takigan

My thoughts exactly

"The Quest" is absolutely gorgeous. The opener and the last couple minutes from the Youngblood Pass-thru

You left out Marian Catholic (IL)....I'd put them about 8th or 9th.

Cheat Sheets for the Clueless:

I'll set up the whole prelims ranking in order so it's easier on the eyes. 1. Marcus 2. L.D. Bell 3. The Woodlands 4. James Bowie 5. Stephen F. Austin 6. Cedar Park 7. Spring 8. Richland 9. Hebron 10. Winston Churchill 11. Colleyville Heritage 12. Leander 13. Keller 14. Ronald Reagan ----- 15. Coppell 16. Brazoswood 17. Judson (nice call on the possible dark horse, Xenon ) 18. Pflugerville 19. Westfield 20. Martin 21. Connally 22. Haltom 23. Claudia Taylor Johnson 24. Lopez 25. Vista Ridge 26. Westlake (I would say lower than expected but look at the bands around them, this was a tough contest) 27. Akins 28. Round Rock 29. Dekaney 30. Georgetown 31. New Braunfels 32. Langham Creek (definitely lower than expected) 33. Edinburg 34. Northwest 35. Clear Brook (WAY lower than expected, I had them in the bottom of Finals) 36. John Marshall 37. Seven Lakes 38. Floresville 39. Trinity 40. Monterey 41. Harlingen 42. John Jay 43. Sharyland 44. Jackson Academy 45. Eagle Pass 46. Franklin 47. Hidalgo 48. Pearsall 49. James Pace 50. Skiatook Impressions: For starters, only 5 small school bands (A,AA) showed up to this contest (compared to 12 bands in both 2005 and 2007. Last year there were 10, and that was a smaller contest). Not only that, 2 of the small bands this year were from out of state. Other than Hidalgo (who always comes because they're the 'A' favorite), there were virtually no Texas bands smaller than 3A who showed up to this contest except Pearsall. The larger 4A/5A bands almost completely phased out the ATSSB bands at this year's contest. I'm hoping this doesn't become an annual trend. This phasing out also created a very notable characteristic for this year's contest. Nearly every band at this contest was either a respected 4A/5A band or at least had a strong reputation as a small BOA school (Jackson Academy, Hidalgo and Skiatook would fit this description). I'll give you a very powerful example. Look at Harlingen. They're a large 5A band that a fair amount of people haven't heard of because they're in the valley. 41st place. Sounds pretty bad doesn't it...they must be one of those bands that aren't very good, right? WRONG! What has Harlingen done in recent years that would make someone think they're a bad band? Does placing in the teens at the 2008 5A State Marching contest comes to mind? Nah....bands that can pull that off are usually some of the best in the state, that couldn't be it . James Pace may have gotten next to last place (49th), but they were still 5A Area G finalists last year. They may have been the weakest 5A band that competed at this contest, but they're still a respectable Div 1 band! Almost every band in attendance had an enjoyable, well-played show which is almost never the case for an open contest of 50 bands. These low placements don't serve as a good representation of these bands' skill....they serve to show how tough this contest was and how the bands were so close in ability that minor things like a judge's impression or little tears and slip ups on the field could alter placements drastically.

I think you meant top 4. Check again .

Finals 1. Clements 2. Duncanville 3. Cy-Fair 4. The Woodlands: College Park 5. Cy Falls Only top 4 were announced and 5th was pulled from a source....hopefully I can get a hold of full recaps later but if anyone has access to them feel free to post them. Personal impressions: Clements was in an unusually awesome element tonight. If they had been in San Antonio tonight I could have seen a 10th-18th placement for them. Duncanville was the epitome of perfection, but SHSU is one of the most GE-ridden contests outside of BOA and there is some possibility this could have worked against them Cy-Fair was probably my favorite show of the night (definitely my favorite from a music perspective). Their show is titled "Fusion" and involves introducing various ideas and then combining them together in a subsequent phrase to form a musical construct. Gorgeous playing, awesome music choices (wish I knew the titles). Clear Lake was my favorite show from a visual perspective. Titled "All in Jest", they've got a massive Jack in The Box on the 50 that literally stands 15 feet high and a whole 5 yards wide along with 2 smaller boxes on opposite 30s. Lots of awesome, "legit" guard choreography (as one of my Dance-nut music colleagues put it). The centerpiece of this show was a token court jester in jesterly garb who made the show. The show ends with the jester on the drum major podium expressing his antics and unfurling a flashy jesterly banner.

