BandFan59

Strong performances from the bottom half! Really nice full sounds from every group, and though I feel the visual programs aren't quite at the level needed to break into the top half, it was still a great first half of finals! Here's where I'd have the rankings right now: Westlake Leander Hendrickson James Bowie Westwood Lake Travis

Finals Schedule 7:30 College Park H.S., TX 7:45 Jordan H.S., TX 8:00 Friendswood H.S., TX 8:15 Oak Ridge H.S., TX 8:30 Klein Oak H.S., TX 8:45 Dawson H.S., TX 9:00 Clear Brook H.S., TX 9:15 Cy-Fair H.S., TX 9:30 Pearland H.S., TX 9:45 Bridgeland H.S., TX 10:00 The Woodlands H.S., TX 10:15 Wylie East H.S., TX

Finals Schedule:7:15 PM - Burnet H.S., TX (exhibition)7:30 PM - Hendrickson H.S., TX7:45 PM - Leander H.S., TX8:00 PM - Westwood H.S., TX8:15 PM - James Bowie H.S., TX8:30 PM - Westlake H.S., TX8:45 PM - Lake Travis H.S., TX9:00 PM - Round Rock H.S., TX9:15 PM - Cedar Park H.S., TX9:30 PM - Rouse H.S., TX9:45 PM - Cedar Ridge H.S., TX10:00 PM - Vandegrift H.S., TX10:15 PM - Vista Ridge H.S., TX10:30 PM - Manor New Tech H.S., TX (exhibition)

Prelims ResultsClass AAAA Vandegrift H.S., TX Cedar Ridge H.S., TX Round Rock H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance: Vandegrift H.S., TXOutstanding Visual Performance: Vandegrift H.S., TXOutstanding General Effect: Vandegrift H.S., TXClass AAA Cedar Park H.S., TX Rouse H.S., TX Leander H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance: Cedar Park H.S., TXOutstanding Visual Performance: Cedar Park H.S., TXOutstanding General Effect: Cedar Park H.S., TXClass AA Burnet H.S., TX Veterans Memorial H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance: Burnet H.S., TXOutstanding Visual Performance: Burnet H.S., TXOutstanding General Effect: Burnet H.S., TXClass A Manor New Tech H.S., TX Ann Richards H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance: Manor New Tech H.S., TXOutstanding Visual Performance: Ann Richards H.S., TXOutstanding General Effect: Manor New Tech H.S., TXFinalists (random order) Cedar Ridge H.S., TX Lake Travis H.S., TX Leander H.S., TX Cedar Park H.S., TX Round Rock H.S., TX Vista Ridge H.S., TX Westlake H.S., TX James Bowie H.S., TX Westwood H.S., TX Hendrickson H.S., TX Vandegrift H.S., TX Rouse H.S., TX

Prelims ResultsClass AAAA The Woodlands H.S., TX Bridgeland H.S., TX Pearland H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance: The Woodlands H.S., TXOutstanding Visual Performance: The Woodlands H.S., TXOutstanding General Effect: The Woodlands H.S., TXClass AAA Wylie East H.S., TX Clear Brook H.S., TX Friendswood H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance: Wylie East H.S., TXOutstanding Visual Performance: Friendswood H.S., TXOutstanding General Effect: Clear Brook H.S., TXClass AA James Earl Rudder H.S., TX Outstanding Music Performance: James Earl Rudder H.S., TXOutstanding Visual Performance: James Earl Rudder H.S., TXOutstanding General Effect: James Earl Rudder H.S., TX No Class A bands presentFinalists (random order) Wylie East H.S., TX College Park H.S., TX The Woodlands H.S., TX Clear Brook H.S., TX Dawson H.S., TX Pearland H.S., TX Klein Oak H.S., TX Cy Fair H.S., TX Bridgeland H.S., TX Friendswood H.S., TX Oak Ridge H.S., TX Jordan H.S., TX

Vandegrift was excellent. It's not my favorite show I've seen from them but I thought they were very clean, both musically and visually. I thought Cedar Ridge might've actually edged them out musically for me, but overall I'd have to say Vandegrift was still the best in prelims.

Cedar Ridge sounded OUTSTANDING. What an incredible show!

Westwood and Round Rock were both quite good! A few stickouts here and there, but nothing too egregious.

