LostChoirGuy

Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas? I looked into that school a bit. Several of my friends went there and loved it.

Quite the opposite. There aren't enough 6A schools out in west/central Texas to play just each other. Many of the schools out there used to be smaller, so it wasn't as much of a problem, but as they have gotten bigger, there are less schools in their classification around.

Yeah, the athletic districts in that area changed quite a bit this time around. It used to be the Keller schools with Haltom, Weatherford, and Abilene, but with several new 6A schools in the area it made more sense to keep the Keller schools in the area and have the HEB/Birdville schools go out west. They have San Angelo in the district, too.

I would love to see Richland at a BOA contest, but I didnt think they were going? We all know roughly the top 15 or so bands but the ones that are always more exciting for me to watch are the bands that place in that next 5-10 places and making a push for finals. I am watching for Westwood, Wylie, Coppell, Wakeland, Seven Lakes, and Keller Central to be the biggest improvements/ surprises this next year. Also, I totally agree about Hebron. They are going to be great this year, I can just feel it. I also think that they are out best chance at getting the eagle back in the near future (and they were so close back in 2015!)

Hey josephbandfan! I'm a keller grad, too! I graduated in 2012. Welcome to our forum. Be prepared for the your band addiction to increase!

To me, I think it is safer to say that Vandegrift and Leander are state qualifier locks, while I would put Vista Ridge just outside that category. I think it is possible that VR can beat either of the aforementioned bands, but the likelihood of another band or two also beating them in addition to VR is very unlikely. On the other side, I could see a situation where there are only 3 qualifying slots and they go to Vandegrift, Leander, and another band that upsets Vista Ridge. But when all is said and done, it will be very tough for any other band in this area to beat those 3.

Just a note- you have waxahachie in the wrong area!

I disagree with your statement for several reasons. First, Haltoms excellent performance last year was not a surprise for those who have followed the activity for over a decade and who have considered more than just BOA results. Haltom has made state finals on many occasions over the years. This being said, Richland also has an excellent history and I don't think you can count them out as being on a lower level as Haltom simply because of one year. Richland based their show around UIL judging and were rewarded for doing so. It is hard to say what /would/ have happened if they went to Atlanta as you said, because their show wasn't really BOA-centric. I think both Haltom and Richland have a decent shot at making state here, but I don't think that either one is in a position where they are a clear top 3 favorite in the area.

Yeah, there was quite a bit of talk on one of the other threads about a number of bands in that area moving up to 6A that will both likely change the number of finalists that make it to state and also which expected bands make it. There will be some really good bands in that area that are going to miss out just because of how strong everyone is.

I think that really just depends on the year and the band as to which is deeper at the top of finals as well. Certainly, you can't deny that with Avon and Carmel there every year and bands like Broken Arrow and Tarpon going regularly as well as some of the Texas bands, there are always several top quality bands at GNats, but I think there have been multiple instances of bands placing in the top half at GNats finals that didn't place in the top half of San Antonio finals. It must be taken into account that bands often design their shows to peak at their final competition, so that can have an effect. This doesn't really disprove anything and I wouldn't argue that the opposite is true (that San Antonio is stronger at the top) but I think it just goes to show that both San Antonio and Indianapolis GNats are comparably strong all throughout the whole competition.

Ill respond here Cindy to see if it helps get things started for you. My name is David and I graduated from Keller in 2012. My sister was in the Keller band in the 2004-2006 marching seasons.

What would we be otherwise? Haha

I'm excited for this! Lots of solid up and coming bands in that list of "other bands" that have it on their schedule.

That would have been Coppell.

Lets actually see what Haltom does or doesn't put to the field before we start criticizing it I definitely get your point, but I think many concert pieces have been tastefully and masterfully transformed into great field shows, and bands with excellent concert playing ability like Haltom could certainly pull it off. I mean, look at what Vandegrift did this past year. Absolutely fabulous musical performances of adaptations of music that were never meant for marching band. I mean, Haltom basically gave us a Concert Hall performance on the field this past year, anyways as that was the theme behind their show and it was very successful.

I could dig that

I disagree with his post, though I do have to say that I hope by "carmina burana" they are going to do some of the other pieces from the amazing Orff work and not the extremely overdone O Fortuna.

I also love that aspect of the BOA expansion. It is always fun for the schools in more rural parts of Texas to learn from these big programs and fun for the kids in these big programs to show the others what they can accomplish.

To clarify, the ones that say elevated by request/ policy are actually going to compete in those classifications? So for instance Garland Naaman Forest would be 6A?

Jeffrey, I hope that my comment wasnt misunderstood! I agree completely with you. I want the Waco regional to remain having a smaller, local school feeling to it, the way that Midland and McAllen are. I feel strongly that having the powerhouse bands from the major metros come squashes out that opportunity. However, to have some good quality, but not elite, bands make the trip is a good opportunity to improve the activity in the area and expose the local students to those good programs within a more competitive environment. We got to see some really cool bands stand out at these more remote regionals last year (I'm thinking in particular of Roma). I would not suggest all of the bands I listed go at once, just that bands of that caliber and location would be great choices to make the trip. And some of them are not actually that far away, even within an hour or so. I specifically mentioned the ones that I did BECAUSE they are from the major metros to make my point that it would be cool for this to be an opportunity to see more of them that often go under the radar. However with the comment that some of our strong Austin area bands already have it planned, it sounds like my wishes are not going to come to fruition.

I had the same initial thoughts as you on the Waco regional, but the more I thought about it, the more I changed my mind. I think the quality of this regional will come from how different it is from the existing regionals we already have. If we get too many of the "premier" bands coming to Waco, not only do I think it will be redundant and pointless, but it also might weaken the quality of the major metro regionals, which are a very important part of the marching band season right now. Many of the top bands such as the Lewisville ISD bands try to keep their shows as much of a surprise as possible. Part of their GE is the fact that the audience doesnt really know what to expect. I doubt that many bands like this are going to add another big regional where they would be competing against their major San Antonio competition, and if they did, it would be at the expense of competing at their other regional. Now what I would love to see happen at Waco is a beefed up version of what we saw in Midland and McAllen last year. Get a bunch of the strong bands from the major metros who arent quite elite yet, but have good developing programs and let them compete together. Waco is a better location that can allow for more of this to happen. We can see more groups like Timber Creek and Dripping Springs making the trip and what I think will happen is that these bands will be able to compete at a quality event where they will gain experience, confidence (because it will be easier to make finals than at a stacked DFW or Austin regional), and overall the quality of marching band in Texas will continue to rise. We might end up getting more great rising programs like Hendrickson out of something like this. Perhaps having a couple of elite programs is ok as well, but I dont want to see it become something huge like a mini SA. Bands that I would love to see come: Dripping Springs Weiss Rouse Pfluggerville Westwood Waxahachie Keller Central Timber Creek Martin Birdville Aledo Prosper Wakeland James E Taylor TW College Park Clear Brook Cy Fair Cy Falls Pearland Oak Ridge Friendswood Georgetown Hays Clements Berkner I could go on but you all probably get the point.

If 30 and 50 are performing each day, that doesn't seem fair. Maybe something like top 4 guaranteed each day and the 6 next highest scoring bands or 5 place advancers each day with 4 score advancers.

Wow! Waco should be interesting! Did they get lots of dfw and Austin area bands coming to that when they used to have it? It might be a preview of San Antonio.

Its not exactly fair to compare the number of good bands in Texas to Oklahoma and New Mexico where there arent enough large schools to really compare. You just named like half of Oklahoma's large division schools haha.

Oh wow! I knew I was sure to be missing some.