Prelims Schedule: http://www.shsu.edu/~music/files/events/ma...009Schedule.pdf Prelims Results: Class A 1. Magnolia 2. Manvel 3. Shepard Class AA 1. Pasadena Memorial 2. Kempner 3. Cypress Ridge Class AAA 1. Clements 2. Cypress Falls 3. Duncanville Percussion Caption: Cy-Fair Drum Major Caption: Duncanville Auxiliary Caption: Cinco Ranch Finalists (Alphabetical) Alvin Cinco Ranch Clear Lake Clements The Woodlands: College Park Cy-Fair Cy-Falls Cy-Woods Duncanville Pearland Finals begins at 7:30 (I was unable to catch the order).

Aww, you never mentioned that we're providing photo coverage on the Live this year for San Antonio as well . Good stuff though, as always. I've always been kind of curious as to whether you record these as a one-shot or do you go back and splice in audio for parts that you felt like you stuttered too much or said something too presumptuous or what have you.

http://www.txbands.com/forums/index.php?sh...40&start=40

Hopefully Langham won't miss finals by 1 place this year like they did at San Antonio in both 2007 and 2008. I really want them to make finals this year just because of that fact . ...3 years of missing finals by 1 spot; if I were the band director there I would probably cry if that happened.

We all cover each other's backs on all the nitty gritty of running the site.... ...but technically speaking I am the Predictions Moderator. For some of the local contests, scores can be somewhat difficult to obtain, especially if the contest organizers don't make their scores publicly available. Galena Park results are a thorn in our side at the moment, though I'm fairly confident in a couple sources I have that could provide the recaps-- I just haven't gotten around to tapping those sources yet. Also keep an eye out for High Plains results. If you see a contest you would like added to Predictions that isn't on the list that is happening less than 1 week from the current date, feel free to suggest it....if it has a prelims/finals format and/or has 10 or more places for bands, then it is more than likely we'll be willing to grant your request.

Dr. Tim was actually here at Sam Houston just last week giving a Music Education related motivational speech telling a story about this little tiny band program that showed up to a BOA contest that could play tons of different instruments and wowed the heck out of the crowd. The lesson related to how kids are only limited to what we tell them they're limited to, though he didn't specify which band did this. It was most likely Jackson Academy.

Ahhh!!! What a great topic Daniel summed it up pretty nicely. I would like to add that for Texas bands that do full length "BOA shows", there's often a strong impact point that occurs about 7-8 minutes into the show that signals what I like to call a "UIL cutoff" indicating where the show would normally end during a UIL competition while obeying UIL's time limits. I believe this is a pretty important element of Texas' style on the grand scale. When you compare the method of Texas bands to other parts of the country, there is in fact a stronger emphasis on music as opposed to visual. This is primarily due to UIL's influence (a system that heavily values the musical execution of a performance more than anything else) but it doesn't stop there. TMEA is a very powerful organization that is involved on the political scene as much as they are on the education scene (they're a large enough entity to be considered a major lobby group, like PETA or the NRA but on a somewhat smaller scale) and they represent the philosophy of Texas music educators more than any other organization. TMEA doesn't invest a whole lot of interest in marching band (though they do acknowledge its importance to our livelihood). Essentially there has always been a philosophy in Texas that music comes before anything else, including marching band itself. This is reflected in its approach to putting a show together and it shows in the number of times Texas has netted the music caption at Grand Nationals. The midwest is dominated by a powerful drum corps tradition. They rehearse more, are more invested in staff that focus on visual execution, choreography and design. Their shows are longer like drum corps shows and the marching and concert organizations are viewed on a more level scale, whereas in Texas marching band for many years was seen as more of a burden to what we're really trying to do with the concert side of things. After BOA gained a strong foothold in Texas starting around the time of 9/11, I feel like Texas has started to adopt more midwestern principles. As the economy went through a massive growth spurt, education became wealthier, teacher salaries went up, band programs got more money which resulted increased staff rosters and more band organizations started pushing for "Fair Share" programs that pulled additional dues from students to raise money to emulate the midwestern BOA/DCI style of band shows. The prospect of competing in BOA seemed much more affordable now and we started to see more and more bands compete in BOA and even make the trip to nationals. Even with the widely adopted BOA tradition, Texas itself has its own distinct philosophy and local/regional traditions.

