takigan

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.

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.

Thank you for the warm reception. As a mom to an Ann Richards band student it was wonderful to get to meet so many of you and be introduced to this family we call band family.

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.

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.

Haltom 2005- Lots of memorable moments, shows, and experiences. I’m not choosing this because it’s perfect, but choosing this show just because it takes me back to a perfect night(but I do absolutely love this show). I watched it in the stands at a competition and I remember how the crowd erupted and the energy they brought. I remember how well our band performed that night, the emotional speech we got from our director, how good all the shows we watched were, how perfect the night air was, hanging out with friends, cuddling with a girl I just started dating, and just how good life was at that moment. Those fun times are why I loved marching band. When I watch this show it takes me right back to that night. 
 

Honorable mention:
Bluecoats 2018. Wish I could relive watching this live over and over again.
 

Hello everyone! Over the past few days, I've been working on this project to help take my mind off everything happening in the band world right now. I'd never found any kind of information about the history of UIL marching band, and so I decided to do some research and write about it using the plenty of free time I've been given this summer. The result is what's written here, which I also expanded to include Texas involvement in BOA. I figured the best place to share it would be here, where my fellow band geeks might appreciate it. I'm sure it's not perfect, and it's very possible that I missed something or said something wrong, so I'm certainly open to corrections or additions since I've only followed the activity for the past few years. Anyways, without further ado, I present: A brief-ish, probably incomplete, mostly accurate history of high school marching band in Texas!
 
Early History
On September 1st, 1946, music activities in Texas public schools, including band, orchestra, and choir, were incorporated into the University Interscholastic League. The UIL established “Competition-Festivals,” which were held by each of the nine music regions that had been established by the TMEA. For band, contests were created for Concert and Sightreading, Solo and Ensemble, and Marching. It’s not clear whether these were all held on the same day as one event, or over the course of the year like they are today, but it seems that most events were held in the spring, including marching. Yes, in the earliest days of Texas high school marching band, most competitions were held in the spring. However, the dates of these contests were ultimately up to the regions, meaning that the first UIL marching contest was the Region IX contest, held in Harlingen, Texas on December 14th, 1946.
These region contests looked surprisingly similar to those held today: schools were not ranked against each other; they were given a rating of I, II, III, IV, or V. There was no advancement to another round of contests, all competition started and ended at the regional level. Although many things remain unchanged, there are some differences between region contests then and now. Nowadays, first divisions are very common, with IVs and Vs being essentially unheard of at a contest, but when these contests first began, the full range of ratings was seen on the results.
Over the years regions eventually moved their marching contest to the fall semester to align with football season, but even then the contests were held closer to the end of the semester, usually in December. There was always some conversation about establishing a state contest for music events, but no state level event would be established for a while.

