trumpetman1288

Oh the irony...

Thank God no one here at my school is smart enough to devise a prank that ingenius.

We have officially 4 directors at the high school, but we get help from a newly acquired "district dance instructor" and from 3 junior high instructors (one of our junior highs and the high school over here are all on one huge campus).

That really is a toughy. Personally, I think you should worry more so about your grades than your band. While it is a temporary fix and being in a great band would be nice, your future should be priority. Best wishes to you and good luck with your decision!

No, their uniforms are identical to the Cavies...except they are red instead of green and have altered colors on the sash.

Usually shows are pretty much the exact same thing, but the opening or closing may be different. If you watch Reagan 2004 at state, you will notice that they cut the last two minutes (approx) and had an alternate ending. In 2005 at UIL, they cut out the whole piano intro and woodwind runs and started right when the whole band comes in. Not sure how they ended though. Reagan is one of the better examples that I can think of right now. There are some other bands that do that, but I can't think of them right now.

Actually, I wish it would have been a ballad. Quite often on this forum I called it a "psuedo-ballad" because while it was not slow, it still had some of the prettiness that most ballads had...even though in my opinion, the song wasn't all the pretty...but that's just me. I got to see your all's (Hanna) show on youtube also...I must say...you all deserve to be up there next week. If you all clean up your show a little more, work out all the little kinks, and give the music some more gusto, then you all will make a good name for yourselves at state this year...no questions asked.

I like the way they do it down here...it's actually the only UIL organization that I like down here. For both marching and concert contest, you go according to level and class. Say you have a sub-varsity program, those bands go in order of class. Then after all the sub-varsity go, the varsity bands go in order of class. This was the first year we had a sub-varsity (Valley View from Pharr, they just moved from 3A to 4A and it was their first year to compete in marching band) go for a marching contest, so we they went first, and then the only 3A school in our region, Hidalgo, went. Why don't they do that everywhere?

Let's please keep all unnecessary comments down to a minimum. I know this a forum where people are entitled to their opinion, but PLEASE keep in mind that even though you are still your own person, you are still representing your school. No one is attacking any particular school's show, everything that has been mentioned has been opinions about them. Even though I don't agree with the direction that Harlingen has taken recently with their shows (this is just a personal opinion..the performances aren't bad in the least bit, it is just the style that Harlingen has taken), I still have held the school's marching program and students in high esteem because they have earned it over the years, but I find that good image slowly diminishing with some of the comments I have read. Students from Hanna...you guys really have nothing to worry about. I am reading some of the comments you all are leaving and while they aren't attacking anyone or anything at all, they seem to be made as if people are attacking you all. You all did nothing wrong and you all earned your spot for state, no one has said otherwise. You all were one of the few shows of the night to earn a standing ovation and that is something to feel good about.

I don't think it was the fact that Harlingen danced, but it was more so the fact that Harlingen just so happened to dance A LOT. It wasn't bad or anything, it just had a lot of viewers curious as to how much of the show was actually playing and how much was actually dancing. Despite this, I do feel that people that are quick to blame dancing as a reason why a band did/didn't advance is a little ridiculous.

This is a very well rounded schedule. There really is no block that seems more/less stacked than another. Best of luck to EVERYONE at that contest because any band that is fortunate enough to crawl out of that as a finalist deserves to be named as one of the state's best in perhaps the greatest state for marching band.

Agreed.

Well, after seeing the scores from finals, I don't think the placements were a result of inconsistency. I think it was a result of inexperienced judges. I may be wrong on this one, but I was told that only one judge from that panel is a current band director. I don't think our (Sharyland's) score was biased nor was it intentially done that way, we just came out on the short end of the stick. EVERY SINGLE BAND on at finals came up with crazy score spreads. And thank you all for your support. This has been a difficult time for us especially since it was our expectation to make state, and our morale was shattered after our finals finish. Everyone from our band appreciates your support and despite our heartbreak, we still wish you all the best of luck at state. Saturday was not our night to shine, but yours instead. Represent our area well!

Ha ha...sorry, my bad. I guess I really need glasses now. You all will always be the "purple colossus" in my heart though. "Blue coloussus" just doesn't ring...you know? But ok...I'll rename you all to...um...the Big Blue!

TOOOOO funny...

