takigan

64 bands plus the exhibition group......that might be a record. Also, 5 different states are represented in this contest (Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, California) which is also the greatest number of states represented in this contest in a long time.....maybe ever.

I think it's funny how this topic is nearly 10 years old, and it still gets commented on at least a couple times per year

Want to post something about that marching/drumline/colorguard contest coming up? It doesn't go here. Post it here: http://www.txbands.com/forums/index.php?/forum/26-upcoming-contests-events-and-festivals/ Want to make a "Thoughts?" or "Score/Recap discussion" thread about a contest that just happened? First make sure there isn't a contest thread already under "Upcoming Contests" for the contest in question...if there is, post your thoughts and score discussions in that thread. If there isn't one, post your thread there. Want to talk about a specific band that you saw at last Saturday's contest? Wondering about a specific show? Post it here.

Leander has the unusually rare skill of not making Finals at early season BOA (Dallas, Conroe etc.), but then ends up making finals at BOA SA (made SA Finals in '08, '09, '12, missed it by one in '13). I wonder what's going to happen at SA now that Leander is not only making finals at early season, but DOMINATING at it!

The first sentence is a little bit presumptuous. Being a part of this activity for so long, we forget that many of these kids (especially freshman) don't really understand the logistics at all until after they've done it for a few years. I think the drum majors and the junior and senior leadership probably expressed puzzlement at the scores, but most of the band just wanted to see who they lost to, and gladly cheered them on in humility. Aside from that, I see this post as nothing more than a simple rebuke of the system, an expression of puzzlement and an admission of ignorance until you've obtained all the facts. Nothing worth getting worked up over. Also, different time, different panel, different atmosphere. I think even the restaurant the band ate at can have a pretty drastic effect on performance, as heavy food will slow you down. I would agree that I believe TWHS wouldn't be that obsessed with winning that something like "checking out the competition" would even cross their mind. But I can see why Rubisco would think the way he does. I didn't expect CTJ to win either beforehand, but seeing both bands side by side (literally, they went on one after the other in finals) made it clear to 6 out of 7 judges that Johnson really did have the superior run. I definitely felt like Johnson would win Music GE....plus when you look at the recaps and realize how much that category is weighted, a modest lead in that category can produce a much less modest (ie. BIG) gap in score. I think Rubisco will understand why CTJ won (answer: they played and marched better in Finals) once he's seen the videos. But I really don't understand why you're so angry and why you feel so offended and disenfranchised by someone else's opinion on this. You really are overreacting. Someone's comment on the internet doesn't really have any value on its own, so it can't really devalue the accomplishments of anyone or anything. There's a difference between being pessimistic and slanderous. The "grow up" comment was over the line...not to say it wasn't warranted by JBL's comment of "get over yourself", only your comment was not only negative, it was also condescending. What a lot of people don't realize is that score doesn't really tell the story of how much better a band is than another band. A nearly 2 point differential can be created simply by all 7 judges agreeing that Band A was only .25 points or "a little better" than Band B in their respective captions...seeing the 2 bands in question side by side can create this perception. And really, when you consider how heavily weighted Music GE is, an even bigger score gap can be created by that same assumption, and amplified even further by a rogue judge in the Music GE category using a wide spread. 2 whole points makes it look like Band A "DOMINATED" Band B, but in reality the difference was only a little under 3 tenths of a point....multiplied by 7 judges who all thought the same way. Would you really not be willing to admit that a band (CTJ) might have won simply because their competition (TWHS) didn't perform at their maximum capability in a single finals run-through? Have you seen Bell's 2008 Semis and Finals performances at nationals? Their finals performance was bad enough (relative to what they showed they were capable of in semis), most people still refer to the Semis recording as the definitive performance for that year, despite in 99% of other cases the finals performance is the one everybody watches. It cost them the music caption. You seem to think Rubisco's comments are along the lines of: "Oh, well the Woodlands wasn't even trying, so CTJ shouldn't be all excited about winning because they didn't deserve it, and I'll prove it once I see the videos because I'm smarter than everyone else"....because I don't think that's even remotely close to what he's saying at all. I think he's reserving judgment until he has all the facts, and can only go by what he knows and understands, which is previous history which has caused suspicion to arouse within him....which ultimately doesn't matter and isn't really worth freaking out over anyway. Why can't it be bad judges (or not necessarily bad judges, but an imperfect system with imperfect people)? Why can't TW have a bad performance? Everyone has them. Does everything have to be roses and sunshine so that the third option is the only possible/appropriate answer? I don't see how feeling suspicious of a system (especially when you have evidence for it), being skeptical of a band giving its best performance (especially when that band is an Eagle defender) yet being willing to admit that since you weren't there you can't say for certain about anything, is somehow equivalent to slander and trashing a band's successes. That's where I feel that you're overreacting, and it's these attacks and Rubisco's willingness to retaliate towards them starting a mini flame war, that I've made the decision to lock this thread.