1970’s
1976: The first Marching Bands of America Grand National Championship was held in June at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, but no Texas bands attended. 1979: The first state marching band contest was held at the University of Texas at Austin at Texas Memorial Stadium on December 3rd & 4th, 1979. Any band earning a first division at their region contest qualified for state, but, like all UIL events, participation was voluntary. A total of 47 bands attended. There were five UIL classifications at the time (AAAA, AAA, AA, A, and B ) and each took five bands to finals (Classes A and B only had five and four bands, respectively, so all bands advanced to finals). Like the modern SMBC, each conference named a champion and the conferences did not compete against each other. The first state marching champions were Round Rock (AAAA), Fredericksburg (AAA), Medina Valley (AA), Southlake Carroll (A), and Booker (B). Fun fact: Two of these schools, Round Rock and Carroll, share not just the same mascot (Dragons), but also the same fight song (On, Wisconsin!). One aspect of the contest that has changed dramatically since the beginning is scoring. The original scoring system was as follows: “Each judge will evaluate the bands on a point system of 100 points; the highest score and the lowest score will be discarded and the rating awarded will be an average of the five middle scores.” It’s worth noting that this wasn’t technically a UIL event. It was endorsed by the UIL and was recognized as the state championship, but it was operated by the UT Longhorn Band. The contest remained this way until 1984 when it became an official UIL event.  1980’s
1980: The second state championship was also held in Austin at UT, but this year the competition was moved up to the last week of November. There was a large increase in participation due to the immense success of the previous year’s event. Otherwise, the contest operated the same as the previous year. Unfortunately, inclement weather forced the cancellation of finals performances in conferences AAAA, AAA and A. This has only happened twice in the history of the SMBC. Also, this year UIL renamed their five conferences A through AAAAA, compared to B, and then A through AAAA. As such, there was only one ever conference B state marching championship. Also in 1980, the first Marching Bands of America regional in Texas was held on the campus of Texas A&M University-Commerce. The champion, however, wasn’t even from Texas: Union HS from Tulsa, Oklahoma took first place. There has been at least one MBA/BOA regional held in Texas every year since. 1982: A Texas band won an MBA regional for the first time: Lake Highlands won the Houston regional on October 30th. For the first several years there were events in Texas, it was surprisingly uncommon for a Texas band to win. In addition to Union’s win, Comeaux HS (LA) won in 1981, and Pearl HS (MS) won in 1983 and 1986, all at the Houston regional. 1983: The Governor’s Cup was first awarded at the 1983 state marching contest to Georgetown HS. The Governor’s Cup was an outstanding band award given to the best band out of the entire contest. This makes it similar to the Grand National Champion title in that it could be received by a band in any classification. However, there was no overall state final round where the conferences competed directly, and bands were never ranked against bands outside their conference. Since bands were still awarded a numerical score on a 100-point scale, it’s possible that the band with the highest score regardless of class would be given the Governor’s Cup. It’s more likely, however, that it was simply the judges’ choice for outstanding performance because in some years the winner of the Governor’s cup was not the state champion of any conference. The Governor’s Cup was only awarded six times, from 1983 to 1988. 1984: With the full integration of the State Marching Band Championships into the UIL program, the UIL reworked the organization of music contests in Texas. The 22 music regions were renamed music districts, and the districts were all grouped into five larger music regions. This created a three-tiered marching contest system, allowing bands to advance from district, to region, and finally to state. This is effectively the same as today’s Region-Area-State system, though it can be confusing since the name “region” is used differently. The music districts must have been renamed back to regions at some point, and it is likely that the regions from 1984 became the areas that are seen today. Regardless, this three level system was created mainly to reduce the size of the SMBC, which had grown to 118 bands in 1983. 1985: Westfield HS made history as both the first Texas band to make Grand National finals and the first to win a national class championship. In prelims, they won the Open Class national championship, and in finals they earned second place with a score of 88.40, and also won the percussion caption. This was only the beginning of Westfield’s time as a powerhouse both in UIL and BOA (which had become Bands of America the previous year in 1984). 1990’s
1991: State and area marching contests were held every other year starting in 1991. The rationale that travel and transportation is expensive is familiar to most Texas band fans, but several other reasons were cited including an increase in the number of bands allowed to participate at both State and Area contests. Prior to 1991, regions could only certify two bands to the area contest, which reportedly reduced the significance of a Division I rating. Area contests expanded from eight bands to around 30, and state contests grew from 14 to about 40. State finals would also no longer be limited to 5 bands. 1993: Spring HS won Grand Nationals, becoming the first Texas band to do so. Winning with a score of 96.55, Spring won the Music Performance and General Effect captions. They had also been named the class AAA champions earlier during prelims. 1994: The Alamodome first hosted a marching contest in 1994. The BOA San Antonio Regional was the first competition held in the brand new stadium, which had just opened earlier that year. Given the dates that other domed stadiums in Texas were built, it’s likely that this was the first indoor marching contest in Texas, unless the Astrodome had held one for some reason. With the exception of 1996 and 1997, BOA  has hosted an event in San Antonio every year since 1994, each time in the Alamodome. 1998: In 1994, the Duncanville Marching Invitational introduced a new judging system, which had five judges - three for music and two for marching - each rank bands, and each bands rankings would be combined and used to determine their placement. No score would be given. In 1998, the UIL began using this system for Area and State contests. This sometimes controversial judging system would remain in place at the state contest until 2020. 2000’s
