LKendrick

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.

More and more bands just keep putting out INCREDIBLE shows, I'd hate to be a judge, because there's going to be well over 20 finalist level bands. Keller, Spring, Hebron, Plano East, Frindswood, Berkner, have ALL been fantastic today so far, and we're just getting started, wow.

Thoughts on my favorite bands today from the webcast: Anderson - Really neat show, very fitting for Halloween! Lots of cool drill sets in there, particularly the wolf on the last set, neat stuff! Guard as stunning as always. Love me some Medea, and they played it very well. Cedar Park - Can I first say that while their guard is relatively small, they are great and the drill writer knows how to stage them so that they really add? The intro from the finale of 1812 Overture is just gorgeous. I would love to hear the bells in the ballad live, I love the use of stereophonic sound, and I bet that's neat live. The band uniforms and the color scheme of the props/guard is great. Very clean, nice job! Claudia Taylor Johnson - Even through some speakers, I could tell that opening hit was just to die for. This show OOZES effect, I think Vandegrift was close musically, and Leander Visually, but as a package, this show just cooks. I can see why they won Conroe! The drill in the closer had my jaw on the floor, and those uniforms really accentuated that. They sound phenomenal, march well, and with a VERY hard show. Very cool stuff. Hendrickson - This is one of my favorites of the year. The weaving together, and UnRaveling of music and visual motives throughout the show fits the theme to a T. That colorguard adds so much to the show.....those skirts are GORGEOUS when they're spinning, and the abundance of color throughout, especially in the final huge hit of Bolero is just stunning. I'm really pulling for a finals spot.....I love this show a lot. Leander - The design of this show is just flawless. The pacing, the dynamic variance, the power AND soft moments, just the builds, swells, and valleys in the design are IMPECCABLE! They perform the crud out of it too, Visually, super polished. ROCKY POINT was PHENOMENAL! The brass in that closer....just wow. What a fantastic show, and their performance level just sells it perfectly. Ronald Reagan - Another band that those rumors about them being not as strong is just not true. Very clean musically and visually. Love the vocalists! Love that texture that they add in the impact moments especially. Brass is very powerful. Great, clean drill as well. Round Rock - Musically, just POWER! They sound absolutely phenomenal in their impact moments especially, I can't imagine what that Arabian Nights reprise was like in person, you know when that band turns around, you are about to loose some hearing. Great visually as well, guard was fantastic. Vandegrift - Luscious, beautiful, controlled, ect. They sound just jaw dropping online, can't imagine what that sounds like in person. Like they said on the blog, SO controlled! What a gorgeous show too, with how much some of that music is used, they sure made it their own. Visually, they're FLYING at points, particularly the final push. This band just keeps growing, they're making a case for being one of the new Texas Powerhouses. That guard in the end was stunning, the color with the plumes, props, guard, was visually stunning. Westlake - LOVEY southern show. Very difficult musically, and visually too. They sounded fantastic, whatever people were saying about them being weaker, forget it. They're great once again! Winston Churchill - Very quirky show, in a good way! Love the use of Peterloo Overture throughout, that piece needs some more attention. Fit the show PERFECTLY! They sounded absolutely phenomenal. Personal Rankings of those bands: Claudia Taylor Johnson - I think they have an edge in effect, and are either on top music/visual or very close. Vandegrift/Leander - This is close, I thought both were just absolutely stunning. Vandegrift especially Musically, and Leander in Effect. Ronald Reagan Round Rock Westlake Cedar Park Hendrickson Winston Churchill Anderson I think this is shaping up to be the best BOA San Antonio I've watched. How many of these bands that won't make finals, won't be in the top 3, would win, place, be a finalist at other competitions nation wide? What sets Texas apart is the absolute depth of amazing programs. The thought of any of those bands not making finals is crazy, but I know after tomorrow a good few won't.

Vandegrift was pretty stunning. Round Rock was great, Hendrickson was pretty solid as well.

I agree, I think those numbers are merely for getting the placements, if they actually scored in a 1 - 100 way I think they would be more accurate. And also, like I said, just for fun. I definitely don't take this as an accurate depiction of how far apart or close these bands were. Was just a little break from my music history studying earlier this week.

That's how Lawrence Central won nationals in 01, all about consistency.

Agreed.

There's no individual captions, all 5 judges are up top. No field judges.

