AllenBandDad

I remember an Allen/Woodlands playoff game several years ago in Waco at the old Floyd-Casey Baylor stadium. I think both bands were about half their normal size, and made up almost completely of Freshmen/Sophomores because it was All-Region audition day for both schools.

Allen lost on Saturday to Rockwall, in a very exciting game that ended with a score of 60-59. That game also was my last game as a marching band parent volunteer, as my youngest is a senior. It's been a fun 7-year ride loading, unloading, rolling, lifting, carrying, fixing, etc., etc., etc. while having a front row seat on the field at nearly every performance. Next year, I'll be a spectator for SFA Lumberjack Marching Band performances, where my daughter will be going. I'm also looking forward to attending a few marching competitions and being able to watch other bands. And, if all goes as planned, in the fall of 2022, I will become a band director parent somewhere in Texas, when my oldest graduates from Texas Tech with his music education degree.

That one was my son's favorite show so far this year, though I think his favorite musical piece has been Malagueña. Their annual Patriotic Show is coming up next, I think.

The Texas Tech Goin' Band is a traditional show band style marching band. They do not have a percussion pit, and in the woodwind section they use strictly piccolo, clarinet, alto sax, and tenor sax. Since the focus of the band is school spirit and halftime entertainment, they learn a new show for every home game. Typically the shows are themed around a style or event. They also have a traditional pregame show that is performed before every game. The pregame show has a smaller, fixed number of spots, so the spots go to the top performers from auditions. From what I've seen, and what my son has told me (he's in his third year in the Goin' Band), the show drills are not as complicated as the shows done by high schools competing in BOA and UIL. The music tends to be more crowd pleasing/familiar selections, but performed at a very high level. Less than half of the members are music majors. Here are some links to recent shows: Traditions Show (throwback show that uses music and drill from the 50's, 60's, and 70's): Jukebox Show (songs from Guns and Roses, Alice Cooper, 98 Degrees, and Backstreet Boys): Latin Show (La Fiesta, Vivir Mi Vida, and an outstanding arrangement of Malagueña): Halloween Show (Dies Irae, Beetlejuice medley, Night on Bald Mountain, and Thriller): From talking to several members of the band, many of them find being in the Goin' Band more fun than high school band, in some ways. After four years of highly competitive marching in high school, they enjoy the low pressure of being "just" the football halftime band. They also find that college bands are much more involved in the game than typical high school bands. They have one week of summer band (all day, basically 8am to 8-9 PM), rehearse daily for 1 hour at noon, plus two hours on Thursday night before home football games. They only travel to 2-3 away games each year.

Over the past three years, the directors have been working with the drill designers to build a show that uses the band's size as an asset to create effects that no other band of "normal" size can do, instead of trying to do the same type of shows other bands do, just bigger. They've used the last three years to really experiment with what works and doesn't work both visually and musically. I think Duncanville this year was the most competitive contest they have been in since I got involved seven years ago, and for them to finish 11th in prelims shows how far they have come. The kids have heard for years that they're "too big", "too messy", "too loud", and just can't compete. The directors have been working a hard to build a culture that ignores and defies that garbage, and make the kids believe in themselves. Everyone is very excited about what they should be able to accomplish next year.

Just heard that Allen placed 11th in prelims.

a. Not sure if I like this one. It seems like the UIL wants to move towards a judging rubric more closely aligned with BOA, which I am against. I think there is great value in the UIL path being almost solely focused on execution and fundamentals. This allows for a more level competitive playing field across more schools. b. This is a very good proposal that will make the sight reading evaluation more closely align with how music is actually taught. c. Seems reasonable. d. Long overdue. Without Area competition, UIL Regional contest in non-state years is basically irrelevant as a "competition". The UIL SHOULD be the pre-eminent competition venue for marching bands in Texas. e. Also seems reasonable f. Probably a good thing, as long as the committee is not stacked with proponents of only one style/focus of marching bands. g. Also long overdue. Military style bands basically have no chance to compete at a high level because the style isn't valued as highly. This becomes even more important with the ramifications of proposal A h. I like this idea a lot, and wish it also included soloists.

