Rudedog34

2015 Hendrickson's "Lost". The music and choreography were amazing. The story of being Lost then finding home. The chaos of the storm, the Band on lock down, (me sitting on the 130 toll in a tornado watching a tractor trailer rig flip over on the North bound lane), BOA not budging on awarding a new time slot and the ISD not allowing the band to meet the existing time slot causing a disqualification. Performing in the exhibition in San Antonio then loading up and driving to the US Bands competition at Kelly Reeves and winning. I guess you could say I was moved in many ways.

2015 Hendrickson's "Lost". The music and choreography were amazing. The story of being Lost then finding home. The chaos of the storm, the Band on lock down, (me sitting on the 130 toll in a tornado watching a tractor trailer rig flip over on the North bound lane), BOA not budging on awarding a new time slot and the ISD not allowing the band to meet the existing time slot causing a disqualification. Performing in the exhibition in San Antonio then loading up and driving to the US Bands competition at Kelly Reeves and winning. I guess you could say I was moved in many ways.

Way to go Henny!

Way to go Henny!

Way to go Henny!

THE NERD-IN IS BAAAACK!!! Let’s preview the BOA McAllen Regional Championship, the different experiences the competing programs dealt with last year, and how Box5TV, Marching Arts Education, and the TxBands Live Blog is going to wash over the Earth with marching band nerdiness!!!
 

This fierce contest is to be held at the Kelly Reeves Athletic Complex.
as of  9/21/21–23 bands confirmed:
9:00 a.m. – Lake Travis H.S., TX
9:15 a.m. – East View H.S., TX
9:30 a.m. – Burnet H.S., TX
9:45 a.m. – Cedar Ridge H.S., TX
10:00 a.m. – Westlake H.S., TX
10:15 a.m. – Midlothian Heritage H.S., TX
10:30 a.m. – Robert E. Hendrickson H.S., TX
10:45 a.m. – The Ann Richards School, TX
11:00 a.m. – Leander H.S., TX
11:15 a.m. – Pflugerville H.S., TX
11:30 a.m. – Break
12:15 p.m. – Princeton H.S., TX
12:30 p.m. – Weiss H.S., TX
12:45 p.m. – Vista Ridge H.S., TX
1:00 p.m. – Anderson H.S., TX
1:15 p.m. – Rouse H.S., TX
1:30 p.m. – Bastrop H.S., TX
1:45 p.m. – Cedar Park H.S., TX
2:00 p.m. – Break
2:45 p.m. – Round Rock H.S., TX
3:00 p.m. – Veterans Memorial H.S., TX
3:15 p.m. – Westwood H.S., TX
3:30 p.m. – Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX
3:45 p.m. – James Bowie H.S., TX
4:00 p.m. – Vandegrift H.S., TX

Probably bias, but Henny's guard always seems to compliment the show and the physics of the performers.

Because Waco.

Because Waco.

Because Waco.

My only issue is the coronation some of these Texas bands seem to get before they even perform.

Henny was assigned a new director at the end of 2018 instead of giving the job to Phelan who took over after Adkinson was released. Bad decisions cost them at Austin, not having the "loudest" band cost them today.

According to the notes the directors recieved, apparently the "Judges" didn't understand the show concept. Even though the pre-show tells everyone what the show is. Go figure.

I was sitting with the band director that was left behind in case they made finals.

You guys, don't underestimate Bowie (Austin) OR Hendrickson!  The improvement they made the two weeks between BOA Austin and TMC last Saturday were quite substantial!  I felt like I was watching two completely different bands from what I saw the first time.  Very nice shows!  And so entertaining.  Watch them and enjoy!  They're great!
 
Edit.  Were = was.  Dang grammar mistakes.  I hate them.  

I don't normally do this, and keep in mind that our band advanced in Area D and I do not particularly disagree with the results of either prelims or finals. But with the interest in UIL Judging Protocol popping up all over the threads, I'm going to give my 2 cents. I performed an evaluation of the results (scores - both ordinals and ranks) from prelims of all bands in Area D. Ordinals and Ranks all over the place. Yes, multiple worksheets in a spreadsheet yada, yada. My background is engineering and not music let alone marching arts, but there are correlations from both fields that can be used in comparison and analysis.
 
It is obvious from reading almost all, OK - ALL of the posts in the TxBands forums, that most concerns of UIL scoring in our community is not so much that a certain band was not placed where they wanted to be, It is more that our community is trying to educate themselves with the scoring process. As we educate ourselves, we find that the scoring we thought we would see, is inconsistent, anomalous and pie in the sky at times. I thought nothing of it until I had the bright idea to review Area D's scores. Again keep in mind I have no issues with the placements in Area D, it's the process and the numbers that baffles me. If score was more consistent Judge to Judge, there would have been placement changes. All bands that advanced would still have advanced. So here is my soapbox moment:
 
My analysis involved evaluating the ordinals and ranks of all judges and analyzing them for anomalous scoring by comparing the scores from each judge for each band (eg. 4, 11, 5 - Hennys prelims score for Music) Where did "11" come from? Soooo, that made me look deeper. I concluded that Henny wasn't the only band effected. What I found was that out of the 32 bands participating in Prelims, scores that fall into an anomalous catagory - J1 had 19% - J2 had 22% and J3 had 6%. 6%, while still high by my standards, I could live with that, but 20% on average from J1 & J2. I feel that this is not satisfactory at this level of adjudication.
 