The first finalist performs at 7:30 PM

My first time watching the Woodlands this season and I thought it was a great show! They've really leaned into the Broadway-esque shows the past several years and are performing them very well. The drill, while not very difficult, is quite clean at this stage of the season. Great soloists as usual and a fantastic ballad. Excited to see this progress over the season!

I've been unable to see almost all of the bands here, so my predictions are more or less just based off prior performance history and what I've heard from others, so take this with a grain of salt: The Woodlands (M/V/GE) Klein Oak Oak Ridge Dawson Pearland Stephen F. Austin College Park Wylie East Clear Brook Friendswood James Martin Cy-Fair I've almost certainly left out a band or two that should be in finals but Houston is just so hard to predict.

2 days out, here's my predictions: Vandegrift (M/GE) Cedar Park (V) Vista Ridge Cedar Ridge Rouse Westlake Leander Round Rock James Bowie Hendrickson Westwood Lake Travis Seen most of the bands, not all, but many of the videos I've seen are quite old now so definitely could see a lot of changes. Looking forward to a great competition!

Many schools do try and prevent videos of their shows from being made public in advance of competitions to keep everything as fresh as possible for the viewing and judging experience. There could also be the problem of copyright with the music selections in some shows.

SFA's new head director was at Tarpon Springs last year and Coppell before that. I believe the associate director did some work at DFW programs including Coppell and Hebron. Some very good pedigree there but I've not seen anything from them yet, or from many Houston area programs for that matter.

I watched the video of CTJ from last night too. I've always been a fan of their designs and this year's no different. The preshow is very unique and I thought visually they were quite good even with the complexity of their drill. I had to watch the ballad a couple times to really get my thoughts on it. The vocalists are both very talented and do a great job as the main spotlight of the ballad, but I probably would've preferred a ballad without vocals. That said I still enjoyed it and thought the big hit was excellent. Excited to see this in two weeks!

Cedar Ridge sounds really good so far. It's very impressive that they're able to produce that much volume with such a small ensemble (4 tubas for a 6A school is just tiny). That said, they're doing a superb job playing a Shostakovich piece that is admittedly rather overplayed now, but I've always liked it. Visually it's not the most exciting, a little bit too basic for my taste, but I think they'll be in the top half solidly and in contention for a medal here.

Congrats to JBA! They've been on the rise these past several years so good to see them continue that trajectory

I've heard good things about Grapevine this year, hope they can get a good result!

COVID hit this contest pretty hard it seems, but the level of competition is still super high. This will be a great warmup to BOA Bedford the week after. Haven't seen many bands yet this year from DFW so not sure what to make of predictions yet.

Don't think it will happen any time soon but I would love to see Broken Arrow finally make the trip to San Antonio.

Pretty strong lineup with Coppell, Hebron, and Cedar Park attending. I know Vandegrift used to come here too but it looks like they haven't been back in a few years. Should be a good competition.

There are a lot of multi cam recordings up on YouTube. You can download them for yourself in case Box5 takes those videos down.

Flower Mound was ranked 15th in Music GE in semifinals by one of the judges. That is a total head scratcher for me.

Wando was first out with a 90.55. The last band to get in finals was Blue Springs with a 90.60. As for the finals scores I'll just say that I heavily disagree with the judges on a lot of the rankings and scores. Flower Mound deserved better IMO and Broken Arrow, although fantastic, was not that far ahead of everyone else. Guess the judges saw something that I didn't.

Finals Results 1. Broken Arrow H.S., OK - 98.25 2. Carmel H.S., IN - 97.05 3. Avon H.S., IN - 96.65 4. The Woodlands H.S., TX - 96.20 5. Flower Mound H.S., TX - 95.40 6. Marcus H.S., TX - 93.275 7. Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX - 92.70 8. Dobyns-Bennett H.S., TN - 91.95 9. Ronald Reagan H.S., TX - 91.45 10. Blue Springs H.S., MO - 90.35 11. William Mason H.S., OH - 90.20 12. Vista Ridge H.S., TX - 89.90 Outstanding Music Performance - Flower Mound H.S., TX Outstanding Visual Performance - Broken Arrow H.S., OK Outstanding General Effect - Broken Arrow H.S., OK Al Castronovo Esprit de Corps Award - Mustang H.S., OK Tournament of Roses Parade Invitation - Vista Ridge H.S., TX Broken Arrow's 98.25 is a new record score, beating Hebron's 2015 score of 97.85 in Grand Nationals Semifinals.