takigan

Basically if you want to participate in UIL you're stuck with 8 hours in a 7 day week, no matter what. If you withdraw completely from UIL, you're still limited by State law (TEA) to 8 hours per M-F school week, but are unbound on the weekends. In 2003 Westfield did 8 hours M-F, then did marathon Saturday rehearsals to maximize their time as Daniel explained. As for your other question, it's not necessarily "on the field" time. I'm not clear of the exact wording, but I will say that the scheduling that appears on a calendar or verbally agreed upon time does NOT directly contribute to the 8 hours, only real world practice does. A band director can schedule 10 hours (or whatever) of rehearsal, but if it goes even 1 minute over 8 hours from start time to release in practice, they are in violation. For bands trying to maximize their time, it would probably be practical to schedule 2 1/2 hrs Monday, 3 hours Tuesday, 2 1/2 hours Wednesday and 3 hours Thursday (11 hours), with the intention of canceling your Thursday rehearsal if rehearsal is held on all 3 of the previous days (8 hours). If there's a Monday Inservice that canceled practice, you would let out Wednesday rehearsal 1/2 hour early (8 hours total). If practice got rained out on Tuesday you could hold Thursday practice in full, and if it rained on Wednesday you would let Thursday out 1/2 hour early (8 hours total).

Lassiter (GA) and Plymouth Canton E.P. (MI) boasted similar schedules (20 hour heck week) for the years they won nationals in the late 90s/early '00ts. There was an old thread on the BOA forum about it. So that's '98, '99 and '02. We know Broken Arrow used such a schedule when they won in '06, '11, '12 [essentially] and '15, and we know Tarpon likely used it when they won in '14. Was Westfield doing Saturday rehearsals in '03 when they won? I doubt they were putting in hours anywhere close to what Tarpon and BA are doing, regardless. Anyway, it seems like the "20 hour heck week" is par for the champion bands of the past 20 years. It's admittedly more impressive that Bell and The Woodlands won and Avon 3-peated with much less rehearsal time.

It's true. All of it.

If Marian doesn't make finals this year, then I would completely accept that idea. Their running streak is the big reason I could see them continuing the tradition. Broken Arrow has gone every single year since 2006 (except for 2013) despite the distance and the costs. Bell used to do the same thing. This is because they have both the financial means and the competitive spirit/interest. Carmel and Avon would likely assume the role of Broken Arrow as both these schools have a fair amount of money and consistently make finals....while Lawrence Township and Center Grove would not. They would become the Richlands, the Bowies, the the Woodlands....s .

I'm thinking vocalists are becoming the new "narration" for designers trying to find a new layer to project their concept to the audience. Though where narration has gradually gone out of style for being too cliche and self-indulgent, I really hope vocalists continue to catch on and are used in new and exciting ways....as long as the shows aren't built completely around them to the point where it becomes like a super bowl halftime show.

I think even that is debatable. I see the state marching contest as a festival where different regions of Texas send their best, and we then declare medalists. I don't think it has to be the literal Top 35+/- best bands in the state duking it out. A state marching contest that was organized in the more "purist" way, wouldn't be a true STATE contest.....it would be the "Best of Dallas/Fort Worth" with a few Austin, San Antonio and Houston schools thrown in. How do I know that? 51 Wind and Percussion students made the top TMEA All-State Symphony Orchestra last Spring. Out of that group, those kids were divided by region as follows: Dallas/Fort Worth - 23 Houston - 13 San Antonio - 6 Austin - 5 Other (East Texas, Panhandle, RGV, Permian Basin) - 4 DFW had as many students in this group as the entire rest of the state combined minus Austin. It would be tougher to illustrate how all the best bands are in DFW, but rest assured at least half of the SMBC participants would be from Dallas/Fort Worth. There were 9 bands from DFW out of 37 at the 6A 2014 SMBC. 7 of the 9 all made the Top 12 and all of them placed in the top half. In a purist state contest there wouldn't be a single band at the event outside of the Texas Triangle. I don't find such a contest appealing.

