Dynasty

First of all, I'd like to point out again (please read the long post in the Westlake thread) that Round Rock and Leander are two totally different types of bands. Leander is BOA, Round Rock is UIL. Both of these schools have excellent reputations. Leander has been a top performer at many BOA events including Grand Nationals as well as the UIL 5A State. Round Rock is near the top of the marching game in central Texas events. And seriously people... cut Leander some slack... They are great, but they have had a rough time the last 2 years because they lost a director. If you don't think a director can make a difference, look at Westfield when they lost Geiger. 1st place GN 2003 to 9th(?) at BOA SA 2004? Now as for props, I really wouldn't say the keys are cheesy. I have to admit, the original comment about them did seem a bit degrading. If you want to see cheesy, look at Winston Churchill's 2003 "Toxic" show... Although a great show, the giant smoking barrel in the back was, well, funny. As for media, you guys need to understand how we actually obtain it. ALL of our media is either obtained from BOA events or the UIL State DVD's. Some media has been submitted from people that got it off their own band CD, but (no offence) they aren't of great quality. Round Rock just hasn't been to a BOA or State... so we don't have it. But feel free to submit it!

Heck... why not use mellophones all year instead of switching to concert horns? I know the audience would LOVE the bellfront horn sound!

Its ironic.... like Seinfeld. A Band talking about... being in band. An everyday show about... making a show and everyday life. Cheesy? Yes. Ironic? Definitly! Effective? 1st Place GN

If you want to see cheesy, see a BOA.

I like it. It seems to mainly have three themes... You should expand those into 3 movements.

So I'm going to take this opportunity to share an unbiased review of the shows... Perhaps the main difference between these two shows is for what they are (were) intended for. Because this is not a 5A state year, Cedar Park's show was written and designed for the Bands of America (BOA) regional contests. Round Rock's show was probably designed (I will not pretend to know exactly how Round Rock thinks, so please don't interpret me wrong) for the UIL contest last week, and they secured a top honor of Superior (I). Round Rock's main marching season wrapped up on an excellent note, and except for some minor performances like their Festival of Bands tonight, they are done. Based on these two very different goals and show styles, many conflicts that have been mentioned above can be resolved: Time As far as I know, Cedar Park went over by about 30 seconds in their Prelims performance. Although this would have resulted in a disqualification in the UIL contest, Cedar Park did not recieve any penalties at Westlake. Though seemingly unfair, Westlake knew they had a long show beforehand. I also should mention that CP did not play their first movement and cut their final movement in half (though they played through it all in finals). Again, I reiterate the point that their show was not designed for the 8 minute limit, like Round Rock's show. Judging Correct me if I am wrong as I do not have caption scores in front of me, but Round Rock beat Cedar Park in Music, Percussion, and Visual, and Cedar Park won Show Design/Effect and Auxillary. Congrats to both groups for being at the top of all 5 captions. With all respect to the judges, there is only one judge for each caption. Out of a 100 point scale, the judges make up to .5 distinctions between two performances. With only one judge for each caption, the winner is completely at his/her mercy. The idea is that with more than one judge judging each caption (as in 3 judges in the UIL contest, 5 judges in Area, and the 7 judges at BOA events) that the winner can be more accurately determined. I think we can all agree that this is a fair system. As for Westlake, the judging was fine for the event. It is no where near a large scale event like the 2 day BOA regional in San Antonio. Fun Math This is a continuation of the scoring. Yes, the difference between Cedar Park and Round Rock was .65. The difference between Cedar Park and Dripping Springs (10th Place) was 7.1. Therefore, using math, the average difference between all bands would be .71. .71 - .65 = .06 not that big of a difference after all. In Conclusion From a truly unbiased standpoint, Cedar Park and Round Rock are both winners. Cheesy, I know. From a UIL standpoint, judging, and general "type" of band show presented at Westlake, Round Rock had an amazing performance and had a legitimate shot at 1st Place. From a BOA standpoint, Cedar Park was the clear winner. Their show is designed to entertain the audience and be remembered in history... not to win 5A state. It takes a truly objective eye to compare two drastically different shows, and I am no where near having one. My band life has prospered on the DVD shows of Ronald Reagan, Winston Churchill, SFA, Bowie, and more BOA bands. That is what I am used to. And personally, that is the moving show that I enjoy. I thank anyone that actually read that. And SDO99, I'm pretty sure that Round Rock's fight song is from Wisconsin. And I'm pretty sure the band didn't decide on that one because they liked it.

Although none of my pieces fit together very well, this is what I would like to hear: Phantom of the Opera Ballad from Jupiter (The Planets) Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 - Movement 4 (Finale) Dvorak's Symphony 9 "From the New World" - Movement 4 (Allegro con fuoco [fast with FIRE!])

Hey! Calm down! None of this negative business on the boards. But please, tell me, how can people be?