You are correct. At the last alignment, after opt-up adjustments, the classifications had the following: 6A (2190 and above) 254 schools (Basketball); 252 schools (Football) 5A (1150 – 2189) 253 schools (Basketball); 252 schools (Football) 4A (505 – 1149) 189 schools (Basketball); 182 schools (Football) 3A (225 – 504) 232 schools (Basketball); 211 schools (Football) 2A (105 – 224) 198 schools (Basketball); 187 schools (Football) 1A (104.9 and below) 212 schools (Basketball); 142 schools (Football) Since 6A is capped at ~250, and since it appears that the UIL wants to use 250 as a max for the other classifications (see 5A), the 4A class will grow as more high schools open. The enrollment cutoffs will just continue to go higher. My guess is that until 4A hits 250 schools (meaning 50 more high schools open up across the state), a 7A class won't be considered. A lot of the desire for a 7A class is to keep the smallest 6A schools from having to compete with the giant 6A schools. But in reality, it really wouldn't make that much difference. Using UIL's own formula, if 6A had a max enrollment number of 2X the smallest, the biggest 6A school would be Alief Elsik, with an enrollment of 4283 - a pretty big school. Only 10 6A schools are bigger than Elsik: Allen 6664 Plano West 5654 Plano East 5342.5 Plano 5197.5 Galena Park North Shore 4754 Dallas Skyline 4568 Lewisville 4564 Duncanville 4451 Conroe The Woodlands 4435 Laredo United 4422

Until the enrollment numbers are taken later this month, there is no way to know what the cutoff will be for any classification. Considering that many schools in the state have grown in population, it may be a safe assumption that the minimum size for 5A is going up. Here is the procedure to determine the break points: 1. 6A is the 220-250 biggest schools, not including schools that opt-up. Historically, 6A has been maxed out at 250. So the enrollment cutoff for 6A will be the enrollment of the 250th largest school. 2. 2A through 5A each have at least 200 schools, with the largest school in the classification being no more than 2x the enrollment of the smallest school. So, the minimum 5A enrollment size will be 1/2 of the enrollment of the 251st biggest school in the state. 1. 1A is all schools with less than 105.

Texas A&M Commerce and Stephen F Austin both have pit percussion, and do corp style marching shows.

Finals performance order: Plano west Frisco Independence Allen Richardson Rockwall North Mesquite J J Pearce Frisco Lone Star Plano Sr Wylie

UIL counts the 9-12 enrollment of all high schools, including separate campuses as necessary. Since Plano ISD uses feeder high schools, the populations of the two feeder high schools (9-10) is added to the 11-12 enrollment of the senior high. Allen High is actually only 10-12 grade, with the separate Lowrey Freshman Center. All four grades are added together to get the 6600 enrollment number. So, to your point, Plano West and Allen have essentially the same size varsity aged talent pool. The "doubling" rule comes into play for single-gender schools (i.e. Dallas Jesuit). For classification purposes, their enrollment is doubled.

I went to UTA, but didn't do marching band there. I regret not doing it now, but at the time it seemed somewhat pointless, since UTA didn't (and still doesn't) have a football team. As it turns out, their marching band does a lot of performances at high school marching contests and other venues. My son is a Music Ed. major at Texas Tech, and is in his third year of being in the Goin' Band. He echos many of the same things about the difference between high school and college marching: less stressful (no contests), more variety (6 different halftime shows this semester, plus the pre-game show), easier shows (but arguably more entertaining music). The biggest difference from a work standpoint is that, while the shows are less complex, you many times have only 1 week of rehearsals to learn them (7 total hours), including memorizing all of the music. The Tech band is at least 50-50 non-music majors vs. music majors (and maybe even more non-music). Music performance majors are not required to be in the marching band, and music education majors are only required to do it for 2 semesters. My son has continued to do it because 1) it is incredibly fun and 2) he is section leader and on the visual team, so he is getting a lot of practical teaching experience. In comparison to high school marching, the "purpose" or emphasis is very different. The sole purpose of the college marching band is entertainment and school spirit on gameday, and to be a face of the university. For most programs, you will find that there is years and years of tradition wrapped up in what the band performs. DCI/BOA style artistic shows are not done, because they generally can't be done in the timeframe allowed at a college football halftime, plus (and don't shoot the messenger) the average college football fan does not find the DCI/BOA style shows very entertaining.

