takigan

LD Bell 2006 - "The Remaining" Not so much "moved" my soul but was just so deeply awestruck by what was being performed it was enough to be moving. There wasn't anything else like it at the time. LD Bell 2008 - "The Quest" The soloists! I still hum that closing flute solo to myself all the time, it's such a pretty solo. Marcus 2009 - "A Midsummer Night's Dream" Namely the English Horn solo. I've thought for years that's the most beautiful solo to ever be played on a marching field. I only learned in more recent years that the player was essentially a child prodigy who was 1st chair All-State as a SOPHOMORE and has had a pretty illustrious college and professional career performing with several world class orchestras. LD Bell 2010 - "Honor: We Will Remember" The only show to this day that actually legitimately made me cry. The Woodlands 2011 - "Uninvited" The Seventh is already gut-wrenching enough as it is. What moved me about this was the genius that came from interweaving it with Uninvited. It worked SO WELL to the point of giving me chills! Reagan 2015 - "EveryOne" The ballad defined that entire year for me. I remember seeing them in Finals at Conroe under the nighttime stadium lights and it making me reflect on just my own band journey that I had undertaken until that point. People I'd met, places I'd been and great music that I'd performed. Hebron 2021 - "Penstriped" Because Holy Sh**!

Nationals ain't what it used to be. San Antonio is just flat out the "true" premiere marching band contest now. Wanna compete against lots of different bands from all over? Go to GN. Wanna compete against the actual best of the best? Go to San Antonio. I mean just look at the numbers: Round Rock - 17th @ San Antonio --> 16th @ Nats (+1) Vista Ridge - 12th @ San Antonio --> 12th @ Nats (0) Marcus - 7th @ San Antonio --> 6th @ Nats (+1) The Woodlands - 4th @ San Antonio --> 4th @ Nats (0) CTJ - 3rd @ San Antonio --> 7th @ Nats (-4) Reagan - 5th @ San Antonio --> 9th @ Nats (-4) Most of the bands either stayed the same or improved their ranking from San Antonio to Nationals. Vista Ridge was also 11th in Semis so they might've improved as well with the right run/panel/timeslot. Not to mention the top 2 at SA (including the former Eagle holder) didn't even go to GN this year. Compare this to the 2002 season: Haltom - 6th @ SA --> 16th @ Nats (-10) TWHS - 7th @ SA --> 8th @ Nats (-1) Churchill - 5th @ SA --> 10th @ Nats (-5) Reagan - 3rd @ SA --> 11th @ Nats (-8) Spring - 14th @ SA --> 18th @ Nats (-4) Every single band that did both contests dropped in ranking between the two...by a pretty solid margin as well.

I'll always remember that show for its closer. So exciting, and the utilization of those vocals as a rhythmic device was really creative at the time. But that overall vibe/mood/atmosphere whatever you wanna call it...where you've spent the entire day stressing out, sweating and giving everything you've got, and you get to just enjoy the evening together with your crew under the stadium lights watching the other bands. And the bus ride home. That tops any singular emotional experience from a show itself. That's part of the joy of going to shows as an alumni/fan. Year by year, that evening atmosphere during finals hasn't really changed...you look around and you still see kids in letterman jackets huddled up under blankets next to each other. I've had years where I go and I see that and I feel sort of sad and out of place....like I'm dwelling in the past too much. But other years the experience is really nostalgic, if even magical....and I'm really glad I went.

