LHSax

San Antonio in 2017 was my first BOA experience and first time seeing some of the top tier bands live (had just been to regional stuff up in the panhandle prior to that).
Hebron came on in prelims and good lord. I knew on video they sounded incredible and that they were one of the better playing bands, but I wasn't ready for the volume they had and the clarity of everything they did. The opening minutes of that show with the woodwinds multiple tonguing and their mellos just tearing it up was pretty overwhelming.
That whole weekend was mind blowing, definitely still my favorite set of shows top to bottom of the three years I've gone live and the ~10 years of following the activity.  
Very eye opening to what high school kids are capable of.  

Thanks, Daniel, A lot of great points in this that are worth in depth discussion (since that's all we can do this time of year, right??) Appreciate the facts that are based in the reality of the situation, while maintaining a sliver of hope we all have.
First, I'll show some appreciation for TXbands statement on current events. It's extremely important in all communities for this to be discussed, especially in groups as diverse and tight knit as band families are.
 
As for the pandemic response,  I think the harsh reality for me is that, marching band isn't as important to most of the world and this state as it is to those on these forums. We all love marching band...that's why we're here, that's why you're listening to this and reading this comment. But there's two things we have to remember-
1. For most of the population, marching bands exist to support football teams. That's just a harsh reality. Yeah, those who don't use halftime for the bathroom or snack lines will support the band with half-hearted applause, but the band is just there to fill the gaps between football plays. We saw this last year with some of the controversial decisions of some districts forcing bands to attend football games in conflict with their own competitions. With that in mind, I don't think districts will be willing to put their necks out as much for bands and their competitive schedules as they are football teams. That goes not just for bands, but for other associated groups as well (cheerleaders, dance teams, etc). 
2. There are very supportive and amazing parents (many who post here) who realize how important competitive marching band is to these kids. They will support a marching season as if nothing is happening in the world, because they realize how much this means to them. But harsh reality #2 is that this isn't (I would guess) a majority of parents. I would guess (I'm not a parent, so I could be wrong), that most parents wouldn't want to put their children's health at risk for something, that while life-skill building, is EXTRA-curricular. I think if band season were to go "completely as planned" this puts a lot of pressure on these families to make a very hard decision between pleasing and protecting their children. And that's not a decision I admire any parent, or band director for that matter, for having to make. Football's a bit different. These kids are often playing for their chance (and sometimes only chance) at going to/affording college. Their futures sometimes DEPEND on being able to play and prove themselves on the field (that's an unfortunate reality, but one not meant for this board). No one is basing their college future on marching band. 
 
These two points have me thinking (and I open this as a question) - at what point is a watered down competitive season not worth it? Is a season still worth it if bands can't travel? Is a season still worth it if competitions have no fans? Is a season worth it if full participation in "normal" schedules isn't allow till mid-september? Is a season worth it if UIL/districts reduce allowed hours by half?
At what point is reduction in what is allowed worth investing in competitive shows, rather than pushing to the following year? We obviously don't know what UIL/Music for all/school districts will do yet, and won't till likely July, so just trying to preemptively ask what-ifs? 

Thanks, Daniel, A lot of great points in this that are worth in depth discussion (since that's all we can do this time of year, right??) Appreciate the facts that are based in the reality of the situation, while maintaining a sliver of hope we all have.
First, I'll show some appreciation for TXbands statement on current events. It's extremely important in all communities for this to be discussed, especially in groups as diverse and tight knit as band families are.
 
As for the pandemic response,  I think the harsh reality for me is that, marching band isn't as important to most of the world and this state as it is to those on these forums. We all love marching band...that's why we're here, that's why you're listening to this and reading this comment. But there's two things we have to remember-
1. For most of the population, marching bands exist to support football teams. That's just a harsh reality. Yeah, those who don't use halftime for the bathroom or snack lines will support the band with half-hearted applause, but the band is just there to fill the gaps between football plays. We saw this last year with some of the controversial decisions of some districts forcing bands to attend football games in conflict with their own competitions. With that in mind, I don't think districts will be willing to put their necks out as much for bands and their competitive schedules as they are football teams. That goes not just for bands, but for other associated groups as well (cheerleaders, dance teams, etc). 
2. There are very supportive and amazing parents (many who post here) who realize how important competitive marching band is to these kids. They will support a marching season as if nothing is happening in the world, because they realize how much this means to them. But harsh reality #2 is that this isn't (I would guess) a majority of parents. I would guess (I'm not a parent, so I could be wrong), that most parents wouldn't want to put their children's health at risk for something, that while life-skill building, is EXTRA-curricular. I think if band season were to go "completely as planned" this puts a lot of pressure on these families to make a very hard decision between pleasing and protecting their children. And that's not a decision I admire any parent, or band director for that matter, for having to make. Football's a bit different. These kids are often playing for their chance (and sometimes only chance) at going to/affording college. Their futures sometimes DEPEND on being able to play and prove themselves on the field (that's an unfortunate reality, but one not meant for this board). No one is basing their college future on marching band. 
 
