HighSchoolBandNerd212

From what I've seen from watching multiple recent videos of Vandegrift, their BOA Austin finals performance is currently a rarity in terms of quality. Their other recent performances (i.e. BOA Austin prelims, LISD Festival of Bands) have been very, very good for this early in the season, but are still a slight, but notable step down in quality compared to their BOA Austin Finals performance. So it is still too early to determine if Vandegrift will be at the level of Marcus come November 8. They will have to keep pushing forward at an equal or perhaps even greater pace of improvement compared to what they have done since August of this year. Are they capable of dethroning Marcus? It is possible to some degree. Leander went from 15th in prelims at BOA San Antonio in 2013 to 3rd at BOA San Antonio finals in 2014. And what's even better is that Vandegrift is working from a higher position than Leander was in 2013 (last year: 10th at BOA San Antonio finals, tied for 1st but lost the tie at the 5A State finals). To say the least, 6A State is going to be interesting!

Bowie was initially signed up for the BOA Plano regional, but they were later dropped from the regional list, so I don't think Bowie is wanting to attend many (as in more than 3) regionals at all, despite the fact that they typically attend the BOA Austin regional.

Cedar Park's latest performance: Last week's performance: While I have not seen many Grand Nationals' shows over the years, this is the earliest I've seen in terms of an individual season, and it is fascinating to me how radically different this particular performance was compared to the previous week's performance in terms of design and flow (though this is rather subjective, so the similarities and contrasts between the two will likely be different from person to person; additionally, I presume that this point in the season is extremely early for the concepts of the show to come off easily to the audience).

James Bowie High School: OverThrone Vandegrift High School: En Pointe

A couple of recent observations: - Maui H.S. from Hawaii is now listed on the San Antonio and Grand Nationals wait lists. If they received a performance slot for each of these contests, then they would be only the second Hawaiian band to attend Grand Nationals and the first Hawaiian band to attend San Antonio (or anywhere else besides Grand Nationals, for that matter). - There are a good amount of bands that are new to the BOA circuit (ex: Canyon Randall at Austin; Magnolia at Conroe; Fort Worth Southwest, Poteet, Wylie, and Wylie East at DFW), and a couple old faces that are reentering the BOA field after years of being absent (ex: Lake Travis, Akins, McNeil). - BOA's reach in Texas continues to grow. There are currently more bands signed up than there are performance slots at the DFW and Conroe regionals and the San Antonio super regional, and the McAllen and Austin regionals are pretty close to capacity so far this year. This makes me wonder when there will be enough demand for another regional in Texas.

My apologies. The sarcasm went way over my head.

Because no band is a lock for anything. There are too many internal and external factors that can affect a band's placement. That is not to say that some bands are more heavily favored than other bands. I agree that the LISD bands are the heavy favorites for advancing to the State Marching Contest as of now. But every other time or so, history shows us that the reputation and placements for a band from previous years do not have much of an influence on the current state of a band. If anything, the previous years' reputation and placements show a performance level that can be attainable, unreachable, or easily surpassable for a band because of its current state. EDIT: Missed the joke.

Cedar Park just won the 5A Division II State Football Championship. Based off of the UIL Champion archives, they are the first school in UIL history to win both the State Marching Contest and the State Football Championship within the same year. Granted, the marching band contest has been held biennially since 1991, whereas the football championship has been held every year. However, Cedar Park and Argyle are the only two schools to win both championships within a two year span. I offer a huge congratulations to both Cedar Park organizations for this rare achievement!

While Leander ISD has it pretty easy in Area H, some of the better San Antonio bands (notably Sandra Day O'Conner) may have a tough time in getting the third or fourth state qualifier spot over Westlake or Lake Travis (especially Westlake).

All of the areas for UIL, TMEA, and ATSSB have been released: http://align.tmea.org/index.php

I'm not quite sure if that number is right... http://www.leanderisd.org/users/0001/docs/CIP%20DIP/Rouse%20HS%20CIP%2015-16.pdf (scroll down to page 50)

If these results are true, then congratulations to Vandegrift and the other LISD schools!

Some of the full results are up, but I can't seem to access some of the available results files: http://www.marcuspercussion.com/percussion/LoneStarClassic/Results.aspx Is anyone else having the same issue?

What I've heard from sources about finals: 1. 142.25 - Vandegrift 2. 142.25 - Cedar Park 3. 142.00 - Vista Ridge 4. 136.63 - John Horn 5. 136.25 - Plano East

There's been a bunch of talk about Cedar Park (which is well-deserved; don't get me wrong), but I'm curious as to what people thought of Vandegrift. Unfortunately, I did not see them in-person or on the webcast. Based off of the results, it seems that they had stepped their game up since BOA San Antonio.

Vista Ridge placed 1st in finals at Area D back in 2013, though Vandegrift went on to win UIL state that year.

It's better to cancel a contest and have nothing happen than to not cancel a contest and have an episode that resembles the events of the 2002 UIL State Marching Contest.

Results for 5A Area A West and Central Zones: West Zone: 8. Bel Air * 13. Del Valle 14. J. M. Hanks 18. Eastlake 22. Horizon 34. Ysleta 35. Riverside 38. Chapin Central Zone: 5. Canyon * 14. Plainview * 17. Abilene Cooper 20. Lubbock 25. San Angelo Lake View 30. Amarillo Randall 33. Lubbock Cooper 44. Amarillo Caprock 46. Hereford 47. Canyon Palo Duro 49. Dumas * Advance to the State Marching Contest Sourced from World of Pageantry: http://www.worldofpageantry.com/scores/texas15-results.php

Any updates from Area A?

According to the Friendswood band website, the Dickinson Gator Marching Festival has been cancelled: http://friendswoodmustangband.org/

You're not the only one. I still think that Color Study is one of the most well-designed shows that I have ever seen. Choral Works has its moments (the opener and the ballad come to mind) and Leander is certainly performing fantastically, but overall Color Study has a better flow in my opinion.

Area D 5A has officially been rescheduled for Monday: http://www.uilmusicregion18.com/

Well, predictions for this contest have been made a bit harder with the recent cancellation of the Duncanville Marching Festival. From a non-predictions standpoint, it's sad that the contest was cancelled, but I completely agree with the concern for severe weather and the safety of the participants.

.

Probably Vandegrift.