whitewing09

I think you're correct! I'd also love to point out that it seems they have a new head director, so hopefully this is only the beginning to another Churchill legacy!

To compensate for the fact that they missed their Conroe exhibition because of the misclassificsfion of TWCP?

It honestly sounds like a mic issue because I hear the announcer loud and clear, but the bands sound muffled. I also sent them an email and I'll like send MFA/BOA an email. The quality different between this year and every other year I've watched is just too stark and they should maybe consider a different vendor for next year.

I think this is Cy-Falls first time in like the past decade (technically 11 years); they were in BOA SA finals in 2005.

-repeat entry-

Thanks for the clarification!

Does anyone know how hornrank works? If it's anything quantitative using current and past year's data, I'd guess that Leander's low predicted placement would be from them missing SA last year (e.g. Having no data on a contest and imputing at the mean--a common practice-- would lower their ranking). I'm assuming they use past data given how highly predicted CP is even though they got fourth at Austin this year.

Really? I feel like this is the greatest execution from Reagan I've seen. I can't wait to see it in person.

Hot dang, I'm floored.

I'd listen to it 10 times a day: FloMo I'd listen to it five times a day: Reagan, CTJ, CP, Bowie Show that will make me bawl: Leander Surprised me: Keller, Keller Central, Hendrickson, Churchill Excited to see via livecast, but haven't mentioned: THWS, Bell, Hebron

Does anyone know what the practice limits are like for other states? I remember hearing some bands getting as much as 10-12 hours of after school practice a week, which sounds insane.

1) Are you implying that FloMo is breaking rules? If so, can you validate that claim? 2) Your univariate analysis is a little lacking. Marching band, especially BOA, isn't only about hours put in. Apart from FloMo's excellent execution, their show design is amazing and probably a step ahead everyone else at the competition. It has great music and an excellent flow that just makes sense. It's also visually stunning. This is really the show of the season (and this is a season of really good shows), so it really is understandable why they would win with such a large margin. I think an excellent example of where this has happened would be BOA Atlanta 2014 where Tarpon destroyed Mason.

Reagan's musical program is designed amazingly. I'm interested in understanding what sets their visual apart from the other top programs.

I think the nominal score is a lot less relevant than the actual disparities in score. The year Hebron got an 87.30, Marcus got an 86.75, and Bell got 85.45. It seems that the scores were pretty inflated overall. In Flomo's case, they were just ahead of the competition completely. I'd almost bet if they had performances like that at SA, they would have scored in the 90s.

To that point I'd say it really comes down to excellence in leadership and management from the top down. I'd posit that getting 100% of a 250+ group of students takes a lot. The staff has to establish a structure of authority via management from adults and student leaders (student leaders being widely defined from designated leaders to upperclassmen who kind of assume that role locally). Every member of staff also needs to motivate the kids and not only inspire them, but also have them inspire each other. I'd imagine the FloMo band hall to be an intriguing ecosystem!

It's quite unfortunate that they have to compete with the Texas marching classic.

Every year we hear and see bands that do better at the beginning of a season, but who don't see tremendous growth later on. Then we have the bands whose shows have "room to grow". What are your thoughts to the bands this year? I'd think that CTJ and Leander a lot of room to grow (their shows seem very difficult and have quite a bit of cleaning left), while Reagan and CP are a lot more polished early season (I can't comment on Bowie because I haven't seen anything recent). Do you think development/show difficulty now, will affect scoring later on and change the rankings of bands? Pay mind that I've only seen videos online, so maybe I can't judge how clean Reagan and CP really are and contrast to Leander and CTJ.

What about CTJ getting 3rd in 2014? I remember that show being particularly difficult, but not particularly clean.

Is LISD is gonna take at least 2 of the three medals?

Agreed

I am in shock.

Obviously I have no real clue what I'm talking about because I wasn't in the judges' heads that night, but I think this is definitely the case. I do agree that Hebron was behind visually, but I also think they were pretty far ahead in music. Here's what I think happens if the top band of any captions goes first: the judges acknowledge the band's superiority by placing them first, but then the judges may lose an idea of how much better the top band was, so they don't reward that band with as much of a marginal lead as they maybe should. While the design of Avon and Broken Arrow are pretty good, I still think that Hebron was very far ahead of them in terms of execution and besides the fact that Hebron's show is also a pretty effective musical book, their playing (OMG) added so much effect. I remember listening and thinking, "holy ****, that technicality + precision + emotion" re: the woodwind runs in Pegasus, or the emotion in the ballad, ok or any other part of their impressive show. I never got the same feeling from BA or Avon music. Their performances were very good, don't get me wrong. Then you see Hebron's visual scores and it definitely look like they were just forgotten. For example the scoring difference between them and the other top bands in terms of VPI was a bit excessive, imo. Then that difference in VGE was devastating. I know nothing about VGE, but I cringed when I was the variation in scores. I thought it was pretty arbitrary.

They also have amazing music scores in finals! It's SUCH a shame that two judges VPI and VGE really sealed their fate.

Has anyone here been on a trip? I'm curious as to how it goes. I know that Round Rock flew in 2013, but I suspect most Texas bands charter their way there and stop along the way for practices. Does anyone want to share experiences?

I haven't seen anything from Avon or Carmel, so I can't comment on them. After seeing a few videos of BA, I just don't think that they would have been leaps and bounds over FloMo. Maybe they would beat them in visual GE, but I think FloMo's show is magical from a music GE stand point and I don't feel the same about BA.