Agreed. In 2008 Hidalgo missed GN Semi-Finals by 2 class places (They placed 4th out of I think 13 in their prelims block.....they needed to have placed 2nd to advance in 1A). Adair County (KY) dominates class 1A though in the same way Marian Catholic dominates 2A. If Adair were to be scheduled on a different day than Argyle, they could probably pull it off and advance. Whitesboro is in a similar position this year. Adair County is an interesting place to produce such a high quality band. The school's rural town of Columbia, KY is one of the poorest towns in America. They have a median per capita income of $15,632/yr, which is basically minimum wage. This is the polar opposite of Argyle, which is a tiny master planned enclave of 3,000 people where your typical family makes six figures.

I think they would. I mean maybe not EVERY year, but I think a typical marcher at Avon or Carmel would expect to make at least 3 nats trips before they graduated if the contest rotated between St. Louis, SA, Georgia and Indy each year. I think Marian Catholic (IL) would as well. Now Lawrence Township, Center Grove, Ben Davis, Homestead, Lake Central etc......I think we'd see a lot less of those groups.

Daniel (Xenon) blogs Nationals pretty much every year from Indy. Other than that, we've never had staffers at out-of-state regionals. I think Zach blogged a Colorado invitational once when he was at UC Boulder I think in 2007 or 2008, but never a BOA regional. Music for All recently started contracting with Indiana Marching to send their people to the various Super Regionals....that might be what you're thinking.

Only 4? Isn't 4 the most that's ever gone? I think we also sent 4 in 2012.

Definitely agree with the second point. Though in my opinion it has less to do with time management, and more about focus. Flower Mound was a strong group in the 2000's, regularly making finals at most competitions, even if they weren't always in the top 5....then in 2012; major staff change. Each year since, Flower Mound has consistently outdone itself....Now we're in Year 4, the culmination of that change, as all students who were used to the "old way" have graduated and we now have one unified group that has only known the new staff. What do I mean by focus? Well, there are bands in this state where every rehearsal is dead quiet, no idle chatter, and 100% of students will RUN back to their sets every single time. There are bands where section leaders have the authority to lay the hammer down on their underlings, and said underlings comply willingly, determined to do better. Then imagine a band director who proceeds to take all of the above and kick it into overdrive by dramatically increasing the pace/speed of the rehearsal. That's probably what you meant by time management. But I'll add that focus also has a lot to do with "Hmm....well this 2 hour practice just got over....should I go home, or should I stay in the band hall and practice my region music for another hour?". Focused bands do the latter. If you have 200 kids who all make up their minds to do that, then 8 hour rule or 4 hour rule isn't going to dramatically change the outcome.

As someone who teaches Euphonium lessons in Cy-Fair ISD, my heart goes out to all those who have trouble keeping all the Cypress schools straight. I have enough trouble with Clear Brook, Clear Springs, Clear Falls, Clear Creek and Clear Lake....I can't imagine being a marching fan unfamiliar with the district and trying to figure out who's who with: Cy-Fair, Cy Woods, Cy Springs, Cy Lakes, Cy Falls, Cy Ranch, Cy Ridge, Cy Creek, plus Cy Park which just opened this year. At least Langham Creek and Jersey Village have slightly different names, and the new HS opening next year, Bridgeland HS, will also have a different name.

Thanks for the help by the way....do what you can...don't feel obligated to do what you don't want to do. I've gotta say you sound a lot like me back in 2009 when I had a vision for the directory that was in-depth and included up-to-date details on the nearly 400 bands that comprise it (which still doesn't even come close to covering all the bands in Texas). But it's a daunting task for one person.....so daunting it was disheartening and I was unable to rally my fellow staffers to the cause. And what was the point if I would be back to square one the next year after doing all that work. And that's why the directory fell apart (That and our directory mod moved on to bigger and better things). With 5 or 6 people the task is completely doable, as you just have to assign a few letters of the alphabet to each person, and just make that your responsibility to keep everything for those bands that start with that letter up to date each year. The key is finding 5 or 6 people who are up for something that tedious. You used to be able bribe them as being moderators.....but our forum isn't nearly as happenin' as it used to be. Do I want to do it now? No. I was in college back then....don't really have the time or the inclination like I used to. Nowadays I blog the Conroe regional, approve/edit a few predictions events here and there and moderate, move and merge threads as need be. It's about all I have time for. Scores and Directory are in disarray, and it's a flat out miracle we keep the Predictions game running year after year (that one used to be my official job, but it's mostly Daniel/Xenon now). Aside from that we just have the Forum and the LiveBlog, which is really the only thing we have any real organized logistical collab going on anymore.

