PSHSMom

It so hard to tell watching the streamimg video how the bands sound and even if they march clean since they keep zooming in on individual performers. So I just appreciate the Plano East mention

If it makes you feel any better, after PESH went to state with The Bells in 2012 over the Circus Show,  I believe our Associate Band Director left and went to FloMo at the end of the year!   She is really good  
And I did enjoy the Circus show very much too          

Thanks for the clarification JeremiahW...BUT this still is hard to follow or understand.
I could argue that Leander should be ahead of Vandegrift but the facts you state are true.  Though Leander tied Vandy at UIL and Vandy won the tie break -.even though Leander's show is much more of a BOA show than a UIL (which Vandy's is)
 
But hey, I like it in the fact that it gets us all talking.  It's just a prediction haha...and that's the fun of it all!
 
It's just hard to believe that Hornrank has Leander ranked ahead of the prediction which is odd.  Seems like they would follow each other.  Kind of like in football, if the number 3 team is playing the number 7 team, it's almost unheard of that the number 7 team would be favored to win.
 
At end of day - March the show and let's all have some fun and enjoy these incredible programs.  I'll be cheering for Leander (obviously) haha.

So, across the 33 Regions, about 250 bands tried out.  202 made Area competitions.  40 made it to San Antonio.
 
All of these band students at all of these programs work hard to attempt to get to SA - Congrats to all of them!!

That being said, only about 15% make it to the State competition - and only about 5% make the Finals.  That's quite a feat.

I know it's history, but of the 40 bands attending this year - I see only 12 that have consistently made the Finals (or very near the Finals) in the last 3 outings (2014, 2012, and 2010) . . . in order of appearance at each of the 8 different Areas.
 
Area B (Keller, Duncanville, LD Bell - don't think they attended in '14, Coppell)

Area C (Flomo - actually didn't make finals I don't think in '12 or '10 - but hard to ignore this year, Hebron, Marcus)

Area D (Reagan, Bowie)

Area F (Spring - not '14, The Woodlands)

Area H (Westlake - not '14)
 
Not appearing this year (either chose not to or didn't advance), but have been stiff competition in the past:
 
CTJohnson

Rowlett

Churchill

Fairly new up and comers (at least in this class I think) that could def compete this year:

Round Rock

Hendrickson

Vandergrift

Leander

Old guard that have been amazing in the past, have fallen off in recent years, but still stand out this year:

Plano East

Berkner

I'm sure there's others

All that being said, they're all adding to and refining their shows in this last week.

But it will be hard to ignore those previously mentioned 12 . . . it's going to be crowded at the top!

 

I know it's already been addressed... However, after lurking and commenting way less than usual this year, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed reading this thread.
 
Good sportsmanship should always be practiced, even if you're a parent. I'm not a fan of some of this discussion on here.Thinking back to my high school days, one of the most defeating feelings was reading a negative comment on my show from some anonymous internet person.
 
Let's think about this:
 
1) EVERY single kid works their heart off on and off the field.
2) if you identify on this forum with a band program and make a trivial comment, that reflects on the program. Whether you want it to or not.
 
From now own, use this thread to constructively talk about all the bands. I say this every year, but TRULY anything can happen come state. Fate will play out how it's meant to be, and we will all agree that this was an incredible season.
 
Think before you post.

PESH really did step things up a ton during Finals. Everything seemed to flow better, the synth wasn't nearly as humongous, and everything was more emotional.

When I saw PESH last week at UIL I wasn't sure about their show. When I saw it again today my mouth dropped. Last night was the first time they ran the whole show with the heart prop. So proud of the PESH band for going for it and making it to state. They moved up 4 spots from prelims to finals!
 
Congrats to all the bands. Love the Texas bands!

I believe that Plano is actually going to attend this year (assuming they qualify). It's more the large East Texas Military style bands that would choose to not attend Area.

Did anyone see Coppell perform?  I only went in the morning to see Plano East play, but also caught Wakeland's show.
We went to the finals that night not knowing who would be performing, but I expected to see Coppell there. 
 
Like everyone else mentioned, FloMo was just outstanding.  But we really enjoyed all the bands!  I brought my 8th grader along 
who wasn't too thrilled at first, but then said he was really glad he went.  I think is he is looking forward to marching next year now
 
    
   

While we may have our own opinions of how this is being handled, to say that they haven't been working INCREDIBLY hard to make this work is just not right.  I couldn't imagine to have to deal with such a logistical nightmare.  Regardless of what happened, BOA did their best to try and accommodate EVERYONE.  While I am INCREDIBLY dissapointed that Leander is only going to be performing in exhibition and the thought of finals without them there is just not sitting right with me, there are 60+ other bands that are competing that BOA has also been working with, and it sounds like 99% of them are going to be there.  Leander isn't the only school having these issues.  It sucks, but it's easy to play the blame game when you're not on the phone the entire day trying to make the whole freakin mess work out.  
 
Quite frankly I'm shocked that more bands haven't dropped out or are in the same situation.  This is happening because these directors care about these kids and are not willing to put them in an unsafe situation.  All I can think about is that American Fork assistant director that was killed a few years back on the way back home from a competition.  It wasn't because of weather, but I'd hate to think of something similar happening here.  Just stay safe everyone, will be thinking about all the bands making the trek there tomorrow morning especially.  
 
Get some rest while you can, and I hope tomorrow is less hectic.  

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!

I'll post mine after Bell, all I have to say is this is the BEST marching competition I've watched, ever.  I've watched Grand Nationals, State, San Antonio, Indianapolis, Atlanta, St. Louis, ect. online every year since 2009, this is just INCREDIBLE.  

My son graduated from PESH, so we did all of the marching competitions.   My daughter is currently at PSHS, and although so many of us wanted them
to go to the Area contest,  she said they, like knoxisawesome said, they want it to remain fun.   Although, they still rehearsed 8 hours a week, so not sure
if the 5 hours is still followed or not .    But PSHS show was so fun this year.  Maybe not competition ready, but definitely a crowd pleaser!
 
Plano West is marching at All Area this year.   Here are the bands going to Area B.  Since there are only 22 bands, it will mean just 4 spots.  How to pick out of these schools is
definitely a challenge! 
 
1. Lewisville HS  - 9:15
2. Richland HS - 9:30
3. Mansfield HS - 9:45
4. Bowie HS - 10:00
5. Plano West - 10:15
BREAK
6. Southlake Carroll -  10:45
7. Plano East - 11:00
8. Paschal HS - 11:14
9. Martin HS - 11:30
10. Colleyville Heritage - 11:45
BREAK
11.Trinity - 1:00
12. Haltom - 1:15
13. Sam Houston - 1:30
14. LD Bell - 1:45
15. Weatherford - 2:00
16. Allen - 2:15
BREAK
17. Marcus - 2:45
18. Arlington - 3:00
19. Flower Mound - 3:15
20. Hebron - 3:30
21. North Crowley - 3:45
22. McKinney Boyd - 4:00
 
Finals announced at 4:45 pm
 
Finals start at 7:00 pm
 
LOCATION:  Pennington Field in Bedford

Outside of the usual suspects, I'll give you Cedar Ridge and Bowie as dark horses for medal positions. I'm not sure if CTJ would be considered a dark horse, but they could sneak in as well. Also, I really liked the Haltom and Plano East shows at Duncanville and I think they make finals.