All Live: Cedar Park '02 - "Claustrophobia" (My first time seeing a marching show with a synth) Westfield '02 - "Metamorphosis" ("Aww Westfield!, Conroe UIL! 2k2! Those Trix are for kids!" ?) Cypress Falls '07 - "The Shining" (First time hearing a marching show that used a bass amp to fuel their power chords [pretty much everyone in a BOA Finals does this now]) TWHS '09 - "Amen" (Favorite show from my First year live-blogging for TxB. Subaraman drum chant!) Cedar Ridge '10 - "The Game Within" (Final Fantasy show; their inaugural year) CTJ '10 - "You Are" (I consider myself "CTJ Fan Zero". Their '08 & '09 shows didn't really net much attention but I loved the design and they were some of my favorites from those years. But this show, despite only getting 13th at State, was my favorite from 2010 and made me a CTJ fan for life!) ***TWHS '11*** - "Uninvited" (Favorite ballad in a live show. This show is just so well written!) CTJ '11 - "Lincolnshire Posy" LD Bell '11 - "The Circle's Edge" (First time seeing LD Bell live.) Cedar Ridge '12 - "Flock" (I wonder if the insane band parent at BOA Houston might be a major source of this ?) Friendswood '12 - "All the World's a Stage" (Mad World, New World Symphony and a GORGEOUS rendition of "On Top of the World" from Last of the Mohicans which is probably one of my most favorite ballads I've heard live) Clear Falls '12 - (Probably my favorite Montoya show with Lux Aurumque & Kingfishers Catch Fire which are both among my favorite band pieces.) Cedar Ridge '13 - "Goodnight Moon" (I've rediscovered this one recently, and I realized it was a show from that year that I just flat out forgot to go back and re-experience. It's glorious!) Hebron '14 - "When Midnight Comes" Leander '14 - "Color Study" ***CTJ '14*** - "Chameleon" (Absolutely, mind-blowingly good! Watching the encore from field level is one of my more memorable experiences as well.) Reagan '15 - "Every(One)" (Just....Soooo pretty!) ***Leander '15*** - "Choral Works" (Favorite opener of any marching band show, live or otherwise, though some of the LD Bell and old Reagan shows come close) Cedar Park '15 - "What's Opera Doc?" Reagan '16 - "One Love" CTJ '16 - "Flash Dance" Hendrickson '16 - "3D" (Still got my glasses ?)

Houston is an area with more Journeymen than literally anywhere else, but no has no real Masters. DFW has Flower Mound, Hebron, Marcus, LD Bell & Keller. San Antonio has Reagan and CTJ. Austin has Vandegrift, Vista Ridge & Leander. But for Houston it's really just the Woodlands. There are plenty of bands like North Shore, or Pearland, or Clements, or Oak Ridge, or Clear Brook, or SFA, or JET, or Seven Lakes, or Brazoswood, or Cy-Fair or Friendswood that have shown they have the potential to be that second tower...Houston has so many bands that have been to State or won BOA Regional finalist honors....they can climb really high but just can't summit. Even TWHS barely kept up with the rest of the heavy hitters this past year. Pearland had a good year this year. If they can make SA Finals again and push into the Top 15 at State I might be prepared to start calling them that second tower. We'll also see what MacAnear has in store for Bridgeland as they've outdone themselves year after year since opening and haven't lost that momentum just yet.

The main reason I would pull back from calling Vandegrift "band of the decade" is because their real dominating success has only come much more recently. After the bronze medal they won at BOA Conroe in 2010, Vandegrift competed at 12 more BOA regionals and didn't win another medal until Austin in 2016 (gold). They competed at San Antonio in '10, '11, '12 & '13 and didn't make finals at any of them (EDIT: actually, wait...they got 12th in prelims in '13, then 7th in finals). Anyone remember the days wondering when LD Bell or Marcus would break the streak and get something lower than bronze at a regional? Vandegrift also didn't make a single appearance in the largest size classification for honor band during the entire decade....until they won it this past cycle of course. Flower Mound has had more kids make All-State in 1 year than Vandegrift has the entire decade. CTJ also.....CTJ has also made finals at every single BOA regional they competed in this decade, medaled at several of them and won more than a few. Don't misinterpret this as an anti-Vandegrift post. Think of it more as trying to see everything in a broader perspective and not letting their thunderous success of the most recent seasons overhype them too much.

I always say if you're going to say it you might as well sing it. Vocal features can achieve the end that narration does, and adds a musical element at the same time. It can also serve as a bridge to the chunk of the halftime audience that can't stomach instrumental music purely because they convinced themselves at some point that music has to have lyrics, otherwise it's boring.

It's hard to get a concrete number mainly because some schools don't do true traditional military and others have been known to mix it up (e.g. China Spring, who've been in the 4A state finals in recent years utilizing what I would call "millicorps" style). Plus there are a LOT of 1A and 2A schools in this state....you almost can't keep track of them all from year to year. 6A is a little easier, since there are only a handful of schools that dabble in that style nowadays....I will say the number of 6A schools still doing military is very likely in the single digits. Kingwood, Kingwood Park, Atascocita in Humble ISD. Longview (way out near the eastern border)...and Lufkin (whenever they're 6A, they're currently 5A but were 6A recently). I'm kind of curious as to the exact number but don't have time to do the research right this second.

