upset by in this specific competition because the judging was impressively consistent. So unless they were ALL "looking at butterflies," it seems your opinion is the outlier. Also, "falls" are rarely if ever a reason for judges to deduct from a show. Falls are freak things that happen to everyone, and aren't necessarily a reflection of the quality of a show. Its also very hard to make the UIL vs BOA case against dripping springs, as they have historically leaned much more of a UIL friendly show designs, and are consistently a fine example of cleanliness vs "showiness" McCallum had one of the best placements at this competition they've ever had and should be quite proud of it, but unfortunately ran into 5 of the best bands in the state in this competition. I hope they can build on this momentum and continue to improve in the upcoming years.

I guess the only way for LISD to improve on last cycles medal sweep is to sweep the top 4. These 4 were obviously a level above the rest (drip settled nicely into 5th) and while they'll get slightly stiffer competition at state, I still think it'll be an internal affair for 1st place, and for the bronze. And as you mentioned PA, I think all of these bands will do well this weekend as well.

Some of the most consistent prelims judging I've ever seen at this competition! We'll see if it stays that way tonight.

Supposed top 10 in prelims (someone else will need to confirm these) 1). Leander HS 2). Cedar Park HS 3). Vandegrift HS 4). Vista Ridge HS 5). Dripping Springs HS 6). McCallum HS 7). Seguin HS 8). Connally HS 9). Bryan HS 10). Temple HS Looks pretty much as predicted at the top.

Good to see some non-Austin based bands in 5A finals for once though!

The really tricky part about predicting this contest is the historical peaking of a lot bands this year. You have the traditional powers (bands that have been near the top the last 10 years) Woodlands Marcus Bowie The new powers (bands that have established themselves the last few years) CTJ Hebron Leander And the new contenders (bands that have had great success early this year) Reagan (yes, theve been established for a while, but they're finally a contender this year) Flowermound Combine all these and you have a formula for a ridiculously unpredictable competition. I once made a post (about 4-5 years ago) that asked if TX bands had become too predictable, with Marcus/LD Bell dominating every competition for 4-5 years. Well that era has obviously ended and the chance for a band to really dominate over multiple years (what I called a "dynasty") really seems limited at this point. And I couldn't be more excited about that! This is gonna be fun!

The interesting curve ball re-scheduling puts into this is how the directors plan out rehearsals leading up to Monday. Normally Saturday contests work well, because you have rehearsals all week, a game on friday, and then you carry the show momentum into the competition on saturday. The bands likely won't get a chance to rehearse (at least outdoors) friday-sunday, and will come into monday a bit "cold." Plot twist!

Eh, there is no perfect system. It's an unbelievably subjective activity with so many nuances, pieces and parts that its hard to have judges that all agree. That's the beauty of the activity though! If results were consistent and all judges agreed on everything in a perfect world, then we might as well just have robot judges. They would scan the entire show, measure spacing between marchers through out, calculate timing of the feet, detect intonation, and generally analyze everything and insert into a complex equation and pop out a score! Guess that would really be the only "fair" judge. But luckily for us, that wouldn't work...because it's marching band! It's emotional, it's thought-provoking, it's an art! The beauty of the way these things are scored, is that you have to create, develop and mold a show that has the ability to please a variety of potential judges looking specifically at a wide variety of elements, within the context of dozens of other shows they're comparing to yours. There isn't an equation for a perfect show, it requires a balance of difficulty and cleanliness that peaks at all the right times. Designers/directors do everything they can to put their band in the place to please the largest percentage of people, but in the end, it comes down to a single viewing, by a few specific people personally witnessing a few elements of a show filled with thousands of them. It boggles my mind that people expect consistency among judges, when there's so many things at play upon a viewing of a marching band show, and especially upon viewing dozens of marching shows in a day. "Slotting," as it's so endearingly called, is part of the process! It's part of trying to make an art quantifiable, that is tricky, but inevitable. These shows don't happen in a perfect bubble. They happen throughout the ebb and flow of a marching band contest, and that just adds another layer to this beautiful tiramisu cake we call marching band. Looks tasty doesn't it? /rant

To be clear, I think there's a a pretty defined top 5 and if I were a betting man (side note - could you imagine and illegal underground marching band gambling ring?) I would easily put money on the 5 that have been mentioned. 9 out of 10 times I think these bands would advance in this contest. But that 10th time becomes more likely with a rainy prelims only day.

This is my fear. That a deserving band will be left out because of classic weird prelim judging. Based on the schedule it wouldn't surprise me one bit if Conally snuck in again. Just a hunch based on my knowledge of how judges are influenced by flow of bands (I'm a firm believer in this)

If there were a finals in this contest, I would say the top 5 are pretty tight and all but locked up. However, seeing as we will likely only get prelims, I think how the draw works out can definitely have some influence in throwing us some curve balls. We've seen in the past in this contest how much things can change from prelims to finals. When do we know the schedule for this? Then I'll give my level of confidence in our top 5

This would be great news for Area D! Bad news for the rest of the state People consistently ask why there's so much focus on Area D bands on the site. Well it's partially because most of the users here are from Centex. But here's the other reason - Fun numbers from the past 4 rounds of UIL 5A State (previously 4A) 15/16 Area D bands advancing to State have made state finals (potential for 5 for 5 this year?) 7/12 medals have gone to Area D Last 3 gold medalists have come from area D, with three different bands winning those. Will there be a 4th this year?