2002: The state championship this year was held on the campus of Baylor University in Waco, and marked the second of the two times that any portion of the SMBC was cancelled. Powerful storms forced the cancellation of AAAAA state finals, so final placements were based on prelims, but there's someone else on these forums who can tell that story better than I can (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DckalhBnfaM). 2003: The Alamodome saw plenty of marching action in 2003. After the events of the 2002 competition, UIL moved the state championship to the Alamodome so that weather wouldn’t be a concern, and the contest has remained there ever since. That same year, BOA promoted the San Antonio Regional to a Super Regional, creating the first multi-day BOA event other than Grand Nationals. This was the first instance of the San Antonio Super Regional as it’s known today; Westfield took the GE caption and won by nearly a point over LD Bell, who had actually won both Music and Visual. This Super Regional has become known nationwide as one of the best marching band competitions in the country, and the level of competition is second only to Grand Nationals. Since it’s promotion to a Super Regional, only three bands from outside the state of Texas have ever made finals in San Antonio: Owasso (2004, 2015), Blue Springs (2013), and Avon (2017). After winning San Antonio, Westfield made the trip to Grand Nationals and became the second Texas band to win a national championship. They beat second place Ronald Reagan by a narrow margin of 0.05, and won the Music and GE captions. In semifinals, class AAA was swept by Texas, with Westfield being named class champion and winning Music, Ronald Reagan earning second in class and General Effect, and LD Bell coming in third and winning Visual. While it’s fairly common for captions to be swept by even a single band, it’s very rare for a single state to claim the top three spots in a classification at Grand Nationals. This only happened once before, when three New York schools swept class AAA in 1987. While three Michigan schools did sweep placements in AA in 1999, the visual caption went to Avon. 2004: LD Bell won the St. Louis Super Regional in 2004. This is the only time a Texas band has ever won an out of state BOA Super Regional. 2007: LD Bell became the third Texas band to win a Grand National Championship. They won the Music and GE captions in both finals and semifinals, where they had been named class AAA champions. 2010’s
2013: The Woodlands earned Texas’s fourth Grand National title along with Music and GE. In semifinals, they had also won class AAAA and the GE caption. This year, there were five Texas bands in finals, which was a record up until 2019. Also at Grand Nationals in 2013, Texas passed Indiana to become the state with the highest number of different schools to have ever made Grand National finals. Cedar Ridge and Round Rock were the two first time Finalists that put Texas at 17 different Finalists over Indiana’s 16 at the time. Since then, Texas has made it a total of 22 Finalists, still ahead of Indiana’s 18. Another interesting fact about the Woodlands’ win is that they are the only Texan Grand National Champion to have never won a state championship. 2015: Hebron broke the record for the highest ever BOA score during Grand National Semifinals with a 97.85. Every judge had them in first except for Visual Individual, had them in 10th. This resulted in them winning Music and GE being named class AAAA champion. Unfortunately, they only placed 3rd in Finals, but still managed to win Music. Their drop to third is largely attributed to the fact that they performed first in Finals, which was a result of the completely random draw that was in place at the time. Many hold the belief that had Hebron performed later, they would have won. This is believed to be what caused BOA to implement what is referred to as the Hebron rule, which states that for all BOA events the top half of bands that advance to finals will be given the later half of performance slots, and the bottom half will perform earlier. Previously, this system had only been in place at Regionals, and not at Super Regionals or Grand Nationals. While Hebron may be the most well known example of this situation, this has occurred multiple times at Grand Nationals. For example, in 2005, Ronald Reagan was first in Semifinals, but fell to second after performing first in Finals. 2019: While it’s commonly said that band gets better every year, 2019 truly was an incredible and historic year for Texas marching bands. In St. Louis, six out of seven Texas bands that attended made Super Regional Finals, which is the record for the most Texas bands at any out of state event other than Grand Nationals. In San Antonio, Ronald Reagan won the Super Regional with the record-breaking score of 97.30, which is the highest score ever earned at any BOA event other than Grand Nationals. At Grand Nationals, all six Texas bands that attended made finals, meaning that a record half of the Grand National Finalists were from Texas. After sweeping class AAAA in Semifinals, Vandegrift became the fifth Texas band to win Grand Nationals. Vandegrift set multiple records, becoming both the youngest school to ever win the title and the first band to win on their first trip (with the exception of the earliest few years of BOA). The Woodlands also set a record: 2019 marked their 10th Grand National finals appearance, which is now the record for the most Finals appearances by a Texas band (they were previously tied with LD Bell at 9).  2020
2020 is already proving to be a historic year for marching band, both in Texas and nationwide. There are several changes to the UIL marching contests that are supposed to be implemented this year. First, the creation of a pilot program for a military style state marching contest means that military style bands will now have a separate track from other (“open class”) bands. This is related to the second major change, which is a change in judging at the SMBC. Conferences 5A and 6A will now use a seven judge system at the open class state contest, and each judge will have a specific subcaption to judge. The new subcaptions are: Music ensemble, woodwind, brass, percussion, visual individual, visual ensemble, and content and design. For the 1A through 4A state contests and at all area contests, the five judge system will remain in place with some small changes. The last major change is that area contests will now be held every year. This has created some controversy as the later date for the non-state year area contest conflicts with BOA San Antonio. While there may not be a conflict every year or for every band, it’s an issue that several groups have raised.
Of course, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the pandemic. Many bands have already cancelled their competitive seasons, and in other states events have been cancelled altogether. As of this writing, neither UIL nor BOA has officially cancelled any events for the 2020 marching season, but most view it as inevitable. It’s unfortunately very possible that 2020 is the first year with no marching band in Texas since the World War era, but even if the show does go on, it will look very different. Regardless of what happens, this year will certainly make its mark on history.

