CTJBandPops

Hebron 15 FlowerMound - 11 Marcus - 5

I heard that TMEA released their State results last night - Have not heard a lot of the numbers - but these I have heard In NEISD CTJ - 15 Reagan - 3 Churchill - 3 Vista Ridge posted on Facebook - 8 anyone else heard how the other programs did?

I have already had a number of round rock folks join the new face book page

So in 2019, I put together a Facebook page for #teamtexas to post and follow the 6 bands that attended Grand Nationals. it was a great deal of fun as we had more than 700 members sharing the success of our programs. I have just created a new page on Facebook for 2021 Team Texas. you can search #TeamTexas 2021 Grand Nats - the page will request you to state your band affiliation - this is done as we got a lot of foreign spam that try to join to troll for members info on the last site and did not answer and are written in Arabic. this page is for all fans of #teamtexas - even if your program is not attending. To my knowledge, only Vista Ridge has announced that they will be attending by I am sure that there will be more to come

from the looks of the dates, it looks like the dome is going to again be Marching Band Mecca in November with 8 days of marching band in a 10 day span. I think it will be interesting to see if the UIL dates for 1/3/5A prior to BOA SA will impact the programs that will attend, the first 5A programs that come to mind are Cedar Park and Leander but they are just up the road from San Antonio. so I doubt that will keep them away from BOA SA the 6A program schedule will have the same impact they would have had this year in a normal year - BOA SA on Fri/Sat and UIL State on Mon/Tue the real impact could be on 6A programs that may be considering Grand Nats just a few days later. will the schools and districts sign off on that much time out of class? it has happened before where 6A programs have gone to Gnats on a UIL State year. 6A programs doing BOA SA, State and GNats are looking at 7 performances in a 9 day span 1,200 miles apart. should make for an interesting year the schedule for San Antonio in November 2021 Session 1: Monday, November 1: 5A Prelims (morning, afternoon, evening) Session 2: Tuesday, November 2: 1A Prelims (morning), 5A Finals (afternoon) Session 3: Tuesday, November 2: 1A Finals (evening) Session 4: Wednesday, November 3: 3A Prelims (morning and afternoon) Session 5: Wednesday, November 3: 3A Finals (evening) BOA SA Friday, November 5: Super Regional Prelims (morning, afternoon, evening) BOA SA Saturday, November 6: Super Regional Prelims (morning) Finals (evening) Session 1: Monday, November 8: 6A Prelims (morning, afternoon, evening) Session 2: Tuesday, November 9: 2A Prelims (morning), 6A Finals (afternoon) Session 3: Tuesday, November 9: 2A Finals (evening) Session 4: Wednesday, November 10: 4A Prelims (morning and afternoon) Session 5: Wednesday, November 10: 4A Finals (evening) Hoping that 2021 is kinder than 2020 has been

I understand the bitterness - our program was the only high school of the 7 in the district to compete - appreciate your kind words about the program. I remain grateful that the directors gave the kids an avenue to normal - and totally agree that there are many other programs that in a normal year on the field could and would have competed well. We are grateful for those that did and look forward to being on the field with them all in 2021. our shirts are a way to "embrace the suck" - as I learned many years ago stay safe -

we all learn to accept what we can cannot control - and work with what we can control - Asterisks or not

2020 has been a year like no other. From the rioting across the country, the whole political boondoggle of the election year, and of course Covid-19. I have spent many a night sitting with my son and trying to help him make some sort of sense of what was going on. but it has been hard to find any upside to speak of. Last night, sitting in the dome, even with the masking, social distancing, no finals, no retreat and the whole fact that we were competing in the dome in Mid December - it was the closest we have felt to normal in such a very long time. I am so grateful for all the hard work and effort that our parents, directors, school and district leadership put into ensuring that there was a marching competition in this strange and unusual year, and that our kids would be safe through it all. For my son and so many other kids, marching band has given them the distraction and a piece of normalcy that they needed to get through 2020 and for that I am grateful. to all the programs that decided not to compete, I can certainly respect their decision, and for those programs that pushed on and played in the dome yesterday, I get that too. Congrats to the CTJ program that brought the first UIL State Marching Gold to NEISD in 35 years (MacArthur won in 1985) Yesterday was a bright spot to an otherwise crappy year and am grateful to have had a chance to see it - the show entitled "know who you are" really fits this year Stay safe

I know that there are a number of programs that are bringing back parts of previous shows or a "tribute show". the CTJ program is a mix of 2010 and 2014 shows but it is still the same length of show that they always put on the field - though it is trimmed back to meet the UIL limit limits - but similar to what they do each year for UIL

I would doubt it - hate to think they are adding this week - I do know that many are doing a shorter show this year due to the rule changes with Covid-19

tried that yesterday - kept saying that the predictions should be entered in August

many of the tickets offered are not event in an area that is in the front half to see the band - they have capped at 17% capacity - about 11,000 people. I needed 3 tickets but had to buy a pod of 6 - don't get me started on the $43 in additional fees from ticket master

yep - got mine already - be prepared to buy in a cluster

My predictions - I still stick by my early comments that the medal race is across CTJ, Woodlands and the Lewisville Trio. - my thoughts I have looked through the UIL scoring from the weekend - while I understand that the scores are from many different judges - it does give us a place to start in a year that we have not seen much from any of these programs other than some football games based on overall UIL scoring - different judges CTJ Waxahachie Marcus FlowerMound Lake Travis Based on overall scoring across 5 rubrics - again - different judges CTJ Waxahachie TWHS Pearland Lake Travis these are just my thoughts based on all of that mixed with the performance times CTJ - Home field with a late performance - most UIL centric show I have ever seen from this program and it is clean FlowerMound - perform later (right before CTJ) - 2-3-2-2-2 on Saturday in the most difficult Area event Marcus - early performance with a 5+ hours bus ride and no finals may impact them TWHS - another great show for a program that has been hard at it for months Hebron - 1-2-3-3-3 at Area and they also have an early performance time with no finals - that could hurt them sleepers - Pearland and Waxahachie could sneak up on any of the top 5 - Pearland after CTJ - second to the end I know that there is no rhyme or reason to my predictions - just my thoughts - another week to clean - let's do this