Plano West proves that school size isn't the biggest factor when it comes to football success. Second largest high school in Texas (5654 students), 1-34 over the last four years.

I think a 7A will happen eventually, just because the total number of high schools in Texas is growing. 6A is limited by the UIL to 250 total schools, so the middle classifications keep growing. It will be many years down the road before it becomes necessary, though. There really aren't that many "massive" schools to warrant a classification just for them. There are only 15 schools with enrollment over 4000, 37 above 3500.

I'm in IT, and I advise people to hold off updating to a new release of anything unless it's a security patch.

Essentially yes. Internally, the school is split into 7 "houses", each with its own admin (principal) office and counselors.

I'm going out on a limb and predicting that Allen High will remain in 6A

OK, so I took "Alumni Parent" to mean I was a band alumni as well as a parent of a band member. Any way you look at it, it's accurate. I was in high school band, I'm a parent of a current high school band member, I'm a parent of a high school band alumni, and I'm a Texas college band parent.

Cedar Hill performed one of the most clever drills I've seen last night at their game against Allen. Seemingly simple, but the kind of cool stuff that show bands do. They broke into four blocks, then formed into the halftime score of the game. Kudos to the kids for learning 10 different block drills, then being able to make the last minute call of which drill they would actually perform. You can see the show (plus the Allen "Traditional" halftime show) at https://www.facebook.com/TexasSportsPhotos/videos/957260931277727/

No one has ever accused the UIL of always doing the smart thing. But you can rest assured that they will make sure they are in charge and the top dog when it comes to school competition. It would be interesting to see if this happened, would it drive the formation of independent high school level marching bands that would compete in BOA. Kind of like club sports (soccer, etc.),

BOA needs to tread lightly and be as deferential as possible to the UIL. Ultimately, the vast majority of school districts will choose UIL over BOA if forced to choose. If the UIL wanted to go full bore, they could institute the "no outside league" rule for band, and make disqualification for ALL UIL band event the consequence (concert, sight reading, and solo & ensemble). Keep in mind that band directors' resumes can be made or broken by the scores their bands have received at UIL events. If a school decided to forgo UIL in favor of BOA (if a choice was forced), the directors at that school could be seriously limiting their career prospects.

If you notice at non-UIL sports tournaments (basketball, etc.) and even non-district football games, the announcement is made that the game is operated under UIL rules. I think that covers the "sanctioning" language. I'm not sure how that applies to out of state football games, though. Maybe the UIL gives a waiver, since it's non district and doesn't conflict with the UIL district and playoff structure.

If schools choosing to skip UIL Area to do BOA became a big sore point, the UIL might decide to treat Area contest as essentially post-season playoffs and institute a rule similar to this one for athletics: Section 1208: ATHLETIC REGULATIONS © FAILURE TO COMPLETE SEASON. (2) Playoffs. Any school that qualifies for the playoffs in a sport and fails to participate or complete the official schedule of games/matches unless excused for valid reasons by the State Executive Committee may be suspended from that activity for a period not to exceed one calendar year. And if they really wanted to play hardball, they could adapt this athletic rule to marching band: (v) NON-UIL CONTESTS. (3) Participating With Other Leagues. A UIL participant school that participates in an athletic activity offered by the UIL in a non-UIL league under the auspices of any other sanctioning organization is subject to the range of penalties, up to and including suspension from UIL athletic activities. As long as BOA is treated as a second/additional priority to UIL competition by schools (like other marching invitationals), the UIL will be OK with it, but they won't let their schedules or rules be dictated by it (creeping standards in judging criteria notwithstanding). As soon as BOA is perceived as competing with the UIL as the primary competition league for Texas high schools, the UIL will drop the hammer.

I went to Allen's first night of winter band concerts last night, and found out that I misspoke earlier. There are only 9 concert bands this year, plus jazz band. Their programs were shorter, since concert band just started, so each night is only about 3 hours this time.