Sources
For the UIL information (especially early on) I mostly used the UIL Leaguer archives. It doesn’t seem to be accessible through the UIL website, but you can find pretty much any edition by searching “UIL Leaguer [month and year]” on Google.
For BOA information, I referenced the History section of the HornRank forums--much credit is due to user boahistorybuff--for early scores and history and later just the archived recaps on the BOA website.

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 ?)

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 ?)

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 ?)

Appreciate the effort to change the subject of this board back to marching band! 
I have many shows that I return to over the last 15 years,  but this thread seems to be geared towards shows we experienced in person, so I'll use it as an opportunity to jump back in time and pull up some oldies. Links included for newer fans to pass the time as we wade through a DCI-less summer (apologies for some in poor quality - marching band recording has come a long way in 15 years).
 
Hebron - 2006 - Music in Every Direction - Before Hebron was the perennial top 5 contender they are these days, there was this show. While this show only got 9th that year, I see it as the beginning of Hebron's rise to to power. I'm not exactly sure when the "dance break" became a thing in marching band, but this will forever be THE dance break for me. DDR was all the rage back then, and the dance section of this show, with the syncopated/offset DDR directions, was unreal to a bunch of high school kids who were obsessed with this trend. This was the first time I ever saw a standing ovation for a show before the end. This moment literally ripped people from their seats in excitement. I've searched for years for a better recording of this to no avail. 
LD Bell - 2007 - Transcendents - I don't think I have to say much about this show, because I (hope?) think everyone is aware of it, no matter how new you are to the activity. But I'm gonna say a lot anyway - I don't even know if I can call this a marching band show. This show was an experience. The crowd reaction to this show is still my favorite to this day because you could feel the moment of "what just happened" as they wrapped up their show. The fact that the ending changed at each performance put people even more on the edge of the seat. I also love that this show broke all the rules of typical marching show music organization. Rather than the typical opener-ballad-closer, this show was 5 minutes of opener (with some mixed in slow moments), and then 6+ minutes of ballad/art, and they milked every second BOA allowed them. Bringing back Lux from the first part of the trilogy was the cherry on top, I'm pretty sure I may have teared up a bit. I don't even know of a show from the modern era (last 5-8 years) that I could put in the same category as this one, it's just that unique.
LD Bell - 2008 - The Quest - I was already hooked on Bell fever after the trilogy, so I had high hopes before seeing this show. It didn't disappoint. If 2007 felt like a theater production, this show felt like a movie. The closer is still one of my favorite's to this day. Still feel like Bell should've become the first back to back TX GN champion that year. Might've honestly been our only chance for that to ever happen. 
Cedar Park - 2008 - On Edge - When I pre-preemptively hope that Cedar Park gets back to it's glory days (it's "Roots"?) before every season, it's because of this show. I probably saw this show 3 or 4 times throughout the season, and I have never experienced anything quite like this opening statement from a high school marching band. This show is pure adrenaline. No props, no real theme, just marching band at it's purest form. Cedar Park was far from the largest band at BOA SA that year, and yet no one even came close to the volume CP was putting out. And this show was HARD. I'm not one of those old people who wish we would go back to the "good old days," but no one marches and plays simultaneously like CP did in this show (most bands didn't even do it back then). And the tempos they were reaching at the end of this show were UNREAL. If they hadn't run into Marcus/LD Bell duo at their peak, CP would have a BOA SA title. 
Bowie - 2011 - The Promise of Winter - I'm still bummed Bowie didn't get a title during their glory days. Of those "days", 2011 was my favorite. The linked video doesn't do it justice, but this opening statement SLAPPED you in the face. And before the rise of the Hebron mellos, there were the Bowie mellos. I'm pretty sure I first saw this show at a football game, and while football crowds usually half pay attention to marching shows - this show grabbed EVERYONE's attention and didn't let go. 
 

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.

With all this time on my hands now, I thought what better time than to talk about the 5A Houston bands!
 
Area E:
 
Kempner - this program will be fun to watch in 5A as they are coming off of making 6A Area E finals in 2018, adding some much needed depth to this area. In 2021 we might see this band taking the second (or even third depending how region treats them) state spot.
 
