takigan

Seems like Churchill will be a little bit happier this year. Joy! . Hopefully their community will be too....They caught a lot of fallout from all of the controversy surrounding last year's show. Maybe a happier theme will calm some people down.

Not sure if you've already done this or not (I can't find your post on it), but you should try posting this same question on The Yellow Board. You're more likely to get a response there (it's a board exclusively for Texas Band Directors) http://members3.boardhost.com/TexasBands/index-1.html

Metallica! (Ooo.....double entendre )

Grisham was up against some insane competition from some top-notch schools. I fully expected them to lose to Coppell North, since Grisham took 2nd to CN last time they were elgible to compete. I was pleasantly surprised when they came out on top. Random fun fact of personal relevance; Stephen Krupicka, the band director with 1A 4th placer; Shiner HS graduated from Georgetown High School in I think 97 or 98.

4A State results: 1. Friendswood HS (Gregory Dick) 2. Wakeland HS (Gerard Miller) 3. Waxahachie HS (Richard Armstrong) 4. Dripping Springs HS (Keith Lancaster) 5. Southwest HS (Stacey Dunn) 6. Rockwall-Heath HS (Benjamin Davis) 7. Newman Smith HS (William Centera) 2A State Results: 1. Aubrey HS (Ronald Chapman) 2. Krum HS (Carol Turner) 3. Union Grove HS (Mark Melton) 4. Elkhart HS (J. Wes Canaday) 5. Howe HS (Angela Cavender) 6. Anahuac HS (Kevin Heckaman) 7. Shallowater HS (Donald Summersgill) 1A State Results: 1. Carlisle HS (Dennis Rhame) 2. Somerville HS (Carl Idlebird) 3. Tahoka HS (Carroll Rhodes) 4. Shiner HS (Stephen Krupicka) 5. Overton HS (Donald Gamble) 6. Ganado HS (Patrick Flaniken) CCC 1. Henry MS 2. Bailey MS 3. Westbrook MS 4. Rice MS 5. Howard MS CC 1. Grisham MS 2. Coppell North MS 3. Fowler MS 4. Clark MS 5. Schimelpfenig MS

lol, ok....yeah then I have. There's a bunch of these familiar little classical diddies that I never learned to put a name to even as a music major :/.

Bazooka

Odd question.....for a few reasons: 1. It's posted at the wrong time of the season, (only about 20% of the active users at most will even read this question over the next few weeks) 2. Only about 1/4th of the registered users have even switched schools over the past 2 years (taking into account 2 graduating classes, current txbands alumni, band directors/other music pros, college students and others) 3. 90% of the people who have switched schools hardly read this site anymore, much less post here. ....that said, I do remember you ^^. Alumni are awesome and we need more of them on here!

That's the first thing that came to my mind as well, based on the theme. But the poem itself doesn't sound biblical: "Let the white light of the universe enfold, protect me and bathe me in its healing love", it's a prayer to the universe itself, which is something you won't find in the bible. It's basically a non-religious spiritual poem phrased as a prayer. Considering how few results turn up from that poem when you put it into Google (though there are a few...the poem was in fact; preexisting, and not written by anyone affiliated with L.D. Bell), I'm guessing the concept designer for the show Googled random poems about deep, spiritual ideas and ran into something by some obscure poet, liked it, and asked for permission to use it in this show promotion video.

Toys.

I'll start freaking out after I see some show selections (I didn't recognize the one playing). Bell really has defined their own sound so much through that show writer that I can literally hear the band playing in my head the sound sample that is being played through that video....cutting edge modern music that's still simple in tonality yet ambient in construction and high in emotional pizzazz (I could go on and on with examples: Eric Whitacre, John Mackey, Imogen Heap, Sarah Brightman, John Williams, James Newton Howard) is the way to go. ...that whole "From the ones who brought you 'The Remaining'....." bit kind of left me scratching my head though .

Sounds like a post for the Yellowboard, but I'll offer what I can. I made $200 for a week camp last summer. It was 4 hours a day for 5 days but a lot of it was breaks and lounging.....I probably did about 2 hours of actual teaching per day, so it was basically $10/hr for being there, $20/hr for actual teaching. This was a 4A program and was actually a little bit on the cheap side, but it's not like they had any difficulty finding people what with being next to a large university and all. My roommate is a marching tech in Cypress and he makes about $30/hr during the school year in the evenings. This is pretty typical, as they treat it as if they were paying a private lesson teacher, just teaching multiple students. 30 hours of teaching huh? I'd do it for no less than $500 if it's constant teaching, but I know there are people out there who would do it for less in these times. $750 would be typical.

Oh god, Threnody! That'd be an interesting thing to hear on the field.

Matched is easier to teach. Any school that doesn't have a dedicated (dedicated meaning, "percussion specialist") percussion instructor will usually teach matched across the board, even for the line, because it's easier. I'm a brass music major who could probably teach percussion, but will never teach traditional grip because I found it awkward and wasn't able to understand how to teach it effectively in the 1 semester I was required to study percussion. Some drum corps nuts who march traditional in their snare line at their high school and college drumlines every year and spend 5 summers playing traditional on the road will actually say they don't feel as comfortable playing matched on snare.....but supposedly it is a little easier since it's what you're exposed to from day 1 of your first day of middle school band.

