BandFan59

Hebron's music performance and abilities are absolutely insane...they are the best music program in the country, in my opinion.

Avon was incredible as always. Their visual performance has been spotless for years. I'll be absolutely SHOCKED if they don't medal or at least take the visual caption. Leander...incredible!!! The closer has to be one of my absolute favorite of the entire year! The brass sound at the end was so impactful and in your face, without being too brash. While I wasn't the biggest fan of it at the beginning of the season, the Toxic production has grown significantly on me and it was amazing tonight! They are definitely a medal contender.

My God CTJ...

Mason was quite good! Probably not going to break into the top 6, but the performance level was very high and I love the brass sound they have throughout their performance. The Woodlands...wow! Easily the best show for me from an entertainment standpoint, they just exude fun and enthusiasm with their performance! It's probably a little bit too dirty to compete for a very high placing, but it is still one of the most fun shows of the season.

Avon's coming with one of their best shows in years, and Carmel IS the 3 time reigning GN champs, so they shouldn't be counted out. I have Vandegrift coming out on top, but it's going to be a tough competition. Hebron still has a chance too.

Best general effect: Ronald Reagan Best visual: Flower Mound Best music: Vandegrift Best visual concept: Ronald Reagan Best show idea/concept: Claudia Taylor Johnson Best solo: Vista Ridge's soprano sax Best feature: Hebron's trumpets in their opener Best musical selection: Ron's Victory by Nicholas Hooper (Coppell)/I Just Can't Wait To Be King from The Lion King (Claudia Taylor Johnson) Most innovative show: The Woodlands Most original concept: Claudia Taylor Johnson Best crowd appeal: The Woodlands/Leander Most underrated: Keller/John B. Alexander Most improved: Pearland Best colorguard: Ronald Reagan/The Woodlands Best pit: Coppell Best drumline: Ronald Reagan/Flower Mound Best brass: Marcus Best woodwinds: Hebron Best prop: Vista Ridge Best uniforms: Coppell Best guard uniforms: Coppell Best overall pre-show: Ronald Reagan Best overall opener: Vandegrift Best overall ballad: Ronald Reagan Best overall closer: Leander/Claudia Taylor Johnson Definitely a lot of Reagan in these superlatives. I just absolutely love their show and think it's one of the best shows we've had in quite some time. It surpasses Flower Mound 2016 for me, and probably CTJ 2017 as well.

A huge congratulations to Cedar Park! After their disappointing result at BOA San Antonio, it's great to see them bounce back and continue their 5A state success. Sidenote, the judges chosen by UIL are all very accomplished. Amanda Drinkwater is the director of fine arts at Lewisville ISD and was the director of Marcus when they won state 5 times in a row. Dan Morrison is the head director at Ronald Reagan, who we all know just set a record for highest score at a BOA regional. Those are just the names I know off the top of my head. They know what they're doing.

I think with a competition like San Antonio, ranking the bubble bands becomes a near impossible task, considering there are far more than 14 worthy finalists. There is no other regional or super regional in the country that is as big or competitive as SA.

Pearland +49

Would Division I and Division II be based on the size of the schools? However they propose doing it, I really don't think this is a good idea.

Anyone have a general list of the new UIL changes that are supposedly coming into effect for marching band? The only I know of at the moment is that area contests will now be held every year.

I read some other posters on these forums and the hornrank forums that Reagan was always going to do Grand Nats next year, I believe.

I understand that perspective, but I think it can be beneficial to the bands that wouldn't normally make Area finals to get the opportunity to do so and experience finals in a UIL setting.

An earlier season regional score being higher than their SA score seems to have happened to other bands also. Off the top of my head, Coppell scored a 87.95 at St. Louis finals I believe, then scored an 87.2 at SA, which was also lower than their score they earned at SA last year even though it seems most are in agreement their show this year was a further improvement from years in the past.

Seems like a lot of the top class 5A bands like Cedar Park, Rouse, Wakeland, etc. would probably decide to enter BOA San Antonio rather than compete in the area contests. This could open up the area contests for a lot of other bands to get into finals and have that experience, which is always a good thing.

Judging by your comment, it seems you are referring to Flower Mound. Flower Mound had a great show this year that just didn't quite come together at the end of the season like many of their shows did the previous few years, but they still had a fantastic season. To insinuate that their complacency costed them at this competition is quite rude and uncalled for.

A little further analysis of the panel debate with the prelims results: 5 of the top 7 bands in prelims were from Panel 2. The highest score in prelims for Panel 1 was Ronald Reagan who scored 94.7 and was 1st overall. The second highest was Claudia Taylor Johnson who scored 92.9 and was 5th overall. The third highest was Flower Mound who scored 92.57 and was 8th overall. The highest score in prelims for Panel 2 was Leander who scored 94.35 and was 2nd overall. The second highest was Vandegrift who scored 94.05 and was 3rd overall. The third highest was Vista Ridge who scored 93.9 and was 4th overall. Of the top 20, 9 bands were from Panel 1, and 11 were from Panel 2. The score gap for Panel 1 ranged from 94.7 to 86.97. The score gap for Panel 2 ranged from 94.35 to 87.3. Just some food for thought.

50th was a 78.1. 14th was a 88.775. That's a 10.675 point gap. Insane.

Vandegrift is obviously the favorite at the moment from all the San Antonio GNats bands. But Leander will put up a heck of a fight, and I still wouldn't count out Hebron from doing some serious cleaning and showing up to GNats with a medalist-worthy show.

Wow that is criminally low in my opinion. Bottom half of all bands????

Reagan is not going to Grand Nats. We're sending 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 12 to Grand Nats.

Coppell in 19th and Cedar Park in 22nd are the two biggest results that jump out at me off the bat from the prelims recaps.

He is referring to Ronald Reagan, not Round Rock.

Music - Vandegrift Visual - Ronald Reagan GE - Ronald Reagan 1. Ronald Reagan - 97.3 2. Vandegrift - 96.4 3. Vista Ridge - 95.225 4. Leander - 95.075 5. Hebron - 94.9 6. Marcus - 94.6 7. Claudia Taylor Johnson - 94.1 8. The Woodlands - 92.55 9. Flower Mound - 90.95 10. LD Bell - 89.65 11. James Bowie - 89.2 12. Round Rock - 89.1 13. Keller - 88.85 14. Pearland - 87.05 Insanity ensues...

Flower Mound in 9th place?!?!?!?!?!