Missed this but.....This. This is actually the sole reason the Japanese bands are so incredible. In Japan you have one band director (who may or may not be a music teacher....he/she may be a math teacher). No assistant directors. But it doesn't matter. The band director won't even be in rehearsal half the time anyway, because band in Japan is essentially student led sectionals. Band is after school only. There are no fundraisers. Not sure how many people would be interested in something like this but here's a nearly 2 hour long documentary of a Japanese HS marching band. Yes....in Japan it is not uncommon for a tv studio to do specials on local school bands. https://youtu.be/UJpPFBpru9w?t=25m56s I've highlighted a 2 minute segment from 25:56 - 27:59. The segment's entirely in Japanese, but basically what you're looking at is a summer Flute sectional from 2011 at the famous Japanese HS band called Tachibana Senior High from Kyoto. Tachibana is a parade and dance band with an extremely complex dance element to their shows. The incoming freshman usually don't have any knowledge of how to do this visual stuff and must be taught by the upperclassmen from 9am-6pm all summer long....the school also turns off the AC in the summer. My Japanese isn't super great, but this freshman (Mayuko) is being taught side-by-side by her section leader (Higashimono-senpai) while the drum major is making the rounds She's not up to standards. The drum major keeps telling/asking her "Can you really do this? We MUST do this...if you don't we'll all be failures etc. etc.". Mayuko keeps responding "Hai! Yes I can, I can do it....don't give up on me!". At 27:00 we learn that the drum major has assigned 350 REPS of this short segment to make sure she gets it right. At 27:11 we see the culmination of this.....the drum major is completely pissed off that she can't do it and leaves in a huff like "Are you even trying?! Don't waste my f***ing time!". And of course this makes her start crying. The narrator says something along the lines of "She will keep trying, her spirit is broken, but she presses on". In the final part of the segment at 27:56 the interviewer asks her "So how was practice?". She responds "Suparuta sugimasu", which literally means "Beyond Sparta". Yeah...no kidding.