You know, reputation does not guarantee constant success... All it guarantees is arrogance! Look at Leander, Grand National band to 7th at Westlake? (no offence... I have friends at Leander so don't get me wrong! ) Bands have their up and down periods naturally. It's a cycle. I heard a rumor that one of the Cedar Park directors (the marching director I beleive) was gone due to his wife having a baby. You gotta give them a little credit for being out of it... they probably feel lost right now. If anything, it should be intrepreted as a humbling gesture. I wouldn't be suprised if this doesn't kick CP in the butt and get them jump started for BOA San Antonio. (I think we all know that feeling of being lost )

Well obviously the scoring is inflated compared to a BOA standard. Remember, that most of the scoring is relative to the other bands. Look at finals... lowest score was an 85? That's a full 3 points higher than Winston Churchill, which WON the BOA Houston Regional just last week. Another factor to consider is that there is only 1 judge for each caption. Although Westlake follows UIL rules, they do not follow the UIL standard of 3 music and 2 visual judges... instead they have 1 judge for percussion, design/effect, music, visual, and auxillary.

Congrats to Cy-Springs (Concert Band and Percussion Ensemble), Georgetown, Oak Ridge, and SFA for being selected to the 2006 National Concert Band Festival. National Concert Band Festival: Cy-Springs H.S. Symphonic Band from Cypress, TX Dobyns-Bennett H.S. Band from Kingsport, TN Douglas Anderson School of the Arts Symphonic Band from Jacksonville, FL Edmond Memorial H.S. Wind Ensemble from Edmond, OK Fayette County H.S. Wind Ensemble from Fayetteville, GA Georgetown H.S. Wind Symphony from Georgetown, TX Harrison H.S. Wind Ensemble from Kennesaw, GA Leon H.S. Symphonic Band from Tallahassee, FL Lewis-Palmer H.S. Wind Symphony from Monument, CO Lockport Township H.S. Wind Symphony from Lockport, IL Madison Central H.S. Wind Ensemble from Richmond, KY McLean H.S. Symphonic Band from McLean, VA Northern Nash H.S. Wind Ensemble from Rocky Mount, NC Oak Ridge H.S. Wind Ensemble from Conroe, TX Rancho Buena Vista H.S. from Vista, CA Starr's Mill H.S. Wind Ensemble from Fayetteville, GA Stephen F. Austin H.S. Honors Band from Sugar Land, TX National Percussion Festival: Carlton J. Kell H.S. Percussion Ensemble from Marietta, GA Cy-Springs H.S. Percussion Ensemble from Cypress, TX West Boca H.S. Percussion Ensemble from Boca Raton, FL

Amen. -Candy Candy CANDY! -Dry Clothes.... something the fishies never bring and then they get really sick for the rest of the weekend. -Cell phone to call the other busses!

BOA: Music - 20% (Two 20 point scores, averaged) Individual Music Score - Out of 20 Ensemble Music Score - Out of 20 Visual - 20% (Two 20 point scores, averaged) Individual Visual Score - Out of 20 Ensemble Visual Score - Out of 20 General Effect - 60% (Three 20 point scores) Music 1 Score - Out of 20 Music 2 Score - Out of 20 Visual - Out of 20 UIL: Each judge gives a band a score (out of a very large number, possibly 100 but I do not remember). He then takes all of the scores and ranks each band from 1 (highest) to (number competing). Then the ranks are totaled for each band from each judge (5 judges). The lowest total is the first place, 2nd lowest is second place, etc.

Here is all of the Bluecoats audition information. I believe the Texas camp is at Vista Ridge High School, although it has not been officially announced.

I would actually say the main competition is between Connally and Cedar Park. While Cedar Park did get 6th and Hendrickson 7th at BOA Houston, there was still a 3 point difference in their scores. If you examine the scores, Hendrickson had a lower score in all fields except for Music 2 in General Effect. BOA weighs GE with 60% of the total score, while Westlake is only 20%. Connally won the Carrollton Tournament of Champions, and I am eager to see how they do at Westlake.

Um excuse me who bought candy for BOA Houston?

You know TxBands.com was almost entirely planned out on a 24-hour bus ride. (Which explains the crappy code in the uploader :-) )

For all freshmen that might be reading this... one word... deodorant!

Oh. Shows what I know.

Its by band size. A = Smallest AAA=Largest

Hey, save your file as a .mid or .wav so we can hear it!

If its announced at your football game, its legit material.

TxB Refugee party at Dynasty's house! Anyways, I'm glad you guys have a heads-up on the storm. This should be a lot better than Katrina. May your homes (and I suppose band halls) go undamaged.

1) Honors Band 2) Calculus AB AP 3) Spanish II 4) English 3 AP 5) Honors Band 6) US History 7) Engineering Graphics (Computer Aided Drafting) 8) Physics Pre-AP (With Clarinot)

Uhh it was the Google Ad on DrumCorpsWiki (link on main page).