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TWHSParent

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Everything posted by TWHSParent

  1. That is a question that I have - how valuable is that critical feedback, and assuming it is valuable, how quickly can it be acted upon? I last listened to a judges recording sometime in the last century, so has that feedback become more useful and actionable to improve shows?
  2. I too was a lurker for a couple of years. I made an account for 2 reasons - I felt there was too much San Antonio/Austin/Dallas centric commenting, so there needed to be someone from another relatively under-served region commenting, and during my lurking days I found this board to have actual conversations and discussions, and wasn't full of trolls. People were and are happy to share their experiences and expertise, and the community isn't hostile. I find that refreshing - you can have real conversations and discussions! Such a novel idea anymore... I also think that only Grand Nationals should have a semi-finals. Having a full 2 days of prelims and the expanded finals for a Super Regional is a good compromise. Of course Texas has such a large number of strong programs it is extraordinarily difficult to make finals at San Antonio (and the regionals aren't exactly easy either). While maybe the winner will change, we do tend to talk about the same bands toward the top, so in that sense it isn't so different from St. Louis or Indianapolis Supers.
  3. It does seem to lack the Broken Arrow presence on the field. When they are out there, you want to pay attention because they are that awesome. I missed that with this show. It is early, and the video isn't from the best location, so we'll have to see. Not going to over-react from one video at this point.
  4. Did anyone else catch the link to Broken Arrow's exhibition performance from their contest? It will be an outstanding show, but I can't stop thinking that we saw this last year, and that makes it a little less special in my view. Not saying they can't win with it since I'm sure they will be adding more visual elements, and the music will improve. I'm just not sold on repeating the pedal cars. I guess we'll see at St. Louis how they pull it off and if they can keep it fresh. If anyone can, BA can.
  5. Is there some sort of coordinated effort to bash HornRank here and the MFA forum? If so, why? I don't understand the angst when someone (or some website) doesn't agree with you. I find it to be a great resource, and have for the last couple of years. In my view - keep up the good work!
  6. No reason to get upset about these things. It will all sort itself out in November. I look at these early regionals as an opportunity to get some critical feedback and make adjustments to improve. Yeah, it is great to win, but I find 5th place with an unfinished show (marking time at the end and the tag ending cut some more too) against that competition to be a great result. Based upon what I knew going in, a mid 80's score would have them right on track for their goals in November. Also of note, a mid 80's score usually wins the Conroe contest, but not this year. TWHS scores this year are very comparable to their 2013 scores, and (much?) better than 2015 and 2016. 2014 had mixed results where finals apparently didn't go as well as prelims (before my time, so I wasn't around for that one). To be a complete homer, I think their ceiling by GN is in the 96 to 97 range, which puts them right in the thick of things. But must execute! Anecdote - I found it nice that the lady from Leander that was sitting beside me during finals was humming the music to our closer between bands. I find it to be a very catchy tune, and she did too.
  7. Last year both Bowie and Whitesboro attended Grand Nationals without making finals in San Antonio. Of course neither of them actually competed at San Antonio, but still technically the answer to your question is yes.
  8. Check out the comment at the top of the page at http://www.hornrank.com/2017/09/southlake-prelims-sept-30-2017.html They have some info about that penalty... (fixed link).
  9. Schedule is out: 10:45 Conroe 11:00 Pasadena 11:15 Klein Cain 11:30 College Park 11:45 Oak Ridge 12:00 Brazoswood 12:15 Dawson 1:15 SFA 1:30 Cypress Creek 1:45 Klein 2:00 Brenham 2:15 Friendswood 2:30 Clear Brook 2:45 Klein Forest 3:15 Travis 3:30 North Shore 3:45 Dekaney 4:00 Klein Collins 4:15 Westfield 4:30 Cy-Fair 4:45 Willis
  10. I find it interesting that the judges for Music and Visual performance went to the .05 scoring level, which gave us scores with 3 digits after the decimal. This has probably happened before, but is not common. I'm guessing they are trying this to avoid ties as much as possible.
  11. Times are on the BOA Twitter feed. 7:45 Weiss (exhibition) 8:00 Clear Brook 8:15 Round Rock 8:30 Winston Churchill 8:45 Hendrickson 9:00 Cy-Fair 9:15 Ronald Reagan 9:30 Leander 9:45 The Woodlands 10:00 James Bowie 10:15 Vandegrift
  12. All I know at this point is that 21 bands are expected to attend. I haven't seen the list yet.
  13. That was an interesting study. Shows a definite bias toward north=good, south=bad, but with enough overlap in the SD to account for the situations where this isn't true. It also had some sampling concerns, but in all a pretty good read and good information that informs some of our innate biases.
  14. Interesting regarding being on the north side. Hadn't noticed that before. Have no idea what, if anything, it means!
  15. Don't forget - it also matters what you are listening with (computer audio with subwoofer vs mobile device with tinny speakers) while watching the stream. I had my computer audio cranked during Flower Mound and Hebron (and others of course), and I thought Hebron was better musically in both prelims and finals (but it was very, very close). Flower Mound had the better visual effects - I really like the color changes during the program, although they may stay in the grey a little too long. Lots of really good stuff from everyone yesterday at both regionals.
  16. Personal anecdotes about The Woodlands marching band the last 3 years: Conversation with my wife in 2015 - She says "I don't think they are doing enough with their drill - not sure if they can make finals at GN". They squeaked in. Conversation with my wife in 2016 - We just looked at each other with eyebrows raised - we were both thinking that show could be really good. And it got there at the end. Conversation with my wife in 2017 - me: "Do they have a chance to take the eagle?" her: "They have a chance". This will be a late blooming show, designed to peak at Indianapolis. But being clean now means more effect add later. I'm excited to finally see the show other than at a football game (so they'll have mostly completed props on the field). Of course, they have an away game on the 6th at Lufkin, so they'll be getting back home around 1 am Saturday morning. I vaguely remember being that young and being able to function at a high level with just 3 or 4 hours of sleep, so I think they'll be fine. I also prefer this to 2 years ago when they had a game Saturday night and therefore skipped finals. I know I am a heretic, but I prefer marching contests to football games...