Dekaney's come a long way these past couple years. They've gone from a band that often wallowed in 2s and 3s, and are now competing in the same league as established bands like Dickinson, College Park and Hendrickson. Josafat Jaime has done some miraculous things with their program.

Well....we all know how Lafayette placed at Houston. Broken Arrow, Marian and Centerville bands are better than 99% of what Texas has to offer. They're consistent Grand National finalists and would probably place in the top half of finals at BOA San Antonio if they were to come. Paul Laurence Dunbar is no pushover. They're Kentucky's gold medal band, consistent BOA GN Semis contender. They're probably as good as any of the bands you see in like 5A Area B/C/D finals and 5A State prelims. Union and Owasso are at a level to where they could place in the upper teens/lower 20s at BOA San Antonio. This is an off-state year for Texas UIL 5A bands so the Texas BOA regionals are little heavier stacked competition-wise than they are on state years since their competition schedules are more freed up. For most 5A State years I'd say the Texas regionals (Houston/Arlington) are at about equal footing with St.Louis competition-wise (even though STL usually has twice as many bands competing), but on years like this I'd say Arlington/Houston are slightly more competitive. I'm bored....so I'll give you a breakdown in comparison between the bands that made Arlington finals and the bands that made finals in St.Louis according to my point of view. 1. Arlington - LD Bell 2. Arlington - Marcus 3. St. Louis - Broken Arrow 4. St. Louis - Marian Catholic 5. Arlington - Hebron 6. St. Louis - Centerville 7. Arlington - Berkner 8. Arlington - Richland 9. St. Louis - Union [this one I'm not too sure of but is my best guess] 10. Arlington - Coppell 11. Arlington - Mansfield 12. Arlington - Colleyville Heritage 13. St. Louis - Owasso 14. St. Louis - Rosemount 15. St. Louis - Lafayette 16. St. Louis - William Mason 17. Arlington - Wakeland 18. St. Louis - Paul Laurence Dunbar 19. St. Louis/Arlington - Birdville 20. Arlington - Haltom 21.St. Louis - Irondale 22. St. Louis - Blue Springs 23. St. Louis - Oakville 24. St. Louis - Berry Hill It seems pretty even at first glance, and there's no denying the quality of bands in both contests but if you'll look closer, the Arlington bands are pooled more towards the top of the list (8 of the 10 Arlingtons are in the top 12). Cut out the bottom 4 bands at STL to create 2 regionals of 10 bands and it's still the same story. Again, I say this is my opinion. I have a feeling Balash is going to tear this apart .

Good luck today to the Birdville High School band. They're on the field right now at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis for the BOA St. Louis Super Regional.

Cheat Sheet for the Clueless: http://www.region9music.org/pdf/marching_schedule.pdf

You had the chance to hear Luis play Euphonium. I never knew the guy but he had the reputation of being literally a world class Euphonium player in his time.

Well, this is embarrassing. I have to admit when I was copying this schedule down there were a couple of peculiarities that didn't seem to line up. One of which was the Woodlands coming to this contest instead of going to BOA San Antonio. Another was the structure of the times....an 8:15pm finish time doesn't really leave time for finals so it made me wonder if we were changing the structure of our contest. Not to mention there's no morning slots, which is unprecedented for any contest. What kept me from second guessing my source was that the list honestly does pretty well represent the assortment of bands that would typically show up to this contest giving the circumstances of BOA San Antonio and the 4A Area contests being on the same day. I'm going to look into what the heck the list I just posted is. If it's not a contest list I'm not sure what it is. EDIT: Sorry, I typed this up and forgot about it, then posted it later. Ok, the UIL explanation makes MUCH more sense, and I understand why I got them mixed up. I appreciate the clarification and apologize for the confusion.

