LostChoirGuy

Let's go Trinity!

Lets say that a new band worked really hard and was objectively the 10th best band to perform. They should be safely in finals right? Under the current scoring method, yes. But- hypothetically, if all 9 of the higher performing bands were in the same judging panel, it is impossible for more than 9 to make it into finals from that panel. So, that band that worked so hard and was the 10th best wouldnt make it in. Somewhere else, at least one band that was the 15th best or lower would have made it in to finals in the other judging panel. Now I know this is not likely to happen, but statistically, the best way to ensure that this doesnt happen is to spread previous finalists out across the panels because the stats show that if you have made finals within the past few years you are at a higher probability of being a "finalist-caliber" band again this year. The stats dont put the bands automatically in finals but they spread the competition so a band like the 10th place one I mentioned would only have to fight against 4 or 5 of them to get a spot in finals instead of all 9.

Let's go Richland! I woke up early to cheer on our Texas groups even though I dont have time to watch most of today.

I was recently looking back at the prelims results for San Antonio last year and noticed that a large part of the reason that Keller jumped from 14th to 9th was because of their inconsistent GE scoring. In prelims they were ranked 23rd by one music GE judge and 4th by the other. They ended up 15th overall in GE and only made it into finals barely because they were 10th and 11th in music and visual.

It's not like they are saying those particular bands are getting specific performance times or scores to go with the way they spread them out. We have to think about this as basically two different competitions being merged together for finals and it would not seem fair to anyone if one of the competitions was vastly harder than the other one. This doesnt make it any harder for New bands to pass up the previous finalists, it just spreads them out so that on paper each of the competitions is realtively equal.

Plus regionals on different weekends would skew the results to favor certain regional participants.

Oh that's awful for those Richland kids. I'm really hoping for the best for our Texas contingency up there!

I remember my high school choir director always talked about how wrong it was for groups to be given ratings below a 3 because it is just so disheartening. Then one week she was hired to be the head judge at a UIL choir competition somewhere and came back and said she changed her mind. The kids apparently just stumbled on stage and then when the music started they looked around at each other and a few tried singing but most had no idea what was going on. She said it was the most uncomfortable experience ever and they very obviously got 5s from every judge. Apparently there were other groups that were close to that level on lack of preparation. It is very sad to think that that is the music education some students are getting, especially when you consider the quality of music education across the board in Texas is so high.

Curious to see how Bridgeland does here. They have had a great season so far.

Ugh right in the middle of my work day.

I was wondering the same thing. Is there a live coverage of UIL State? Are 6A finals going to be in the morning again this year?

Has 24 already had their region competition? 31 Will be fine- those bands are all doing well this year. 30 is great, but weatherford is one to worry about. North Crowley is a small concern, too- but they have been pretty good. If 24 still has to go, I dont know about Plano West this year.

Yikes. Area B can only get 2 more bands not advancing or they drop to 5 state qualifiers. Looks like Region 5 is going to be very important for Area B this year, even if they may not be as likely to have any state qualifiers.

Maybe have a category for non-local contests?

Is that because they signed up late or is it completely random? I know when groups sign up late for regionals they are tacked on the beginning but that is often when the schedule has already been decjded and I dont know if this was already decided months ago or not. Either way, having Semifinals helps offset scheduling misfortunes. I wish San Antonio had Semifinals, but I completely understand why that isnt possible.

Meaning that you don't think those bands have an argument for being top 30 in Texas?

Not every band participates in the San Antonio Super Regional. In fact, many of the bands that could be argued are top 30 are not going to be there (Waxahachie, Cy-Fair, etc.)

I agree not to have it as a hornrank thing. Bit i see no harm in discussing it here.

Dripping Spring would likely be fighting with Grain Valley, Rockwood Summit, Fort Zumwalt North, and Bellvue West for the three guaranteed spots. Its fortunate that all of them are in the same block, so the judges will be able to compare them all close together. They should be able to make it into finals.

Top 4 should be a great show! The klein schools are really hard to predict. They certainly arent bad, and at times have really nice shows, but seem to just dwell in that uncertainty level where making distinctions between them is very difficult. It might also be because I didn't see them perform at local contests being from the DFW area.

Having watched the performances, that doesnt surprise me, though I'm not sure where you are getting that information.

How does the chief judge keep the individual music judges in agreement with scores if they arent also on the field to hear them individually? This could also be the case with individual visual, but less a problem.

After looking closer, I think that the finalists are fairly well spread between the blocks. I do agree that block two has more of the bubble bands that could surprise someone. However, I dont see them placing in the top 5 of the day, so it doesnt really matter what judging panel those groups get.

Is there usually the same sort of benefit to going last on day 1 as there is for going last overall? Keller got the day 1 final spot.

They seem fairly even to me from a first glance... *looks deeper*