Samuel Culper

I would definitely not use "rock" anywhere near his music.

Yanni?

I'm pretty sure this thread will still be going in time to add the 2019 finalists.

We had our preview at Vista Ridge tonight. Soooooo good and so excited for this show! Is it September yet?

Maybe boring from a "Who makes it?" POV, but NOT from a quality POV. Far from it.

Yeah the design concept is really cool. It will be really interesting to see how it's interpreted on the field. I also love the new uniforms. Very distinctive.

Vista Ridge 2019: Turning the Tables Partial selection list: Swan Lake Torch Dance by James Barnes Turning Tables by Adele

Very cool! Thanks for sharing.

Yeah, that's the public calendar. Not the same info.

The private calendar in Charms can be seen by anybody with a VR account login. I assume most schools set up like this.

Maybe the public calendar shows something different. I look at the private calendar.

San Antonio is absolutely still on the calendar and there is no drop to 5A. It's not a realignment year.

I look forward to seeing Brandeis' show at the Vista Ridge Marching Festival.

This is another oft overlooked aspect. I feel like the state of Texas is already well-saturated (if not slightly oversaturated) with BoA contests. Certainly some local contests have suffered as a result, contests that are significant fundraisers for local bands.

And I will be rooting for Leander to take the Silver Medal in S.A. before going up to take the Eagle in Indy!

From Polarity to Radioactive - Leander puts a charge into the marching band world.

Including music from Spinal Tap?

The Vista Ridge football team did make it to the State semis a few years back (the last year in 5A), but, yeah, have been awful since. I was hoping 1-9 last year would have been "good" enough to get the coach sacked, but no such luck. My kids like to joke about how much better the band is than the football team. At this point, the band might be able to hold their own against the football team in a game of football. Yikes.

We already have six Regionals in Texas. That feels like enough.

It really is an interesting dynamic in Texas, and it plays out differently in different places. Part of the reason marching bands in Texas are such a big deal to begin with probably has a LOT to do with what a religion high school football is to many people. The same goes for cheerleading. Everything that contributes to the pageantry of Friday night lights is important. To a point. But there are still corners of the state where the old mindset is firmly in place that the band is there to, effectively, serve the football team, to provide the necessary pageantry. They would never entertain the notion of a football game without the band there to support the team. They don't acknowledge that the band exists for its own purposes as well. Thankfully, this is not the case everywhere. As an example from a few years ago, both Vista Ridge and Leander had Friday late afternoon/ early evening prelims times at BOA SA, and their football teams were playing one another that evening. Neither band could make it back in time for the game, so the game went on with no bands present. I'm sure it was weird (I wasn't there, I was in SA, of course), but neither school's administration nor the district flinched. This is the way it should be.

Boy, do I appreciate being in Leander ISD. This wouldn't be an issue here, thankfully.

They are in the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Seems like a bit of a stretch to do both, doesn't it?

The school district has the option to ask that a school be classified up to be in a UIL district with sister schools. That may or may not be the case here.

I would venture to say that is the case with the vast majority of bands.

Nobody will move up/down in 2019. Realignment is only in even-numbered years.