Prelims 1. Bridgeland – 89.75 2. Oak Ridge– 87.10 3. Cy-Fair – 85.90 4. Clements – 84.70 5. Cypress Woods – 84.40 6. JET – 83.30 7. Cinco Ranch – 80.60 8. Brazoswood – 79.10 9. Spring – 79.00 10. Langham Creek – 77.85 11. Cypress Ranch – 76.55 12. Jersey Village – 75.65 13. Westfield – 75.00 14. Klein Collins – 74.90 15. Clear Falls – 72.45 16. Dickinson – 70.90 17. Kempner – 70.20 18. William B. Travis – 66.75 19. Dobie – 65.80 20. Cypress Creek – 65.10 21. Churchill-Fulshear – 63.40 22. Dulles – 63.30 23. Cypress Ridge – 62.90 24. Klein Forest – 61.30 25. Bryan – 59.60 26. Clear Springs - 58.90 27. Stratford – 50.20

Didn't trek out to see any shows this year but I've been watching some vids. My favorite so far has been Cedar Ridge. I think I've watched their Part 3 drum break (with eight chuu-daiko taiko drums) like 20 times.

Porter won 5A at Galena Park and came in 6th overall at Lonestar Preview (placing ahead of solid 6A groups like Klein Oak and College Park and made a strong push towards dethroning some well known groups like Spring, while being well above some of their key competition; Willis). I've heard lots of good things from some friends of mine about this band recently and feel they have a strong chance of winning this area. Porter advanced last go-round as well. Aside from Willis (2nd in 5A @ GP, 10th overall @ Lonestar) and Tomball (4th @ Katy overall) who both advanced last time as well, I think College Station HS (1st in 5A at Blinn Contest) and A&M Consolidated (3rd in 5A @ GP) both have a good chance of advancing. Huntsville, Vidor and Nederland are all some of the strongest military bands in the state and could challenge for spots. Magnolia has been showing potential as well after a recent HD change, placing surprisingly well at BOA Houston (27th; shoulder to shoulder with Westfield, Cy Falls & Langham Creek) and BOA Waco (18th in Music, 18th in Visual including a 12th place visual score from VPI) as well as placing 8th overall in finals at Katy. Crosby is a loose cannon (didn't class-medal at Galena this cycle despite advancing to state last cycle) but could pull through and advance in the endgame.

http://www.txbands.com/forums/index.php?/topic/7422-lone-star-preview/

Hebron's DDR show was '06 . lol, that was also my favorite show that year after Bell's "The Remaining" and TWHS's "Hide and Seek". The "Speed Over Beethoven" closer is one of my favorite closers ever as well. Other fun ones from '05 that are just now coming to mind were Haltom's "La Nouba" and Westfield's "Wake from Your Sleep" (Music from Final Fantasy 8 + Eric Whitacre's "I Thank You God For This Most Amazing Day" and "Sleep"). 2005 was a good year .

I got into a the BOA scene in 2006. Richland was one of the powerhouses at the time and I was a HUGE fan of their shows. "iShow" was probably my 2nd favorite show of 2007 behind Bell's championship show. Karl Jenkins' "Chorale-Solfa" became the piece to do after that year and I think they might've been the first finalist band to ever put the theme from Halo on the field. "Inside Out" was my 3rd favorite show behind Bell's "Light of Gold" and Avon's "Equus" in '05. I don't think there will ever be a more glorious performance of Whitacre's "Sleep" in BOA. (EDIT: Well.....4th favorite. Can't forget about Reagan )

Only show that ever brought me to tears was LD Bell 2010 - Honor: We Will Remember. The final scene was powerful.

Students can hold music sectionals (not visual) during the summer, but yes student-led sectionals do count towards the 8 hours because it's too easy of a rule to abuse. It's very easy for a director to say "I can't make you all hold sectionals, but I *highly encourage* y'all to do so". A lot of student leaders would still feel pressured into doing this out of love for their teacher rather than doing it of their own volition. It becomes too difficult to pinpoint whose idea it *really* was, and actual abuse of it would be easy to cover-up since so much of it is under the table and not on any public band calendars, thus making it easy for directors to exploit. I think there was a point where it was allowed though. Keep in mind the 8-hour rule has gone through several adjustments since the 90s.