I would agree, rough time slot for Marcus. with Covid concerns, I wonder if they will be able to come the day before or if they will have a 5 hours bus ride at o dark thirty? CTJ with late spot and being at home should be a real advantage, but I still think that the top 5 you have listed are the front runners but the placing could be very fluid with no finals - so looking forward to this event - going to camp out at the dome for the entire day and get my band on

Congrats to Area D advancements Claudia Taylor Johnson - Area D Champion Jack C Hays - Advance to State Looking forward to whom else will advance

so it is 6A Area day - by 3pm on Sunday, we will know the 19 programs that will advance to 6A UIL State in the AlamoDome on Dec 15th here is my uneducated stab at the programs that will advance to 6A UIL State by area - asterisks notes projected Area Champion Area A None Area B Coppell* Waxahachie Area C Hebron* Marcus FlowerMound Rockwall Area D Claudia Taylor Johnson* Jack C Hays Area E Pearland* Dawson Area F TWHS* Oak Ridge Area G Harlingen - advanced from region - no Area Harlingen West - advanced from region - no Area Area H Lake Travis* Del Rio Area I 7 Lakes* Cy - Ranch Cy - Falls If you don't get a chance to get to an area event, be sure to check out the TXBands.com for the live Blog - there will be bloggers at all 6A area events today stay safe and lets do this

Fans are allowed - socially distanced and masks are required the entire time. Box Office will open 75 minutes prior to first band and doors will open 45 minutes prior to first performance to avoid congregating at the entry points. there is a extended performance time to allow for each band and the crew/chaperones to clear the field between performances. Hope to see you there - look for my CTJ - BandDad84 mask

my understanding is that they are open to the public - tickets are $5.00 each - some may be clearing the stands between classes for cleaning and decontamination - the blog team at each site are educators/alumni that will blog onsite. the TXBands team will be commenting from a separate location - as they usually do not do UIL area as it is in so many sites and with a full schedule in a normal year it would be difficult to manage 9 sites. this year with reduced participants and timing, it is more manageable. Example - 6A in area D runs from 9:30am to 11:50am - 6A Area G is 12:40 to 2:20pm - 6A Area B is 2:00pm to 3:25PM - get to see the blog for 6A sites from across the state

in a year that has been 6 kinds of crazy - it is great to finally see something that resembles normal. This weekend is the UIL Area events across the state. As Dan Sanchez noted about an hour ago on the live blog, there will be bloggers at most of the Area events that will be blogging on the TXBands from Area B, C, D, F, H, and I - as well as input from the normal TXBands team - the 2020 return of the Daniels. for those that are planning to attend the UIL state - the line up will be announced by 3pm on Sunday December 6th. Tickets for State will go on sale through ticket master on Monday December 7th. Tickets are General Admission and $20.00 per person for that Class (2/4/6/) Parking at the Alamo Dome is $15 per car (CASH) I understand that the TXBands team will be onsite for the State event. I also understand that MFA/BOA is working on content to interject into the live stream between performances. Great to see MFA and UIL working together on this project. if you are not able to attend the BOX5-TV will be well worth the $12 per class cost to watch from the safety of your home or office. Looks like there will be 19 bands set to perform at 6A state - in a finals only - one and done event. so we will definitely have some new programs at state that we did not see in 2018 - some for the first time. hope you are all staying safe and have a chance to enjoy the upcoming UIL events in this strange and difficult year.

I would agree with all of these - I think the 6A battle for medals at state will be between Hebron, FloMo, Marcus, CTJ, and TWHS

When I was in the military - we called it - "embracing the suck" - or you accept what you have and make the best of it. CTJ choose to "embrace the asterisks" - they just move on with what they have. they "know who they are" and moved forward. though we don't know what the next 2 weeks will bring for us or any other program keep in mind, that as always, I do not speak for the program - just a band parent that supports this program and the direction that they have chosen in this very difficult year

Area competitions are scheduled for Dec 5th, 2020 State Schedule in the Alamo dome is as follows Monday, December 14: 2A Contest (Approximately 8:00 AM - 2:30 PM) Monday, December 14: 4A Contest (Approximately 3:30 PM - 10:00 PM) Tuesday, December 15: 6A Contest (Approximately 12:00 PM - 6:30 PM) Performance schedules will be posted on Sunday, December 6th by 3:00 PM. BOX5-TV will have the live stream for UIL State - $12.00 for each class

that is great to hear - though many will call this an asterisks year - I disagree - do LeBron and the Lakers have an asterisks next to their NBA trophy this year?

my thoughts are not that there will be no finals - rather with at least 16 of the 32 bands that made 6A finals in 2018 will not compete. both at Area and state it is not that there will be no finals - but rather that there will be no prelims. it is one and done. with so many programs that routinely advance to state not attending it will open up more spots for programs that do not usually advance - as it is currently projected that the State competition will include 18-20 programs - that will include between 2-4 programs that did not advance last year. just my thoughts