wtxbd02

Am a percussionist so that will influence mine. Definitely Maslanka Symphony No. 4. Played a keyboard part on that, some wicked fast runs in there and the drumming section was pretty challenging. Mackey Wine Dark Sea wasn't quite as hard but still pretty challenging (played toms). But was a BLAST. Probably the most fun band piece I got to play, just get to wail away as loud as possible at the end of that piece. Most of my challenging ones came in college since I went to a 4A, but in high school the Persichetti Symphony for Band is probably the top of this list for HS, but wasn't absurdly hard. Super fun xylophone part. Percussion ensemble wise played some VERY difficult stuff in college. Got to play a lot of the popular ones. Kyoto by John Psathas and Palace of Nine Perfections (Marimba 1 on both) were probably the two most challenging parts I ever got. But insanely fun. Didn't get as hard of parts but did Prelude to Paradise by Jacob Remington and Crown of Thorns by David Maslanka as well which are two that probably pop up at the top of those lists.

I would be very surprised if they don't shuffle around some areas in 5A/6A with how many big moves there were. 4A down was a lot lighter in change so I think any adjustments in those classifications would be much smaller.

Kaufman is FAR far far better than they were when they made it to state in 2022 in 4A. I think they will have similar success to Sulphur Springs after moving down. 5A Honor Band finalist this last spring as well. They'll be dangerous.

4A wise looks like in terms of state bands from this fall: Moving Up to 5A: Celina Panther Creek Legacy Ranch Moving Down to 4A: Kaufman Bubble (but I am betting on these staying, consensus seems to be a cutoff of 1,290): West Plains - 1,278 Davenport - 1,263 (more than likely safe) Aubrey - 1,258.5 (more than likely safe) Sulphur Springs - 1,254.5 (more than likely safe) Some other move ups that I could have seen relevant at state in the near future are New Braunfels Long Creek and Prosper Richland. Some other move downs that I think will maybe be relevant at the area level are Plainview and El Paso Andress in Area A (could see these both competing healthily in area finals and potentially snagging a 5th state spot) and Alice in Area E (was a state advancer in 4A in 2023). Tomball West and Medina Valley Creek View are also new schools that open this next fall and will probably move up in 2028, but could make some noise like Panther Creek has in recent years.

Wild lineup for this far out! Maybe only 2nd to the the Texas Marching Classic as the most insane non BOA/US Bands/State Entity Contest in the country.

Davenport lists 1,254 on their website for 2025-2026. It's not their official snapshot number and I am not sure when that's from but it would keep them 4A more than likely. New cutoff numbers should be release this week!

Possibility of moving up to 5A: Celina (for sure) Panther Creek (for sure) West Plains (on the bubble, will be close) Sulphur Springs (on the low end of the bubble, I think they're probably staying in 4A though) Davenport (no numbers yet, but were very close in 2024) Valley View (also no numbers yet, but were very close in 2024) Possibility of moving down to 4A: Alice (for sure) Kaufman (for sure) Plainview (very likely) El Paso Hanks (no numbers yet, but very heavily trending towards 4A)

A little selfish on my part. Super proud of Area A having two finalists for the 4th year in a row. I do work up here so I'm ecstatic that we've been able to keep up with the insane improvement of 4A over the last 5 years. Canyon has placed 3rd, 2nd, 3rd in percussion in prelims the last three years and finally got into the top 5 in finals with 4th this year in that caption. West Plains has made finals 75% of the time since the school opened, and Randall has advanced every year since moving down to 4A. Lubbock-Cooper Liberty made it in their 3rd year and will only get better, Pecos continues to put out amazing shows, etc. Lots of amazing stuff going on in the panhandle. Reigning 4A honor band, tons of all staters, and a consistent presence on the state marching contest stage makes my heart happy. And just blown away by what I'm seeing in the rest of the state. Medalists were absurdly good this year, Sulphur Springs is close to that level and doing AMAZING things in the spring on a concert stage, China Spring continues to put out content monster shows that are so exciting. North Lamar continues to improve back to their strongest levels again, Calallen show design and percussion always blow me away, and was SO excited that Fredericksburg made it in with their super fun show this year. We have rising stars in Aubrey and Legacy Ranch that will make finals sooner than not, etc. 4A is at its best ever. I don't think you'd have to go back very far for that Celina show to compete in finals in 5A. They're going to handle that transition very well next year. Sure Panther Creek and whoever else moves up will as well. Kaufman will fill some shoes VERY quickly dropping back down as well. The future is bright.