Basically it's what they use to decide what ranking each band gets. For example, here's an area F recap. The 1 - 1,000 composite score is above each ranking. Area B: 1) Marcus - 97.1 2) Hebron - 93.8 3) Flower Mound - 91.46 4) LD Bell - 90.46 (+1) 5) Haltom - 90.36 (-1) 6) Mansfield - 89.4 7) Trinity - 87.9 (+1) 8) Plano East - 87.62 (-1) 9) Martin - 86.66 10) Allen - 83.68 LD Bell and Haltom were extremely close from each judge, and the 1st visual judge had Marcus over Hebron by a margin of 951 - 718, or 3.34 if each of the 5 judges had 20 total points. That's......interesting. Basically if they were judged on a scale of 1 - 100, Marcus kinda would have ran away with it. The gap taking out that judge with the huge discrepancy was only .58, 78.16 for Hebron, and 78.74 for Marcus without the Visual 1 judge. I wasn't there or don't know what they were watching.....but that's pretty substantial when in comparison to each of the other judges. Area F: 1) Friendswood - 91.28 2) The Woodlands - 91.06 3) Spring - 90.58 4) Pearland - 88.52 5) North Shore - 87.12 (+1) 6) Dickinson - 87.32 (+1) 7) Dawosn - 86.94 (-2) 8) College Park - 86.18 9) Brazoswood - 85.6 10) Oak Ridge - 84.42

My wildcards, Reagan as a finalist for sure: So either Reagan has been getting hosed, or they've REALLY cleaned up since Conroe, because that show is starting to become pretty incredible, I could see them being up there too, and hey, last year they were 5th in finals if I remember right? Not counting them out. I think they'll definetely make finals, but how high is my question. Aledo has had a pretty great year so far, I'm not sure if their show will still hold up as well against this incredible field, we'll see. They've made finals before, maybe this is the year they can make a come back. Friendswood topping The Woodlands at Area F we can argue about, if it were BOA The Woodlands would come out on top. But how close they were in prelims as well makes me wonder, in terms of music and visual ensemble performance, if the GE scores are there, are they a possible finalist as well? They are VERY polished, we'll see how the show holds up on BOA sheets. Another previous finalist as well, maybe it's their year to make a come back as well. If Hendrickson can put on a show like they did at Area prelims and they're clean on the field, I think they can make it. We'll see, the show is very well designed. Then there's The Woodlands College Park, a VERY impressive showing from them at Conroe, we'll see if that can translate to San Antonio. As stated earlier, Lake Ridge is a new school on the rise, impressive last year, more impressive this year. I could see this show doing VERY well in BOA, is this their first BOA appearance?

After last year I am ready for anything.

After last year I am ready for anything.

I know that they are on the copies of the recaps that the directors received in their packets, I remember looking at the recaps from both years my band did area in high school and all that information was on there, they're not trying to hide anything. And I don't understand what the big deal is, I think all of those judges are qualified enough and we should trust their judging, regardless of which one they might have judged. That specific information might not be posted online, but is at least on the copies of the sheets that directors receive in their packets after prelims/finals and they are probably told during director verification after prelims before finals.

Are you serious? They do, and the information is presented in ALL sorts of ways. They announce them at contests, post them on the UIL Area websites, and have them on the recaps along with what they judged. I just went to google, found each site for each area, and every one of them has the list of judges, and most what they were judging. There's not some conspiracy going on to hide who the judges are, you're just not paying attention or looking. Because it's all there for us. For instance, since this is area E, from that webpage, and even though I already recognized most of their names from their incredible work at some of the best high school programs from the past, I went to google and got a little information for each one: Area E 6A Judges: Dick Clardy - Scott Coulson - David Kirkley - Brian Merrill - Tom Shine Dick Clardy - http://www.tmea.org/about/past-presidents/dick-clardy Scott Coulson was the director at Poteet high school when they were one of the, if not the premier 4A band in the state and has 3 state championships, multiple medals, and many many many many many other extremely impressive things on his resume. David Kirkley is director of bands at Boswell high school, consistent 4A state marching contest appearances and many other accolades. Brian Marrill - http://www.smu.edu/Meadows/AreasOfStudy/Music/Faculty/MerrillBrian Tom Shine - Tom Shine has recently retired after a 40-year career as a Texas high school band director. The last 30 years were spent as Director of Bands for the Duncanville ISD. During his tenure, his bands won three state marching championships and were named 5A TMEA Honor Band three times. Duncanville ISD middle school bands earned an additional four TMEA Honor Band awards during that time. His DHS Wind Ensemble never earned lower than a superior rating and twice performed for the Midwest International Band and Orchestra Clinic and once for the Music Educators National Conference in Indianapolis. The Duncanville band program is one of the few worldwide to hold the Sudler Flag of Honor and the Sudler Shield of Honor from the John Philip Sousa Foundation for exemplary band programs. During his 30 years in Duncanville, he commissioned numerous original works and transcriptions for band. Shine served as the Region 20 TMEA Band Chair for over 25 years and was on the TMAA Executive Board for seven years. He was honored by the Texas Bandmasters Association with its Meritorious Achievement Award in 2006 and named Bandmaster of the Year in 2010. In retirement, he continues to serve as a clinician for numerous schools in Texas and an adjudicator for UIL and invitational contests. So........you tell me. Qualified enough? I don't know who you think's judging these contests, a bunch of music major freshman? I'd like to think these guys know what they're doing, and there's not much better you could get.