I actually did the same thing way back when I made my own list. Really the only other ones I'm aware of that you missed was Clear Brook in '09 and Hidalgo in '08. Hidalgo placed 4th in their class in prelims out of 13 1A bands, but you have to make Top 2 to advance to Semis in class placement. This is what we're hoping Whitesboro will be able to do this year at GN. I love BOA History! Especially instances where out-of-state bands attend Texas regionals, and Texas bands attend out of state regionals. Only 11 bands showed up to the 1992 Denton Regional, but one was Onate HS in New Mexico, and one band from Kentucky (Boyle County HS). Duncanville won this regional (yeah...imagine that). The Tulsa bands (Broken Arrow, Union, Owasso, Jenks) as well as the Moore bands also used to regularly compete in the Denton regional as well as the Alamodome during the 90s, and would score quite high, but now rarely compete. Union, Jenks and Owasso have all attended Texas regionals during the 2000s, but after Broken Arrow won the first St. Louis regional held in the Trans World dome in 1997, they stopped competing in Texas entirely. I'd love to see them come back. Other fun facts: 1985 - 5 of the 16 bands that competed at the pilot Houston regional were from out of state. 1985 - A band from Alberta, Canada (Magrath HS) competed in the pilot Idaho regional this year. 2000 - Hidalgo missed Finals by one place at SA, despite being a BOA 1A band. They placed ahead of Connally (13th), as well as Cedar Park (14th). CP would win the State Marching contest the following year in Class 4A. 2002 - SEVEN out-of-state bands competed at the Arlington Regional: Vandebilt Catholic (LA), Lafayette (LA), Goddard (KS), Irondale (MN), Collinsville (OK), Ponca City (OK) and Westmoore (OK). Irondale placed 9th in Finals. Six bands also attended Arlington in '01, and five in '03. 2002 - Carmel (IN) comes to SA, and WINS (this fact is more well known). They placed 2nd to Bell in prelims, but won out in Finals. 2003 - All 3 Class AA medalists at San Antonio are out-of-state bands. Loveland (CO) took 1st, Bellevue West (Nebraska) took 2nd, Blue Valley West (KS) took 3rd. 5 total OOS bands attended. Ayala (CA) also came very close to making finals, placing 16th. 2003 - Texas takes Top 3 placements at Grand National Semi-Finals (Westfield, Reagan, Bell). 2003 - The first year we had Texas bands attend out-of-state BOA Regionals aside from GN. 5 El Paso schools (Andress, Americas, Coronado, Bel Air and JM Hanks) all attended the the regional in Phoenix (AZ) that year, which is only a 6 hour drive from El Paso (closer than SA or Denton/Arlington). Americas, Coronado and Bel Air all made Finals. Bel Air placed 2nd to Etiwanda in Prelims, dropping to 4th in Finals. Coronado placed 3rd in both Prelims and Finals. Etiwanda (CA) won the regional handily by a 5 1/2 point margin. 2004 - 1 band from Illinois and 1 from Tennesee attend Arlington. 2004 - The year of the La Joya, Tx Regional. BOA's 1st attempt at establishing a Rio Grande Valley regional that would eventually find its home in McAllen. Churchill won this regional by a margin of 5.30 . 2004 - LD Bell was the 1st Texas band to attend the St. Louis Super Regional. They won. 2005 - El Paso Hanks and Americas placed 7th and 8th at the California regional in 2005. 2005 - El Paso Montwood attended the Flagstaff, AZ regional, but didn't make Finals. 2006 - Victoria Memorial placed 8th at the Flagstaff regional. 2006 - Mansfield attends the St. Louis regional, but didn't make Finals. 2007 - El Paso holds a regional. The regional was poorly attended, and 2 Colorado bands took the top 2 placements (Rampart and Air Academy). 2007 - El Paso Hanks and Americas place 8th & 9th at the California regional. 2008 - Americas places 4th at the California regional, and continues to make Finals in years to come. 2009 - Birdville attends the St. Louis Super Regional placing 7th in prelims (including Best Music in 3A) and 10th in Finals. They become regular attendees of this contest. 2009 - Hanks places 4th at the Utah Regional. 2010 - El Paso Montwood attends Utah Regional, but doesn't make Finals. 2010 - Birdville and William B. Travis attend St. Louis. Birdville makes Finals, Travis narrowly misses out. 2011 - Hanks places 6th at Utah Regional 2011 - Austin Bowie and Clear Brook become first bands to attend Atlanta Super Regional setting a trend for future years. Both make finals (2nd & 7th).

Also one of the oldest that's still running. They've been doing their thing since 1977....that's older than the UIL State Marching Contest.

7 bands in 2007: LD Bell The Woodlands Richland SFA Reagan Clear Brook Mabank

New director at Rouse this year. We'll likely see them rise the ranks over the next few years to join the fold with the other LISD schools. I went to SHSU with Jason Robb, and he....well, let's just say he's one of those guys who, when you listen to him talk, you know he's destined for much bigger things than most of the people you're bumping elbows with in college. He was easily the most promising teacher of anyone I knew in the 4 years I was at Sam.

Percussion (Rudimentary) - Travis Fife - Professor of Percussion (Lamar University) Snare: Timpani: Percussion (Mallets) - Dr. Matthew Holm - Professor of Percussion (Lamar University)

Tuba - Daniel Frost (UT Austin Doctoral Student) Etude #1 - Etude #2 -

Euphonium - Youtube User 'Bach New York 50B' Etude #1 (in-depth practice guide) - Etude #2 (in-depth practice guide) - Etude #3 - Not yet released, here's a performance by TubaPeter from a few years ago: (don't play repeats)

Trombone - Dr. John Shanks - Professor of Trombone (West Texas A&M) Etude 1 - Etude 2 - Etude 3 -

Horn - Mark Houghton (Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra) Etude 1 - Etude 2 -

Trumpet - Mike Arnold (UT Austin grad student) Etude 1 - Etude 2 -