Merged .

Richland ALWAYS has really good music. I don't think I've encountered a show by Richland that hasn't totally wowed me since 2002 or 3.

TTS: First U.S. death from Swine Flu is a baby in Houston. Kinda sucky odds considering the mortality rate of this disease has been less than 5%.

Cypress Creek is a good group, and they're better than they used to be. They used to be an unstable group, often getting various ratings at UIL, though lately they've been a consistent Div 1 group. They didn't make finals in their Area this past Fall though they did well. Why I point them out is because I believe this is their first BOA competition, and they're one of the older schools in the city of Cypress. Langham Creek, Cy-Fair, Jersey Village, Cy-Falls, Cy-Springs, Cy-Woods, Cy-Ridge, Cy-Ranch, Cy-Lakes and Cy-Creek are all good schools in the financially affluent city of Cypress and they all have very good programs, but they mostly don't do any contests beyond the UIL circuit and maybe an invitational or two. Cy-Falls has been a perennial BOA competitor for a while now, Langham has made several appearances over the years, Cy-Fair has shown up a couple times.....Cy Springs played in the BOA Concert Band Festival a few years back but I don't think they've ever appeared in one of their marching competitions. Other than that, the remaining bands either haven't been around long enough to develop a BOA program (of that list, 4 of those schools have been built in the last 5 years and I believe they're all 5A now) or they've been UIL purists. That's why I think doing BOA is a big deal for a school like Cy Creek.

I wonder if you took the area of Texas that's centered around Austin, picked it up and dropped it on top of Indianapolis, I wonder if the area contained within that area would have a larger number of band programs than Texas has Band programs within its state lines. That same landmass would have a far larger number of High Schools due to the high population that's centered in that area but I wonder if there are more competitive marching bands. Regardless of that, I feel like the response from Texas bands would be so dramatic at having Nationals right in their own backyard that the roster for GN would fill up almost entirely even before the non-Texas bands got a chance to sign up--just from the novelty of it all. Not to mention the overall quality of the bands competing would be at a higher level than if the contest were held in Indianapolis, especially if the remaining slots were filled by the heavy hitting midwestern regulars or Cobb County stronghold schools. Still, it's just not cost-effective, which is why it'll never happen. Especially in these financial times.

Yeah, there were most certainly many rumors. And judging from that comment from a current member confirming it--regardless of the fact they won't be going this year it's a safe bet we'll be seeing Cedar Park make the trip to Nationals in the not-too-distant future.

It's a sure bet that L.D. Bell, the Woodlands and Marcus will all make finals and I can say with almost absolute certainty that Richland will as well, but I also wouldn't entirely count Clear Brook out of the running. If I were just looking at their performance at San Antonio last year (25th) and basing everything this coming year off of that, I would say it's going to be a hard push for them just to make it into Semis (as Colleyville Heritage placed higher than Clear Brook at that competition in San Antonio and also failed to make it into semis at nats that year)....but if you look just a few weeks earlier at BOA Houston, Clear Brook pulled off a very impressive 5th place finish, just a little over 3 points behind the Woodlands. San Antonio could have just been a bad run for them, and they've proved in the past that they are more than capable of gunning for the bubble (the 17th place finish at Nationals in '07 comes to mind). They'll be at Houston and San Antonio before they make the trip to Nationals this year, it'll be interesting to see what they have in store. There's no "Nationals Thread" already on the board but there's a little more discussion going on here if you didn't catch it: http://www.txbands.com/forums/index.php?sh...amp;#entry72344

Went to Region 9 UIL on Tuesday to hear a good chunk of the Varsity groups. Here's what they played: The Woodlands College Park High School: Glory of the Yankee Navy - Sousa Jupiter - Holst Blue Shades - Ticheli Conroe High School: The Chimes of Liberty - Goldman English Folk Song Suite - Vaughan Williams In the Center Ring - Sheldon Dekaney High School: El Capitan - Sousa Symphony in Bb (Mvt 3) - Hindemith Sheperd's Hey - Grainger Klein Oak High School: Entry March of the Boyars - Halvorsen A Hymn for the Lost and the Living - Ewazen Masque - Hesketh Spring High School: La Oreja de Oro - San Miguel Colonial Song - Grainger Circus Overture - Schuman Westfield High School: Black Horse Troop - Sousa Symphony for Band - Persichetti Postcard - Ticheli The Woodlands High School: The Pines of Rome - Respighi Irish Tune from County Derry - Grainger Old Comrades - Teike Tomball High School: Blue Shades - Ticheli First Suite in Eb - Holst Carrolton March - King Klein Collins High School: Culloden (Mvts 1&2) - Giroux Sinfonia V - Broege Jack Tar March - Sousa Klein Forest High School: British Eighth - Elliot Second Suite in F - Holst Zion - Welcher Oak Ridge High School: American Overture for Band - Jenkins Symphony for Band - Persichetti Porter's Catalina Band March - McCaughey Klein High School: Florentiner March - Fucik October - Whitacre Dance Movements - Sparke

*sigh* yup. Looks like another GN without Lassiter . And even if they did go, I don't think it'd be the same Lassiter that we know and love. I don't think they have the capability to win nationals by 2 whole points like they used to.

"Jai Ho" by A.R. Rahmann (from Slumdog Millionaire)