For those not already following along on the Live, I am here blogging today. Hoping for good weather and a great day of great performances

Moved to "Everything Music"

Forgot about that one! Can't remember if I ever posted one of the old hype threads from 2006 about that show. A fun reread. http://www.txbands.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1917-ld-bell-ge-you-wouldnt-notice/page-1

When in doubt, Yamaha. Yamaha makes great everything, from their marching snare drums, to their Trumpets (the Xeno), to Flutes, to Euphoniums (I played on one in HS). The once exception being Clarinet, and even those aren't terrible. If no one responds to this and you can't find any better advice, just go with Yamaha. You likely won't be disappointed.

Embouchure is similar....the big difference is mouthpiece placement with an obviously much smaller mouthpiece. The biggest struggle (aside from struggling to hold up a larger horn while marching ) will likely be changing to bass clef. Clef changes (or doing any kind of transposing) is much easier if you have a really solid concept of scales and arpeggios....because when you do, you stop seeing the individual notes and start seeing musical patterns. When you see a bunch of notes running up the staff, you don't see it as a C,a D,an E,F, G etc....it's simply a C Major scale, and you apply the C scale you've learned from memory rather than trying to read all the notes. Think in keys, not in notes. I would suggest spending a lot of time on them. Interval studies will help you learn to remember the bass clef notes on sight. The hardest trouble I had was with the transposition (learning Bb Treble Clef in college after playing Bass Clef concert pitch my whole life). Even though a 2nd line G in Treble Clef is played open, the same G on Bass Clef (4th space) is played 1 and 2. In reality, the first note is Concert F, and the 2nd note is a Concert G. That and having to change the key signature in my head. Having good knowledge of scales helped with that also.

LD Bell - 2000 (love watching the people in the audience flip out at 7:11 ) LD Bell - 2007 (This ending, and also the GN Finals ending where we find there is actually a SECOND little girl in white...very Shyamalan) http://youtu.be/NtizqKKCpRs?t=1m40s Also, Bell's closers from '06, '08 and '10 are all spellbinding.

Next year (Fall 2014) will be a state year for 6A and 4A. Fall 2015 will be 1A/2A, 3A and 5A.

Favorite: Cedar Ridge Honorable Mention: CTJ, Hebron, Cedar Park, Round Rock. EDIT: Misread thread subject. New List: CP, Vista Ridge, Vandegrift, Dawson, Tomball Memorial, Lake Ridge.

? They competed at BOA San Antonio this year....they even made finals. Where have you been? lol

Yeah....I don't think any of us can pretend the Directory is still a major feature of this site. It's sort of like staring at that 50 page term paper you need to write and having zero motivation to start working on it. Nearly 400 schools with visible band programs....It's just an insane amount of data for a handful of people to keep up with year after year. Maybe someday will come up with a long-term solution for the Directory, but for now it's an ancient archive that can be useful to look up something pre-2008, but not much use beyond that.