These two points have me thinking (and I open this as a question) - at what point is a watered down competitive season not worth it? Is a season still worth it if bands can't travel? Is a season still worth it if competitions have no fans? Is a season worth it if full participation in "normal" schedules isn't allow till mid-september? Is a season worth it if UIL/districts reduce allowed hours by half?
At what point is reduction in what is allowed worth investing in competitive shows, rather than pushing to the following year? We obviously don't know what UIL/Music for all/school districts will do yet, and won't till likely July, so just trying to preemptively ask what-ifs? 

I agree with most things you post on this board, so happy to have an open discussion about it...
One of my main concerns is - what happens when a student tests positive for COVID...Does the entire band suddenly quarantine for 2 weeks? Are we gonna see performances where half the band is missing...particularly later in the season when kids just generally get sick when it gets cold anyway? I know there have been instances in the past where bands (especially in DCI) have gotten hit HARD by just basic stomach viruses...The fact is, marching band is the PERFECT conduit for the spread of this virus. Students are breathing A LOT, masks aren't feasible, students spend significant amounts of time within feet of each other. 
I can certainly see a world where Texas tries to have a normal football/marching season, that pretty quickly gets canceled as soon as we see a single death from a student athlete/band member/cheerleader. I also read some interesting points (Again, reading about the NBA season), that while these kids can generally withstand the virus, a lot of the directors are part of the vulnerable population. 
I'll always re-iterate that I freaking love marching band. That's no secret. I want the season as much as anyone (Except maybe the kids who get to march). I feel awful particularly for seniors...but some things are more important.
 

Plenty of news and notes to go over this week!!

:29 - TxBands.com Statement Recap
1:16 - Summer Marching Band Begins!
5:34 - BOA Regional Lists Delay
8:22 - Harsh Reality #1
13:18 - Prediction About Fans In Stands
14:20 - Context Regarding Fans In Stands
24:38 - Alan Sharps Tribute

 

I try really hard to look at things objectively.  There are a lot of factors here that lots of folks may not take into consideration.  
This is a state year for 6A. With the guidelines from UIL good for the summer, it's hard to imagine what life might look like in March.  Financial. Some parents may not be in a position to afford to send their kid to GN that they may have been in March. Personal. Some parents may not be comfortable sending their kids on a plane after Covid-19. The District - Who knows what their thoughts on all of this travel may be. The fact that some state colleges are laying off staff already, and making drastic changes at the academic level by shutting schools down after November 24th, I can't imagine what that might do to schools.  
Now, as a parent, I'm super devastated for the kids, and especially my girl.  This is supposed to be the time of her life. Right now, her focus should be her senior year.  Now she's starting to look beyond that because, well, in her words, "It's almost like this whole thing is making me feel like I shouldn't even bother. There is literally nothing to get excited about."  Cruel words to hear from a 17 year old.
 
I need marching band to happen.  I need to see Westwood put on a top notch show and I need to see them go to State because they are that good.  Do I know that's gonna happen? Nope. But I'm praying hard every day for every high school kid out there that they get some semblance of normal for the next school year.
 
Oh..and eff you Covid.

Think the writing is on the wall here...think there's a slim chance there's a BOA circuit this year, a slimmer chance that there's a true "grand nationals," and an even slimmer chance that Texas bands make this trek if it does happen. Westwood certainly won't be the last Texas group to drop out (assuming music for all doesn't cancel it entirely first). 
Reading about the NBA "season" they're planning during the same time frame as marching season, and the EXTREME precautions their taking to make it possible, just doesn't make me very optimistic that something at the scale of marching band can happen this fall.
I really don't mean to be doom and gloom...just expressing my fears.

To The Senior Class Of 2020...

 

Gotta love the amount of momentum our groups have going into an Indy trip next year. Literally every single one of these groups might be coming off one of the best years of their program’s history.

Gotta love the amount of momentum our groups have going into an Indy trip next year. Literally every single one of these groups might be coming off one of the best years of their program’s history.

Gotta love the amount of momentum our groups have going into an Indy trip next year. Literally every single one of these groups might be coming off one of the best years of their program’s history.

Gotta love the amount of momentum our groups have going into an Indy trip next year. Literally every single one of these groups might be coming off one of the best years of their program’s history.

I had a similar conversation with some friends a few weeks ago. Back in the 90s into the middle of the 2000s, there was an understanding that there were Four Horsemen of Texas Bands: Tom Shine of Duncanville, Scott Mason of Coppell, Phil Geiger of Westfield, and Scott McAdow of Langham Creek. These four directors had a strong hold on marching band--especially for UIL, but also for BOA in the case of Westfield--and pretty much a complete lock on concert band until Bell, Reagan and Marcus started to really shake this up. In particular, Duncanville had an unrivaled consistency in both marching and concert band, Westfield had an unmatched two decades of dominance in marching band, Langham Creek had a reputation for legendary concert performances while also fielding a consistently strong band, and Coppell set numerous and continuous all-state records in multiple classes. Now that all of these directors are retired, or sadly deceased, we tried to put together the next four for now.
 