Lake Ridge, especially considering they're in that last block is my wild card. World of Pageantry isn't working so I can't get scores directly, but they've been doing even better this year than last year, they've beaten and been very close to some pretty esteemed programs this fall. Their "Paranormal" show is pretty cool, full throttle run and gun in your face like last year, just up a few notches in difficulty and it seems performance.

I heard Hebron and Marcus were neck and neck in music, each with 2nd's and 1st's, and Marcus was 1st from both visual judges. And I bet if you look at the 1 - 1,000 composite score that gave the rankings, they were probably really close. Comparing Marcus and Hebron, using the world landslide in any aspect just isn't true, they're both amazing programs that are going to be close at State and San Antonio neither is drastically better or worse than the other. Both phenomenal.

I wouldn't be surprised if something's in the works. We'll see I guess, but I agree.

I'd love for Hendrickson to make finals......they have a VERY well put together show and if they perform like they did in that Area Prelims video.....I think they can do it. We'll see, the crowd reaction at the end is just awesome.

Area was this past weekend, finals were: 1) Bowie 2) Reagan 3) CT Johnson 4) Westlake 5) Cedar Ridge 6) Westwood 7) Round Rock 8) Hendrickson 9) Anderson 10) Pflugerville

Also spreads from band to band are FAR more important than the actual scores themselves.