2014 was the last year DVDs of Bands of America events were sold (and many of them had muted audio). Based on this email, Mr. Video was at the 2015 events and produced director copies for various schools but did not distribute/sell them to the public as they couldn't obtain mechanical sync rights for them. So there are likely some DVD rips of 2015 floating around (which might be what you have), but most are still "stream captures" (people who watched the stream and recorded it on their devices). All the BOA videos I have from 2015 are stream captures. There are no DVDs of the 2016 BOA events as FloMarching recorded these events and did not produce any DVDs. They may have masters they keep for their own purposes but you won't get access to them unless, like, you get really chummy with their media team or something....Your only hope (Since you're not aware of anyone in your own circle who recorded the stream) is to find some super nerd who might've recorded the entire prelims back then and didn't delete their archive after they saved all the bands they wanted to keep. Maybe if someone did do that, they'll step forward and help you out....otherwise you might be completely out of luck. EDIT: Your only other bet is to try to ask around in your own band to see if anyone's parents recorded the show from the stands (technically not allowed, but some people still do it)

I've seen 6A bands with over 350 kids where the director has been like "We have 16 tubas this year, which is more than we've had for awhile, so that'll be nice". I was teaching lessons at Huntsville in 2013 when they had 18 Tubas signed up, and that was mighty impressive since it was only about 195 kids in the band. 17 made it to 1st day of school and they marched 16 for UIL. That was a mid-sized 5A. (EDIT: Getting my years mixed up, but 2013 was the right year). But 4A? darn...

That was "Altered State". Spring got 4th at State behind champion LD Bell, and 2nd at BOA Houston (also behind Bell) that year. But you know....against Marian's "Tragic Medusa" and PCEP's "Reflections on Obsessions" it might've been able to pull it off. It's not like they were up against a Lassiter God-tier show ('98/'02) or PCEP's Thoughtcrime ('99). I went to college with one of the drum majors from that show. He's a band director now. That Bell show from that year (King of Kings) was absolutely incredible too. It won State and caption-sweeped BOA Houston with a 3.25 lead over Spring. It caption-sweeped San Antonio as well (winning 1st place votes from 13 of the 14 judges), beating Churchill by over SIX POINTS, and to me is one of those "Best shows that never went to Nats but would've likely won the Eagle".

Not to anyone's surprise but I'm a big Japanese culture buff. It started with Japanese RPGs in elementary school, then Japanese animation in middle school but by the time I graduated HS I'd flipped through pretty much every book my HS library had on Japan. I actually was torn between doing Asian Studies or Music for my college major, but ultimately opted for Music as that career pathway was more concrete and more colleges offered it. Learning the Japanese language has been something I've always wanted to do since I was like....9. I took 2 semesters in college and I try to spend a little time every week learning more about it. It's so difficult I doubt I'll ever be fluent but I try to learn a little bit everyday...and hope as much of it as possible sticks.

Something I was thinking about recently that I didn't feel quite deserved its own thread but couldn't find anywhere else to put it. Everyone knows that while Texas has the best marching bands, you can still make a good case for states like Georgia, Florida, Illinois, Oklahoma, Ohio, California and especially Indiana. But if we're talking concert band, Texas is pretty far and away the winner. I think many people knew that too. Texas has had roughly 40 HS bands invited to the prestigious Midwest Band and Orchestra Clinic since 2000. This is almost 3 times as many as the second most invited state (Florida: 14). But I wanted to point out one more thing. Middle school. Even though Texas has had the most HS bands invited to Midwest by a solid margin, more Texas middle schools have been invited to Midwest than the other 49 states COMBINED. There are plenty of HS varsity bands out there that tackle college/professional literature. Some of them probably shouldn't. Very few bands outside of Texas can actually make it sound like a college/professional band is playing it. But I would say only in Texas will you occasionally see middle school bands tackle the same level of literature and actually make it sound like a HS band. It's a unique enough phenomenon that some of the videos posted to Youtube by some of the top groups will occasionally get people claiming the video is fake because "there's no way middle school kids could do that". I would say the success of TX HS marching groups (especially musically) has a lot to do with the time and energy we invest into middle school band. I think a lot of the HS bands outside of Texas have to rehearse more as a way to play catch-up and even the playing field. And I think I've said before that it was the Texas bands that inspired the Midwest to step-up their music game, while it was the Midwest that inspired Texas bands to learn how to march.

I wonder if it has anything to do with the slew of bands from other states choosing GN-South as their Grand Nationals contest of choice rather than "GN-North"

Moved to 'Everything Music'.

It was one of those things where the horror you subjected yourself to was overshadowed by the catharsis that comes from discovering the truth and treasuring it in your heart.

The title also does indeed specify "State appearances". Poteet did not make an "appearance" at the 2011 contest. *shrug*