Man forger the drink, I would volunteer to be that person's slave for eternity if anyone predicted that! I think I will just give a run down (brief review ) of what I saw yesterday. Please keep in mind these are MY PERSONAL OPINIONS about what I saw and I am attempting to give an unbiased run down of the shows. Since it is for review purposes, not every comment will be positive, but I will mention each band's strengths and weaknesses. So...here we go... Brownsville Hanna: Didn't get to see this show at all, but I heard a lot of good things about it. Their show was entitled "Through the Eyes of a Child" if I remember correctly. They played a lot of...um...well, "child-ish" songs, such as lullabies and that famous "na-na na-na boo-boo" taunt that kids always do. From what I heard, it was a cute show, but I won't say anymore because I can't say anything other than what I've heard (there are some others that actually saw them that are in question of their ranking, but people will always have their own opinions) and yeah... Harlingen: Sorry guys, but I have traditionally high standards for Harlingen and I felt very let down. Despite this, It was a great show. I like the GE effect of the show and I think it was executed very well, but I felt there was not enough playing. I felt as if the show was trying to take the playing focus off the band itself and onto the section features, solos, and dances. I am not saying that they performed their show bad, because they performed it quite well actually, but I felt their show belonged in a BOA setting more so than in UIL one. Personally, I feel they did not deserve high music scores because the hornline hardly played, but the marching scores were well earned. The drill was fairly clean and the waltz feature was pretty neat. Great show over all, just a little lacking in music. Sharyland: Not going to judge us...I'll leave that open to others SA Taft: Didn't get to see these guys either, but I heard they had some balance issues. Some feel that their music at times was a bit over done, but overall, I heard a good response about them. I also heard that they impressed a lot of people because they seemed to have stepped up their game from the past few years. Brownsville Lopez: The mighty Lopez lobos...visually, they were a little bit dirty on some of their line rotations, but nothing that should have dropped them from 2nd to 9th, especially since they were cleaner in finals. Musically, a well executed show. They had some balance issues in a few spots of their opener; some of the trumpets sounded extremely fatigued. Their middle song had a neat little dance feature in the beginning of it, and their jazz chart (at least I would call it jazz) was played very well...it had soul to it . The closer was a little sloppy visually right at the end of the assymetrical follow the leader circle...thing....but it was strong musically. Great show for Lopez, yet it is quite a shame they didn't advance, especially after finishing 2nd in prelims and being a 4A state finalist last year, but it is something the band can build on. They will come back stronger in two years. SA Sandra Day O'Connor: The band I so lovingly called both the "purple brigade" and the "purple colossus"...they easily had about 350 people on the field...or so it looked like. Let me tell you one thing about this band...they can certainly drop the hammer at any given moment. Their sound was HUGE! For having so many people on the field, the playing was fairly clean; however, the marching took so much away of their momentum. Spacing issues, box/line rotations, and other drill problems could be seen all over the field...quite literally because they were so huge. "Walk Like an Egyptian" was played fairly well...it had some people dancing in the stands. If their drill execution had caught up to their music execution, they may have finished higher. Harlingen South: These guys were awesome. The music execution from beginning to end was clean, strong, and never overblown. Marching was strong, they had hardly any flaws within the drill. The show had energy and flow to it from top to bottom. Nice little dance too...it was one of the few that fit the mood of the show. I really cannot complain at all about this band...except about their final ranking. I expected them to finish 1st and yet they finished 6th. That was a big shock for me. I feel they may be one of the higher placing bands out of this area at the dome. Donna: One of the shows I had been longing to see. These guys had a fairly solid performance. The ensemble sound for a large majority of the show was great, but there were a few spots where some low brass players gave their sound a little bit of an edge. Nice trumpet solo...one of the few trumpet soloists of the night that didn't mess up. My biggest beef with this band was that there was not energy in the performance 100% of the time. Some of the impact moments in the show just kind of layed there, but nothing that can't be fixed. Marching was pretty clean, but having white uniforms kind of just leaves you out there on an island if you mess up. There were a few spots in which this happened, but again, it's nothing that can't be fixed. SA Marshall: To be honest, I do not remember their performance for some reason, so I will be pretty brief on this one. Musically, balance wasn't too bad, but there was no direction in the show. Everything was just too quiet for my liking and it rarely, if ever, had impact. Marching was not too bad, but there were a few spots in drill that stood out with errors. Sorry about this one, but I really don't remember anything else. PSJA North: In my opinion, they were one of the biggest underdogs in the competition, and I guess they proved me wrong. Last year, they left Pigskin (region marching contest) with a 2nd division. They came back this year with a 1st division and a 5th place finish at area. They were solid both musically and visually, but to me, their performance seemed very...robotic. No, it's not because they did the robot in their show (yes, I am dead serious about them doing the robot in their show), it just seems like their music was just...well, notes. To me, it didn't seem musical. The balance was great, but the performance was too safe...I feel as if they should've gone all out with it and been agressive. So there you are, my review of what I got to see of area finals. Once again, big congrats to all bands that advanced. Don't sweat it man. I actually expect you all to be one of the better bands to represent this area. Unlike everyone else, you didn't use dances to earn your spot, you all did it with marching and music, the way it should be.