We came to more or less a consensus on:
 
Mike Howard, Vandegrift
Andy Sealy, Hebron
 
as the two most obvious choices. Even if they weren't your one and two (though there's plenty of reason both should be), there was no way they weren't in your top four. Brent Biskup at Flower Mound seemed to emerge as a third. The fourth spot got interesting as there were clear pros but some slight cons to move into the fourth (or third) slot. We ultimately had five names that kept getting thrown out.
 
George Trevino, Lopez (undeniably strong concert band, marching band very overshadowed by the others)
Dan Morrison, Reagan (no big wins yet outside SA just this year, but clear and consistent strength across categories)
Jarrett Lipman, CTJ (all state numbers only rivaled by FloMo, generally strong BOA performances but no medals yet at GN, weaker in UIL than others)
Joni Perez, The Woodlands (GN win, dominance in region of state, representation, but concert side behind the rest of the groups)
Steve Wessels, Cedar Park (dominance in class, but slight backsliding against the 6As recently)
 
At that point, it was just what did you prize most in a band. If you cared about concert band above all, Trevino would take a spot. Consistency? Morrison. Class representation? Wessels. Big wins? Perez or Lipman. Strong cases for all, as all are amazing directors in their own right. And of course, there's still Selaiden at Leander, Christian at Vista Ridge, McGahey at Keller, and the list goes on and on.

The main reason I would pull back from calling Vandegrift "band of the decade" is because their real dominating success has only come much more recently.  After the bronze medal they won at BOA Conroe in 2010, Vandegrift competed at 12 more BOA regionals and didn't win another medal until Austin in 2016 (gold).  They competed at San Antonio in '10, '11, '12 & '13 and didn't make finals at any of them (EDIT: actually, wait...they got 12th in prelims in '13, then 7th in finals). Anyone remember the days wondering when LD Bell or Marcus would break the streak and get something lower than bronze at a regional? 

Vandegrift also didn't make a single appearance in the largest size classification for honor band during the entire decade....until they won it this past cycle of course.

Flower Mound has had more kids make All-State in 1 year than Vandegrift has the entire decade.  CTJ also.....CTJ has also made finals at every single BOA regional they competed in this decade, medaled at several of them and won more than a few.


Don't misinterpret this as an anti-Vandegrift post.  Think of it more as trying to see everything in a broader perspective and not letting their thunderous success of the most recent seasons overhype them too much.

Appreciation Episode!!

1:28 - To The TxBands Staff/Contributors
2:52 - To The Directors
4:41 - To The Parents
10:04 - To The Performers

 

I'm not a drumline guy, but what Vandy's drumline is doing has to be one of the best high school lines in the country, right?? I feel like I was listening to a DCI drumline in their show this year. Maybe it's the writing, or they're just that good, but even to my untrained ear this drumline sounded as special as their hornline, if not more so.

HA, i still remember the mini freak-out all us teenage kids had when Richland busted out the Halo theme...Pair that with Hebron's DDR show that was around that same time, and we were watching our childhood summarized in marching form.

Scores are just numbers used to relatively compare each group, the actual number itself is meaningless, only the relative value to the groups around the score matters.We hear the phrase "you can't compare scores across competitions" all the time, and there's good reason for that. It's not the number that matters, it's how it relates to the other bands at THAT competition that matters, and determines the final rank. There is nothing to be feel bad about for the point drop in 2 weeks because these are 2 completely separate competitions with completely different variables. Your band has a lot to be proud of, and while the final score may not literally reflect an "improvement," The Woodlands and all of Team Texas improved like crazy from San Antonio 2 weeks ago, and it was amazing to see. If the Woodlands marched the same show they did 2 weeks ago, who knows, maybe they would've been 10th or 11th, so trust me, the 2 weeks of hard work were well worth it, regardless of an arbitrary number. Loved the Woodlands this year, can't wait to see how they push the envelope next year.

All Texas bands (besides Leander who was close) finished better than or equal to what they finished in San Antonio.

THE EAGLE IS COMING BACK, YALL!

The colors in this retreat are spectacular!!

The colors in this retreat are spectacular!!

Unfortunate GN finals isn’t 14 bands, cuz the woodlands very much deserved to be in the top half!! I’ve loved this show more and more with each viewing and the sousas jumping during the jam session gets me every time. What a run to go out on!!

I’m sure the non-Texas forum will riot if vandy wins without a guard, and I will be sure to bring the popcorn to watch that debate unfold....

I’m sure the non-Texas forum will riot if vandy wins without a guard, and I will be sure to bring the popcorn to watch that debate unfold....