I highly suspect they'll adjust the current regions/areas.

I really think right now it's only Celina and Panther Creek. I've seen some new projections of the cutoff being 1,290. So Sulphur Springs would stay and West Plains would stay. Davenport would maybe stay. And we gain for sure Kaufman and maybe El Paso Hanks who would be instant finalist contenders.

Congrats to everyone on an insanely good finals. So much variety, entertainment, and excellence on display. Caught Celinas finals run after I was free.......wow. Insanely good. I'm sure the rest of the top was impressive but only caught them. They made some insanely hard stuff look and sound like a cakewalk. PRISTINE. The quality in this class since Covid only continued to skyrocket this year.

Best of luck to all bands today!

Results are not concrete throughout the whole season. Groups improve, stall out, etc. What happened almost a month ago can change!

I think we are missing the part where the 14th place percussion sections are still insanely good. Top 12 scores are all box 5. It's the smallest things separating multiple placements, one ticked phrase is all it can take. This is also the first time all 14 of these groups are together under one roof so with how competitive it is you never know. Not saying that some disagreement/questioning isn't warranted. But we are talking a collection of some of the best percussion programs in the entire country.

Kaufman back to 4A! 5A Area C 2nd place this year and a 5A Honor Band finalist. Submitted 1,204.

Some West Texas updates: - Frenship Memorial) 2,194 - Frenship) 1,980 - West Plains) 1,278 - Plainview) 1,247 - Randall) 1,117 - Canyon) 1,085 Frenship Memorial almost doing a 4A to 6A jump after opening this year! Frenship down to 5A as well. That makes area A 5A much more competitive, especially if West Plains moves up who is on the higher end of the 4A cutoff bubble. Plainview will be a solid addition to Area A 4A after making area finals in 5A this year. Randall only grows 20-30 and Canyon actually down 10 from the last realignment so both of them will stay solidly 4A.

Legacy Ranch only submits 1,048! They're going to be a developing threat fast in 4A.

So now it's because of the judging panel. Not a tabulation error. lol. Make up your mind! Or maybe it's just normal UIL Area results where a judge thought a band had a lower music ensemble achievement level for the whole band than their percussion and had good content on the same sheet. Let's move on from baseless speculation and feelings over results we didn't like trying to cause trouble. Congrats to the advancing bands and finalists, Lone Star is looking at their best ever finish at state this year. That's really exciting!

Unless you were a director in the room with the judges this kind of speculation/assumptions over a pretty normal ordinal on a judging sheet is wreckless and fuels misinformation and negativity. It's clear when someone doesn't understand how the sheets work. Variance in subcaption ordinals is totally normal and a sign of healthy judging of the shows seen on the day. Nothing more or less.

1. Hanks 2. Amarillo 3. Horizon 4. Lubbock Cooper CONGRATS to Amarillo High on their first time advancing in 27 years!!! Happy for them.

It's entirely possible for your percussion sub caption of the music sheet to be a largely different ordinal than your music ensemble and content sub caption. This probably means that they are actually judging each sub caption separately as they are supposed to and doing their job. If every judge had the same ranking across every subcaption in their sheet it would be way more unusual. I've seen the recap in question, it's not out of line with many area recaps I've seen throughout this fall already. Judge probably evaluated that the band had some issues with overall music ensemble performance, a good percussion run, and great content. In such a deep area you can end up lower pretty fast. I think the judge was just judging their sheet 🤷‍♂️

Area finals are top 5 bottom 5. Each randomized. So: 6-10: Texas Terrell Red Oak West Mesquite Mount Pleasant 1-5: North Mesquite Highland Park Kaufman Garland - Lakeview Centennial Mesquite - Poteet

A 4A drop that could be instantly very interesting is El Paso Hanks. They've been trending down a lot recently and were at 1,364 last year on the TEA Enrollment Report which was a drop of 32 from the last realignment. I'm not sure if they'll QUITE get there but would instantly be an Area A contender and state finalist contender. Have heard Kaufman will also be close but just rumors. 5A Honor Band Finalist last year and really solid marching band that would instantly contend for state finals. I would surprised if they dropped but have read a few rumors on the football forums.

Hearing Cedar Park also likely to be in 6A.

Make sure we aren't sharing unlisted videos not meant for public viewing. Thanks!