Friendswood - Friendswood is the undisputed 5A powerhouse in the Houston area, just placing 6th at state this past year with the next highest placing Houston band in prelims being Tomball in 21st. Their dominance will not be going anywhere anytime soon.
 
Paetow - the newest Katy school (second newest as of this upcoming fall) has impressed me with their sound despite their smaller size. If this program can figure out what is holding their numbers back, then they could certainly become a powerhouse before the more than likely move up to 6A.
 
Churchill Fulshear - this new school outside of Katy had a fantastic second season in 2017 making state finals in 4A (where they were probably the most under scored out of any band in the entire season in my opinion). Like Kempner, this band will add in some much needed depth for this area and will be a state contender.
 
Barbers Hill - this program has been a fairly strong group in the Houston area for quite some time, but they haven't made state since 2015. I could see them making a comeback these next few years.
 
Foster - this band was not on my radar until last season when they scored very strongly at a local contest (I unfortunately do not remember which), but I immediately had them as my second lock for state. I hope to see Foster ride off the momentum and along with Fulshear demonstrate the growing fine arts programs in LCISD.
 
Waller - this group is in a similar position as Barbers Hill, being a consistently strong program for quite some time, but not making state in a while. What separates them from most of the other groups on this list is their regular participation in BOA.
 
Area I:
 
Cleveland - this school has been growing exponentially and me putting them on this list is more of a recognition of the massive growth they have had largely as a result. I see this program continuing to grow throughout this decade and adding to the already long list of fantastic Houston-area bands.
 
Crosby - these next four groups were some of the biggest names that started this conversation of quickly improving programs as early as 2017, starting with Crosby who made state for the first time back in 2017 after being a band that regularly received 2s as late as 2011.
 
Galena Park - this school is in the same district as North Shore and is often overshadowed by them, but they seem to be making a name for themselves again. You can find a video of their 2009 show (the last time they have made state) and see that this program has quite the history and is finding it's roots once again.
 
Magnolia - I've loved seeing this name pop up in BOA results and giving us some impressive shows the past few years. It's sometimes hard to believe this is the Magnolia that was making mostly 2s for the first part of the decade. Seeing them miss area finals by one spot was tough, but I think that will give them more than enough motivation to keep moving forward.
 
Porter - and the last of the four, Porter is the only one to have made state in both 2017 and 2019. I think they were placed too low at state and am very impressed with this program, which started in 2011 with a 3 in marching.

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.

 

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.

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 will open with the fact that it is a very bold statement to claim a program is the best of the decade  - with that said, I respect your opinion but I must dispute it - so settle down a bit there abtwitch - this could be a long conversation because I think that many will share their thoughts.
 
First - there are far too many phenomenal programs in Texas to state that one program has dominated the past decade
Let's not forget Marcus 5X state Champion BOA SA Champs, Honor Band, Midwest Clinic X2
or we can discuss FloMo, Hebron, Reagan, TWHS, CTJ to name a few with all their accomplishments (I apologize for all the great Texas programs of the past decade that I missed)
  
Second - Congrats to Vandegrift - they had a year to remember and should be congratulated for what it was - a phenomenal year!!!
 
Third - I make no bones about the program I support - CTJ in my opinion should be the program of the decade
School opened in 2008 - has been a UIL state finalist every year since 2010 School invited to Rose parade in 5th year - not on a BOA bid - they were invited from the open bid process performing 6 years ago today Sudler Shield Award UIL Bronze Medal in 2014 3 BOA Grand Nationals performances - 3 time finalist 8 BOA Championships since 2014 (most in Texas in past decade) including 2 Super regional wins in San Antonio Multiple TCGC State Titles and WGI Silver Medal Multiple TMEA honor band placements/performances  Midwest Clinic performance just a few weeks ago Vandegrift had a great year and accomplished what no others had accomplished - winning Grand Nats on their first appearance - right year - right show - many could say that CTJ could have done the same had they taken their show to GNats in 2014 or 2017 - Or that Flower Mound could have done the same with their shows in 2015 or 2016 - there are far too many shows that can make that same claim - there are far too many that could stake this claim for their programs in the past decade
 
I welcome the discussion

Not to brag, but I was right about this after seeing Avon in semis

All Texas bands (besides Leander who was close) finished better than or equal to what they finished in San Antonio.

This is the norm.

If I didn't hear a single word of narration next year, I'd be good.

I throw darts at balloons. Leave it to the Fates.
 
Seriously, this is difficult to predict.

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.