bandit

Who is moving to State from Area B?

Wow all these bands are so so good. Just a few comments. LD Bell- clean show but felt the same as last year. Coppell- can I say wow to those woodwinds! Most Fun show of the morning. Keller- beautiful sound and definitely in finals. KC and TC- they're close but not yet there. Bowie- I missed because I stepped out for a bit. Vandy was amazing as expected. But something was missing for me. Same as my Bell experience. Maybe a bit too same as last year in a year where everyone is bringing it. Hebron- holy moly in it to win it

Prosper was great, very clean. KC and TC performed about the same as BOA. Wakeland and Coppell really stepped up their game in one week. That probably explains the scores

Fantastic!!! Just fantastic. They blew the roof off Lila Cockrell Theater with Mackey's Wine Dark Sea. I still cannot wrap my head around the fact that these are high schoolers. I cannot wait for the DVDs to be released so I can see it over and over again.

Favorite walk off HAS to be LD Bell

Some of the bands use singers (I have to say that some of those singers give me goose bumps) and other "non-conventional instruments" I would love to see videos of these bands. So let's do a list (post a link if you can) of these bands and the relevance of the singer/cello/harp, if any (Yes, I do realize that some may just be doing it for artistic reasons) I'll go first...... Cellos/violins- Martin HS- this one is easy. Show was titled String Theory, made sense to have cellos and violins

Based on what we saw this weekend at BOA, who are our top 12 going to be? Let's have those new predictions

By Lewisville, I assume you want Hebron, Marcus and Flower mound separately? Or Lewisville HS? Also can we add the following schools to this list: Keller Coppell LD Bell

I guess I am just an old-school old-timer

Very valid points. But when bands start bringing go-karts and bicycles and unicycles into a marching show, some kind of line has to be drawn. I don't have an answer. Just thinking out loud.

I love this idea. There should be a cap on what a school can spend. Lets even the playing field and make it more about the marching and music and less about the glitter and glitz

So true.

Yes, sadly, LD Bell did not qualify for State in 2014

Sadly, LD Bell did not qualify for State in 2014. They were in the area with Hebron, Marcus, FM and got knocked out by another band (I think Haltom)

I honestly did not think they were that much better. I thought it was a pretty even competition between the top 4 and that any one of them could have taken 1st. Yes Keler has a wow moment with the tarp and the tumbling trumpet player but their marching was on par with duncanville and the others.

I kind of understand what you're saying. And in no way do I want to take away from what any of these bands have achieved because they are fantastic. There seems to be an overall trend toward "parking and playing", solos that take over almost a full movement, a lot of running around/dancing/body movement while one section plays. Fewer bands seem to be actually marching while playing all the time. The style seems to be moving more toward a "grand show" and away from music+marching. Things have to evolve I suppose but its so very refreshing to see a school like Bell that comes out, without any props and marches a good old-fashioned show.

Not Hebron? And if Duncanville is on this list, Keller needs to be too because Keller beat Duncanville at Area (that's my argument for Keller). (But if Keller is on the list, Bell and Coppell need to be too, because they all beat Keller in prelims at Area) So hard to pick

Wow those are huge numbers. I would think larger bands have a harder time keeping it all clean and tidy because there are so many different spots to take care of (I could be totally wrong, but this is just my gut feel). Kudos to Flower Mound, Duncanville(?*), Coppell(?*), Bell(?*) and the other 350+ bands out there for doing such a fantastic job with their clean precise marching shows. *(?) because they seem larger than the other bands when you watch them but I don't know the numbers.

Duncanville, Bell and Coppell, all beat Keller in prelims at Area. It is close for all the Area B schools. Any one (or all) can make it. Keller will do great at BOA with the GE element, but I think at UIL, one or more of the other 3 will do better and we may see Keller becoming a close call.

Duncanville and Coppell stole the show for me for Area B. Duncanville for just being a real fun show and Coppell for their music. And I am partial to my own band too (but I will not say who it is because I am not lame)

There was a large variation in scores, yes, but the top 4 teams were easily the top 4 for a reason. Keller's cloud props/tarp were beautiful and they sounded great musically. Duncanville's Paris made me want to get on the next plane out. You just could not take your eyes off LD Bell's guard and I love that they had no props at all. Coppell's music was just beautiful as always, and the whole movement with the vocalist was just chillingly haunting- serious goosebumps! It could have been any one of these for 1,2,3,4 really. All great solid performances and all potential State Finalist bands. What an Area Finals this was

Based on today's Area results- these are my picks for top 12 at State Hebron Flower Mound Marcus Vandergrift Leander Reagan Keller Duncanville Bowie Coppell Bell Round Rock