I know as far as numbers are concerned, the 2 in the music seems inconsistent, but I would like to take into account the "politics" involved for this contest. The 13 that we got came from someone that doesn't like our director at all, and if I remember correctly, he is the same guy that gave us a 10 in finals. Deep down, I want to say that the judge gave us what we deserved, but to me, it's just too much of a coincidence to say that. *edit: Before someone says it doesn't matter, I am going to beat you to it...IT DOESN'T MATTER ABOUT POLITICS! I win...OK, anyways, the only reason I say this is because if we had been as great, then we would have still advanced using the "get a 3 or better from two music and one marching judge" rule. And why would someone accuse you of area bashing? I live down here, and it is stone-cold fact that no Area G band has made finals, and in the past few state years, none of them have broken the top 15. People are just so sensitive these days...

I'd be more scared of falling with a clarinet than a bassoon or oboe... I have seen schools march both of them though, so I dunno...

First and foremost, congrats every area G band that advanced last night. Good luck to you all at state! And now for a few ravaging thoughts.... I'm not usually one to complain, but GEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEZ.....that had to be some of the most horrid judging I have EVER come across. Our prelim scores were 2,12,13,1,3 and while I am not sure of our finals, I know the spread was from 1 to 10. I dont know about you, but when three judges put our scores in the top three and the other two put us 10 points below that, doesn't that make you wonder? When 3 schools jump/drop 5+ spots (along with 4 others that jumped between 2 and 4) from prelims to finals, does that not make your blood boil? I am not one at all to boast about success and I am more than willing to accept the fact that we didn't make it because we didn't earn it, but when directors from other schools tell us we WILL be advancing before results are announced, when we were one of the (I think it was three, but I don't remember who) few bands in finals to receive a standing ovation from the whole audience (not just our rabid/psychotically fanatic, yet loveable, band parents), and when you have other people that you don't even know saying that the judging seemed very off, it makes me question if we really did or didn't deserve it. And I know Lopez must feel horrid too because they are in the same boat. Quite frankly, while they were not one of the cleanest bands as far as marching forms goes, they certainly deserved to beat out a majority of the finalists because their playing was top notch. You can't convince me either that a 4A state finalist can't hold some group with a bunch of 5A schools that can't break the top 15 at state. Flat out, I just feel that the judging was extremely inconsistent. From what I see in the results, the only scores in finals that seem consistent with prelims was Harlingen, Donna, and PSJA North. Granted, two of them moved a spot, but it seems quite more reasonable for this to happen rather than moving a whopping 8 spots. OK, I am done with my rant. I guess in short, I am trying to say that I feel slapped in the face despite all that we had going for us. While it may appear to be a very biased view, and it may be, I am not alone in this viewpoint, and I am not talking about my band when I say that.

Mr. Sloane is just a wee bit of a perfectionist. Pretty easy going for the most part, but if you take a look at what he has done in his life in both drum corps (as a performer) and an instructor for Churchill, you'd understand more so why he is that way.

Well, now that I know that, it makes a lot of sense. It is ridiculous to complain about it now especially, as mentioned, if it was decided back in August. I think the contest should have just been held in Corpus...I would say it's fairly in the middle of SA, Laredo, and the RGV. It's a little late to suggest that now though...

I was thinking the same thing actually....because in my honest/humble opinion, I feel that the first block is stacked in comparison to the other three. A smart judge would use RGC as the standard for the day. Say they do really well, then the judge should give them a median score, let's say a 100 out of 200. From there, rank schools accordingly based on how well they do compared to RGC. Of course, it will be tough going in the first block considering that most of the schools in it play extremely well.

I agree whole-heartedly with that. If a band is good enough to make finals, then they will make finals no matter what time they perform. Leander 2000 is a great example, and another great example is Haltom 2004. First band of the day and they made it to finals. HOWEVER, I do not agree with the politics involved in this decision. I really do not sympathize for a SA that may have to travel down here and wake up at 4 in the morning because I had to do the same thing two weeks ago for BOA Houston. There should be a random draw for the schedule like there has ALWAYS been in the past. And yeah, it does make sense to have all the bands that are further away compete later, but its simply the fact that the schedule was not set up randomly that has started a big dispute with the directors. It is a very biased schedule and the order quite clearly shows this.

Senior year... Left or right?

Man...apparently a lot of people from down here don't like us very much. Somewhere online, there is a picture that someone uploaded of our school's logo.... ...and instead, it shows the logo with a sword through our rattler's head with the bottom reading "Sharyland must die!" I could understand this for a football rivalry maybe, but for marching band? Kind of intense, eh?