TWHSParent

So after Indy and St. Louis supers, we will actually have some relative groupings after San Antonio. With Avon and Westwood attending Indy and St. Louis respectively (and both top half finalists), the relative placements and margins at San Antonio could be an indicator of how things may go down at GN. It is only an indication, as 2 weeks will have gone by for SA, and another week for GN, but it is still something to consider. I'm looking forward to this and seeing all the great shows in person - Flomarching, while doing much better this year, just doesn't match live.

Let me clarify what I think (and I could be completely off base). I think of this more as a ceiling rather than pinging. I'll use gymnastics as an example - certain techniques are considered worthy of scoring a 10, while others, no matter how well you do them, will only get a 9.7. While BOA isn't quite as objective as that, they do look at difficulty, they do look at originality and design, and they do account for these things. So my take is that there is a ceiling for shows, and even if you are perfect you won't exceed that number. Now for BA, I think this reuse lowers that ceiling from last year, but how low I have no idea. As I stated, they can certainly win, but they won't be quite so dominant as they could have been with a fresher take. This is all my opinion, and I'm just a forum commenter, so take it for what it's worth.

Here's a link to their St. Louis finals performance from last year. Not the best quality... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtIXwZuhSzY There are others you can find as well.

Don't be sad! They really are that good! Did you watch their show from St. Louis last year? That show was the best, and would have beaten everyone (yes, including Flower Mound - IMO). Still 3 weeks to Nationals. I think the repeat is hurting them. I read through the judging rubric, and it is OK to reuse ideas in a new and creative way. I don't see that with the reuse of their props from last year, so they aren't getting full points for their show, nor should they (in my view). Going to be toward the top, and could win, but there will now be doubts in some minds, and new hope in others. Should be exciting!

I understand. I've had the opportunity to see them live a few times, so that helps with my expectations. I hope my posts are getting across that I think they are awesome! I am surprised by the small margin tonight. That was unexpected.

While I don't like the repeat, that doesn't take away from their technical brilliance. They perform at a high level that few high school bands can compete with, and no one at this contest (Blue Springs is probably the closest to them). I look forward to seeing them at Indy. Wild Blue Orchid in 2015 was the clear winner that year in my view.

My opinion too - much better tonight. What we don't know is where our bands are relative to them, and we won't for 2 more weeks. The UIL contests won't really give us much info in that regard.

Maybe. They have to fix that prop and really clean up the ending. I love their show, but I wouldn't crown them just yet.

They are always dirty at this point and are masters of cleaning for GN. In fact, I think they were less dirty than I expected for this contest - still 3 weeks to GN. I'll be a little more specific - music was quite dirty, and lots to improve, but it was still good. Visually they were better than I expected, so I think they've spent more time there than on the music.

On my computer, so two full screens, and I can jump around to the forums in between.

I was telling my wife the same thing. They look to be in good shape for GN. Always interesting to see if the judges agree...

I actually have both streams up on different screens. Unmute the one I want to listen to.

My quick thoughts.... Carmel - outstanding guard, strong balanced sound, outstanding visuals. My main criticism is that I think they present Serenity a little too well. It lost my attention. Avon - really like what they are trying to do. I think the props get in the way visually rather than adding. When they get the show where they want, it will be a powerhouse. Lawrence Township - I don't like too much prerecorded vocals, and for my taste they had too much. I liked the show otherwise. Mea Culpa - I missed the vocalist last night on the high cam. So my criticism isn't valid. Leaving it in place so my oopsie can be seen (added 10/21 just after their finals performance). Castle - the most Texas like show that I saw, so I can see why people here would like them. I found it quite good too, so I am with you, but not going to beat Carmel or Avon.

I'll step into the uber-nerd role... If 50 or more bands, one judging panel for prelims and a new panel for finals. If less than 50, then one panel for prelims, and same panel switched for finals.

That was St. James School (yes, from Alabama). Very fun program.

Certainly not pearls. I think the star reference is more correct. I went looking through some photos of the real Garden of Cosmic Speculation, and didn't find anything directly like these orbs (certainly a quick and limited search just now). With the flow of the show, and the mention of stars in the narration, I would go with that interpretation.

Nah, no problem. (Refresh..... doh!......Refresh.....) Here is some news. Just got back from the band booster meeting. They have set the schedule, so I know when we go on, and I would assume others do too. I think that means the details should be forthcoming.

And this all really doesn't matter - in a couple weeks 14 of their top 20 will be competing in San Antonio. That should be fun!

Keep checking here for an active link: http://www.musicforall.org/resources/directors-lounge/fall-final-packets This gets updated before the main website.

My curiosity is what did Carmel do to jump both Hebron and CTJ? Hebron and Flower Mound traded wins (Hebron in prelims, Flower Mound in Finals), so there is merit to having Hebron over CTJ (who beat Bellevue West). I don't think Carmel had a competition this past weekend. I'm guessing the panel had these 3 really close, and one or two small changes in ordering caused the flip.

To the best of my knowledge yes. We'll soon get to see how the sequel to last year's show goes. I've seen a video from the BA Invitational, but it is very hard to tell. I couldn't quite catch the full title, but it is called Age of Discovery, the Return to Z ( think it is Z - that's the part I didn't quite catch). I'm sure they'll be just fine on Saturday! The video is still up, but it is unlisted. I won't post a link out of respect for their request to not make it public, much as our band made to Dan the Band Man for our show from a week ago. It too is still up, but unlisted.

I don't know when they will be made public, only that they will be.

I have to be careful with my response because where I volunteered gave me access to information that isn't public, so sorry for the generalities. They had a nice bee-themed show that stuck together well with good visuals. They had a better prelims run than finals run (in other words they weren't 10th in prelims), but it was fun to watch, and they deserved a top 10 placement. They aren't back to past levels or they would have won this contest, but as a building block it could be a sign of better things to come.

Cityscapes nailed it. Cy-Fair is short for Cypress Fairbanks, which is also the name of the school district. What I don't know is the history as to why some schools have the city name always associated with them (the schools from Klein and Cypress being prime examples), and others not so much. Could be the names just sound better?

This was a great contest and was fun to watch. Congratulations to Cy-Fair for taking home the win and 4A title, Friendswood for winning the 3A title, and Klein Cain for winning the 2A title. Thank you to all the bands that participated for showing us the fruits of their hard work.