***Now updated with Area's B and F. 10/29 So basically I just added the 1 - 1000 score that led to each ranking and divided by 50 and boom, 1 - 100 score. I'll update as Area B comes online and Area F is inaccessible at the moment. Take these how you want. I put them in rank of their 1-100 score, NOT how they actually placed. I think Area D is the only Area where the converted scores would change who advanced to state. In a lot of areas, the actual scoring was MUCH closer than the rankings led them to be, some judges it was by as little as 1 point. The only area that was pretty all over the place was Area G. I would HIGHLY suggest against comparing one area against another, mainly just within areas. Different Areas = Different Judges = Could possibly be, and probably would be different results if judged by a different panel. If a band has a (+ a number) or (- a number) that means that their 1 - 100 score would have made them place differently, whether it be higher or lower. Lastly, this is just for FUN! I love crunching numbers, this was a fun little project on a not so busy night. So take it how you want, just thought it was interesting. Area A West Zone: 1) El Paso Coronado - 93.02 2) El Dorado - 89.74 3) Americas - 89.14 4) Socorro - 84.72 5) Montwood - 79.9 6) Franklin - 79.18 7) Eastwood - 78.1 Area A Central Zone: 1) Frenship - 83.4 2) San Angelo Central - 76.64 3) Midland Lee - 75.12 4) Lubbock Monterey - 72.12 5) Midland High - 69.38 (+1) 6) Odessa High - 68.96 (-1) 7) Amarillo High - 68.38 (+1) 8) Abilene High - 66.4 (-1) 9) Odessa Permian - 63.82 (-1) 10) Lubbock Coronado - 59.1 Area A East Zone: 1) Keller - 91.08 2) Timber Creek - 87.4 3) Keller Central - 83.7 4) Northwest - 77.04 (+1) 5) Byron Nelson - 77.02 (-1) 6) Denton Guyer - 73.08 7) Denton Ryan - 70.98 Area B: 1) Marcus - 97.1 2) Hebron - 93.8 3) Flower Mound - 91.46 4) LD Bell - 90.46 (+1) 5) Haltom - 90.36 (-1) 6) Mansfield - 89.4 7) Trinity - 87.9 (+1) 8) Plano East - 87.62 (-1) 9) Martin - 86.66 10) Allen - 83.68 Area C: 1) Coppell - 92.96 2) Duncanville - 91.68 3) Rowlett - 89.5 4) Berkner - 86.56 5) North Mesquite - 81.54 6) Sachse - 78.34 7) Lake Highlands - 77.9 8) Highland Park - 76.68 9) Midlothian - 75.2 10) JJ Pearce - 72.86 Area D: 1) James Bowie - 93.52 2) Westlake - 91.04 (+2) 3) Ronald Reagan - 90.94 (-1) 4) Claudia Taylor Johnson - 90.62 (-2) 5) Cedar Ridge - 90.24 6) Round Rock - 85.88 (+1) 7) Westwood - 85.44 (-1) 8) Anderson - 84.38 (+1) 9) Hendrickson - 83.5 (-1) 10) Pflugerville - 82.86 Area E: 1) Clements - 95.3 2) Stephen F. Austin - 94.16 3) Cypress Falls - 92.44 4) CY Fair - 90.68 5) Langham Creek - 90.44 6) Seven Lakes - 88.84 7) Cypress Creek - 85.52 (+1) 8) Morton Ranch - 84.2 (+1) 9) Dulles - 78.78 (-3) 10) Travis - 77.28 Area F: 1) Friendswood - 91.28 2) The Woodlands - 91.06 3) Spring - 90.58 4) Pearland - 88.52 5) North Shore - 87.12 (+1) 6) Dickinson - 87.32 (+1) 7) Dawosn - 86.94 (-2) 8) College Park - 86.18 9) Brazoswood - 85.6 10) Oak Ridge - 84.42 Area G: 1) O'Connor - 84.42 2) Harlingen - 82.14 (+1) 3) Lopez - 81.0 (+1) 4) Edinburg North - 80.32 (+3) 5) Clark - 80.28 - (80.28) (+1) 6) San Benito - 80.12 (-4) 7) Hanna - 79.06 (-1) 8) Harlingen South - 75.08 (+4) 9) Brandeis - 74.52 (+1) 10) Taft - 74.48 (-2) 11) McAllen - 74.24 (+4) 12) Warren - 72.88 (-1) 13) Stevens - 72.8 (-4) 14) United - 72.66 (-1) 15) PJSA North - 72.58 (+1) 16) Los Fresnos - 72.12 (-2) 17) United South - 68.92 (-1) 18) Veterans Memorial - 64.36 19) Palmview - 60.64

I completely, 100%, totally agree with you there, trust me, my comments were all on the subject of judging at Area F, not to state and beyond. I've been around long enough to know when a band still has plenty of growing to do. The Woodlands is always a late bloomer, and that's after they do pretty dang well the rest of the season as well. I don't have a dog in the fight, don't worry. Best of luck to both bands. Excited to see how The Woodlands show has progressed since Conroe, I don't have anything against them, my favorite marching season moment last year was them bringing home the Eagle.

Consider my opinion on them changed, they sound fantastic.

Wow, just watched Haltom's finals run. What a cool show! Those props are designed so well, they look great with the color scheme of the band and guard. The way they weave in and out of them throughout is really cool. Some awesome drill in there, particularly in the ballad and closer. And that final push with the woodwinds weaving in and out of the brass block while they're playing the reprise of the theme from the ballad is a fantastic GE moment, just a fantastic melding of music and visual impact. You should be very proud of your son/daughter. Regardless of where they have/will finished this year, it's a very memorable show. I really enjoyed last years "Endangered" show as well. Great year for Haltom, they're a great band.

Regardless of who finishes where, best of luck to everyone at what is, in my opinion, the most competitive marching band contest in the country! Bands last year all the way back in the 50th, 40th, and 30th are absolutely incredible programs who could have made finals at a lot of contests and even won some. This contest is so stacked it's not even funny, trying to pick out the last 4 - 5 spots in finals isn't even funny, there's probably over 10 bands that deserve it every year.