With nearly 100 Trombones, someone's head is bound to get lopped off .

I apologize for the misinformation. The fact that the band marches such a huge unit combined with the only videos of Allen I've seen being from Football games (haven't seen them live yet) in addition to reading a lot about the Allen band's philosophy of inclusion made me assume that, like several bands I know of in DFW, they march everyone. I also want to clarify that I can't truly speak for the Allen Band's definition of pride...as I am not and never have been affiliated with that program.

There's an article on the internet somewhere where the former director Charles Pennington talks about how the program is run logistically, but I can't seem to find it. Edit: Found it: http://issuu.com/sboschoolbandorchestra/docs/sbomay2011/20

You do realize this school has TEN full-time band directors....and that's not counting the middle school directors who go up to help out, as well as the part-time staff and consultants plus over 30 private lesson instructors. The crowd may be huge, but the kids aren't lost in it. And the fact that every student marches and there are no alternates, means every student gets a chance to learn and perform. Plus it's 850 kids learning versus 200-300 kids learning...soooo, more kids learning is better than less. Cutting it down to 400 or smaller would be a disservice to the 450+ kids that got cut. Their pride isn't a shallow pride that gets by with "Well, we've made finals at area a few times, so we're better than most". No, their pride comes from the fact that they're the biggest freaking marching band the world has ever known! http://www.marching.com/spotlight/allen-texas-huge-marching-band/

I added your submission. Here's a reminder for everyone to keep in mind that even though Finals is on the 16th, Nationals itself begins on the 14th, so predictions need to be posted before then as the event locks on Thursday.

Final Results: 86.95 - Ayala H.S., CA 83.75 - Clovis West H.S., CA 82.60 - Saratoga H.S., CA 81.05 - Desert Vista H.S., AZ 79.30 - Foothill H.S., NV 76.20 - Bel Air H.S., TX 75.90 - Corona Del Sol H.S., AZ 75.10 - Montwood H.S., TX 74.85 - Americas H.S., TX 73.95 - Savanna H.S., CA Outstanding Music Performance - Ayala H.S., CA Outstanding Visual Performance - Ayala H.S., CA Outstanding General Effect - Ayala H.S., CA Curious to see the Music scores, but congrats to everyone, especially the Texas groups!

Good luck to the 3 Texas bands; Americas HS, Bel Air HS and Montwood HS (All from El Paso) who are competing in the BOA Long Beach regional today in California. All 3 bands made finals and Bel Air took AAA Best Music in prelims! Class AAA 1st - Clovis West H.S., CA 2nd - Bel Air H.S., TX 3rd - Americas H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance - Bel Air H.S., TX Outstanding Visual Performance - Clovis West H.S., CA Outstanding General Effect - Clovis West H.S., CA More results Interesting bit of trivia: Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Long Beach is only 40 miles or so further away from El Paso than Woodforest Bank Stadium in Conroe is!

Quantity has very little to do with Duncanville's success. Duncanville's success is built off of a tradition of excellence that was allowed to flourish by a highly supportive school district and a handful of incredibly ambitious band directors who created a great thing a very long time ago and stuck around and never let it die. The leadership that created that has recently left, but that culture of success still exists in the program. Even if they only had 2,000 kids, Duncanville would still have made the same number of State Marching Band appearances over the past 30 years.

The 90s saw the introduction of electronics by a handful of schools, but they didn't become commonplace until after 2000. I remember bands in High School using electronics, but even at Area D Finals, I'd say only 3 or 4 of the finalist bands were using them and not much else. This was in 2002. Even for the BOA contests at San Antonio from 2003-2005, only about half of the bands at the contest were using some kind of electronic element as part of their show (whether through amplification and mixing, or electronic instruments themselves). It was on I think the 2007 San Antonio webcast that I started to notice that nearly everybody had added microphones and at least one synthesized instrument to the front ensemble. 2003-2007 is really when they took off.