3A Non-Varsity SHSU Festival (EDIT: This is the UIL Region 9 schedule) Coldspring-Oakhurst - 1:30 3A Varsity Bands Tarkington - 1:45 Sheperd - 2:00 Splendora - 2:15 Hargrave - 2:30 Cleveland - 2:45 Break - announce 3A results 4A Varsity Bands Caney Creek - 3:15 Montgomery - 3:30 Magnolia West - 3:45 Magnolia - 4:00 Willis - 4:15 Huntsville - 4:30 Break - Announce 4A Results 5A Varsity Bands The Woodlands College Park - 5:00 Conroe - 5:15 Spring - 5:30 Klein Forest - 5:45 The Woodlands - 6:00 Tomball - 6:15 Break Oak Ridge - 7:00 Klein Collins - 7:15 Klein - 7:30 Westfield - 7:45 Klein Oak - 8:00 Announce 5A Results Judges: Tom Shine Ronnie Rios Randy Vaughan EDIT: This is the UIL Region 9 schedule, not the Sam Houston schedule. Sorry for the confusion guys.

Meh. I only speak the truth Yes I was, and the dead ends were never ending. When I called the number for the video company that Dick Floyd's staff gave me, the voice on the other end offered to sell me some rather...uh....adult services .

Aww don't say that. I went through heck trying to figure it out, e-mailed Dick Floyd (head of UIL), called up the number for the video company that apparently doesn't exist anymore.....lots of dead ends. I eventually found out the truth and you can too, if you're resourceful enough.

Ok....I'll clear some things up here. The events of Crockett '93 are NOT just some random joke where people just talk about it vaguely or make up dramatic stories just to mess with people's heads. What transpired back then was a very groundbreaking event, but since it happened so long ago, most current high schoolers weren't even born yet and even most current band directors weren't teaching when it happened and there were no internet sites like this to spread the news (since the world wide web didn't fall into popular use til the mid 90s) so only certain circles of people would know about it, and the video agency that published the recording is now defunct and no copies are currently available except maybe in some random band hall libraries somewhere, so it was sadly forgotten for the most part. Unfortunately, as most of you have frustratingly realized, no one can be told what happened that fateful day back in the Fall of 1993. You must discover it for yourself. I should warn you though, the event truly is a tragedy. Many who learn what manifested often wish they hadn't since it is indeed quite heartbreaking for those who are fans of the marching arts. To begin with, visit www.jriada.org/forums . After doing so, you might find yourself a bit confused, but check your address bar and you'll realize nothing weird happened. You weren't redirected....you're in the right place. But what is JRIADA? No....the correct question you should ask is "Who is JRIADA?". Google doesn't yield much of a satisfying answer. Your first inclination may be to guess that "we are them". But we are not JRIADA. We bear their name, but only for reasons which remain our own to know and no one else to find out. JRIADA are an ancient, secret organization of an elite few individuals; devoted fans of the marching arts that served their purpose in another time and are no longer active [but still exist], but one of their purposes was to keep the secret of Crockett 93 since it is an event that shouldn't be talked about so openly. They did their job well, as you'll find that nowhere on any forum or internet site will you find someone speaking openly about the event's reality. Most who know what happened will only lie and form dramatic stories in order to protect the innocent, and many among the ignorant masses will join in with similar stories, because they simply don't know the truth, only thinking they do. To learn the identity of the JRIADA you must begin a journey through the vast BOA forum archive, where JRIADA once resided, where the event is often discussed by them, much like it is here. It will be a frustrating quest with a bunch of crazy inside jokes (they're a weird bunch) and dead ends, but if you persist, you'll learn who the JRIADA are, and once identified it will be up to you to figure out how you may become worthy to know the secret, if you so desire. Here I'll start you off. Here's a thread talking about it from back in 2002: http://forums.bands.org/vb/showthread.php?t=15027