Not to question a judge's experience or education to be qualified to perform adjudication, but what holds judges accountable when placed on these panels? Keep in mind that these individuals are NOT Gods. This is part of their job description that they have decided to pursue and THEY should be held accountable for their profession.
 
It is one thing to have an advanced music education or an extensive amount of experience in the marching arts and another to perform the tasks of an adjudicator in a fair and consistent manner. As is obvious from the scoring in Area D. I haven't looked at any of the other Areas and from what I read, I don't want to. The percentage of anomalous scores from 2 of the judges is not acceptable in my opinion. These inconsistencies should not exist at this level of professionalism. If it's not the system, then there should be a system of accountability in place that UIL judges should have to adhere to. Should an adjudicator's scoring deviate from the standards that are in place (what ever that is - UIL, educate us!), for any reason, they should be evaluated to determine if they are truly qualified to adjudicate at this level. When I say for any reason, how often are Music Adjudicators tested for hearing loss? How often are Marching Adjudicator's eyes tested? They may actually be scoring based on what they actually hear or see and their sight or hearing may not be what it once was (a lot of these judges are not youngsters). Have they been evaluated for favoritism? Are they consistently falling into the "anomalous catagory"? Maybe there are procedures already in place for this from UIL. How would we know as a community?
 
The way I feel about it is that the general marching art community puts these individuals up on a pedestal and bow to their every whim, and we shouldn't. They should prove to the community that they are truly qualified to perform these tasks in all aspects of experience, aptitude, and physical abilities. We as a community should be educated more by UIL in the intricacies of the judging process, procedures and accountability and not rely on hearsay. UIL should hold these adjudicators accountable for their scoring (because that's their job). If an Adjudicator is inconsistent in scoring within a percentage of all judges on a panel, then they should be evaluated to determine if they are truly qualified to be on a UIL panel. If deemed not within the standards, they should be sent down to AA (sorry baseball analogy) and work their way back into form. If they are deemed to show favoritism, they should be dismissed immediately and never used again. If they are just bad at this, then they should be mentored and reevaluated before allowing to judge again at this level. If they are consistent, fair and always on their game, then reward them. UIL and the Adjudicators of these events should be continually reminded that what they put down on those score sheets are not being reviewed by just the directors and staffs of the bands. These documents are reviewed by the thousands of Boosters, Parents and Participants of this great State. Their consistency and professionalism have an effect on the continued success of the Marching Arts in Texas. If the community starts to have doubts in the Adjudicator's abilities, they may have doubts about participation. I know kids that not only quit band but gave up music because of issues with adjudication. This is something that just should not happen.
 
Last note:
If UIL has determined that all the Adjudicators they assign to panels are truly qualified for the job at hand, then they need to evaluate and correct their scoring system, because it's flawed. I am sure there are several members of TxBands forums that would be glad to offer suggestions to systems that actually work. I could think of a few.
 
...steps off and goes back into his doghouse...

.8 only? Or is it .8 per time. Like .8 per second? 
Ok. Verified with BOA rule book.
Under/ over time penalty is: .1 point for every 3 seconds.

She was the Section Mom last year of a fairly young section, so most of the section this year are her babies. Should be fun!

Save me a spot if you get there before me.

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
 
I am proud and honored to announce our special guests performing Grand Finale exhibition at HEB Marching Contest on Sep 28 at 10:30 pm. The one and only. The legendary. “The Commandant’s Own” - The United States Marine Drum & Bugle Corps - Marine Barracks Washington D.C.
 
I am beyond excited. www.hebmarching.org
 
Quoted from the people who are head of the contest

We stop at that Buc-ee's every year on the way home from SA.  A few years back I was chaperoning and as the kids start filing back onto my bus one the boys was carrying a whole watermelon!
 
It was the trumpet bus, naturally.

Put both my daughters through select soccer and coached both. So, yeah, I guess I'm kinda into the Women's World Cup. Women's fussball (yes I keep tabs on the German soccer teams) is so much more traditional and pure than the men's soccer nowadays. Like softball too.
Girls Rule!

Outside of band, I do Graphic Design, and dabble in photography and video work! Funnily enough, I often find myself doing both for band more often than not. I also really enjoy Marvel, both comics and movies, and Godzilla/Kaiju in general. My favorite movie is a Japanese animated film called 'Your Name.', which is where my profile picture on this site comes from. I'm sure there's plenty I'm forgetting, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to say some stuff! I also have an Instagram for my Graphic Design and Video Work, soooo if any of ya'll wanna check that out, it's @wahajdesignsstuff!

I am back...but as a Hendrickson alumni. Daughter graduated. I was slated to shoot the directors video & shoot photos this year, but with my full time job and trying to prepare for my own thing going into 2020, I have probably missed out on that gig. I have definitely been out of pocket but will try to get up to the school to touch base with the directors very soon.
 
All I can say is that there will be some retro in the book and it should be a good time.