  17. I think Conroe ISD can compete with Keller ISD (and maybe Round Rock ISD) with The Woodlands, Oak Ridge, and College Park.
  18. I am also really looking forward to the upcoming contests. I didn't splurge on San Antonio (got reserved seats), but I did buy the MFA Club seats for Indianapolis. If anyone needs some info about the area around Conroe/The Woodlands for next week let me know and I'll pass on what I can (I've lived here for 4 years - I know it can be tough finding things in The Woodlands, since the trees hide most things around here).
  19. I also very much enjoyed "String Theory" in 2015. They sometimes take on very edgy and potentially controversial programs, but I think that is a good thing.
  20. I find it interesting to look at the score changes between the first contest and SA. Quick check from last year (using the lowest prelim/finals at the first and highest prelim/finals at SA - oh, and shoutout to HornRank for the data): Flower Mound: 88.05 to 93.35 - +5.3 The Woodlands: 78.25 to 92.50 - +14.25 Leander: 79.05 to 91.55 - +12.5 Claudia Taylor Johnson: 82.30 to 91.20 - +8.9 Hebron: 83.20 to 91.65 - +8.45 Marcus: 84.20 to 92.05 - +7.85 Vandegrift: 80.05 to 92.45 - +12.4 Ronald Reagan: 82.50 to 90.90 - +8.4 Some went on to GN and further increased their scores. So I think the question is - do they have enough to add so that the 3 point gap is enough to maintain their relative placement? They certainly might, and it will be interesting to see how things play out (ok, little pun there, sorry...).
  21. It is allowed. Rules are at http://www.musicforall.org/images/PDFs/2017/Fall/Rulebook/2017_Rulebook_-_FINAL.pdf. Section 21, part 21.03 allows amplification with no restriction on the application other than the usage, placement, running, power, etc. must all comply with the other rules. Practical implementation could be a challenge and if something goes wrong, then your show could be absolutely ruined. But it is up to the program to either take the risk or not.
  22. Yeah. You can either pay for a year, or per month. You can pay for one month, then cancel before the next payment is due, and that is perfectly fine. You aren't locked into any agreement if you go monthly. You can then watch all the contests through this time in October without paying again - but you do have to remember to cancel!
  23. Thank you for this response - I was hoping for something like this when I wrote my original comment (you exceeded my hopes - I find your comment to be outstanding). These things have so many moving parts that focusing on one or two things really misses the mark. My intent with the overrated comment was to bring to the front that money isn't a magic bullet. If it was, I think we would be talking about some other schools (I'll pick on DFW since I lived there for 9 years, but there are other areas of course) such as Southlake Carroll and/or Plano West or a class A example - Indian Hill, OH (I grew up in the Cincinnati area, so I can pick on them too ). I think that one very significant area that money does make a difference (and this could be tied to your inner-city example) is show design. Hiring high level designers can get expensive, and without a high level design you have a definite ceiling in your program. Speaking to The Woodlands (and don't forget we do split it with College Park), being part of the Conroe ISD spreads some of that benefit to the other schools nearby. There is a bigger mix here than people may realize, but with some enclaves of extreme wealth sprinkled throughout. I think one advantage to the area is availability of donations (individual and corporate) - it does seem that when the band has a need, and they publicize it, it tends to be attended to relatively quickly. That is most certainly a benefit of wealth in the area as well as a connection with the community. I like your linked comment about Adair County and Columbia. I've been there many times and the overall description is right on. It still amazes me what they have achieved in relative anonymity, since not too many people pay attention to the class A bands. I was also pleased last year with Williamstown, KY finishing 2nd in class A. I went to the "big" county school that surrounds Williamstown, and they have had a very nice small school program for a long time. I recall when I lived in the region, K-12 was in 1 building, and I think the K-12 enrollment was something like 300. I doubt that it is much bigger now. I also very much agree with your point about small schools competing at the very top levels - they really can't for many reasons (GE being a big one of those reasons). But even with that, there are plenty of AA, AAA, and AAAA bands that can't compete with them either even with the resources that may be available to them. I don't have any knowledge regarding bands in Japan, but I'll take an opportunity to investigate as it sounds interesting. I've been fortunate enough to travel to Asia a handful of times for business (mainly China), and the cultural differences are quite dramatic, as you indicate. I tell people that I hate traveling, but I love visiting. In other words, 14 hour+ plane rides suck (yes, in economy), but meeting new people and being exposed to their culture is a great thing. I love the dynamics of big bands, but I also love watching the small bands. For those that haven't watched them, you really should take a look, especially at GN semi-finals. The 4 class A bands that perform there (usually very early in the morning of course - I got up to watch them last year) are terrific programs, and they put on really good shows (think about how San Antonio reacted to St. James School's exhibition last year - they were very enjoyable to watch). The band that gets to perform at the end of finals from class A has really earned something, and they've had an exceedingly long day! Again, thank you for your wonderful and thoughtful response.
  24. Ah. I've read about that time - thanks. Went looking for their show, and found 2008 and 2010, but not 2009. I would like to listen to that performance. Yes. Looking forward to going back. I've not been to San Antonio yet, so this will be the first time for me to be in person. Went to Indy in 2015 - wonderful experience. I think GN Saturday may be the single best day of marching band...
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