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No football conflicts this time! I might see if I can convince a friend to drive me over to this one. If there’s any event I can make in person that will expose me to the foray of DFW bands, this will be it.

Also, for anyone interested about Tompkins and 7L, their numbers will be impacted by a new Jordan HS, opening next year. The impacted student demographics seem to be 70~75% Tompkins and 25~30% Seven Lakes. We’ll see how this new school will impact numbers in the two above programs. On the bright side, we might have a new emerging band from the Houston area making a splash on the scene! With good staffing, they’ll probably be the next Bridgeland, or more. The student body that the new school draws from is well trained and talented. I’m definitely going to be watching out for this new program starting next year!

Retrospective on most of the the bands I saw today: Paetow: This band just needs time to grow; then, they can really find their identity as a band program. Their sound is excellent and very well blended for their size, and their show is quite entertaining! Really looking forward to seeing how they do at BOA SA. Tompkins: So proud of this group! A massive improvement in show design over last year, and they’re performing at a much higher level too. I didn’t catch their BOA Houston performance but after seeing them today, I dig that 11th place spot for them. I suggest next year they have a breakout year; they should venture to McAllen to spur some early-season momentum, in my opinion. Westfield: One of, if not the most, fun shows of the night in my opinion. Incredibly powerful sounds that can definitely be refined over time. Well deserved second place, and it’s incredible seeing how well they’re doing given their adversities they’ve had to face in the past decade with finding their identity as a program. Tomball Memorial: surprised to see them placed so low at finals. I saw them in prelims and thought they were quite clean, especially musically. Casually speaking, just work on energy and visual cleanliness, and they’ve got an excellent product to showcase throughout the season! Friendswood: An overall very well rounded group. Great, but not perfect, in almost every aspect of the show. Huge congratulations to their Championship title! Bridgeland: Bridgeland = Big. Big sound, Big forms, Big motion, Big band. Well deserved third place and cannot wait to see where they go from here. They have great leadership and will only get better. Katy: Bonus points for Pictures at an Exhibition music ~ Brings me back to my 2016 Art of Music days! Overall a well rounded show; just work on musical balance and visual blending and this program will be doing some good stuff this season! Cinco Ranch: Cinco Ranch keeps getting better. Their show design is improving by the year, and these performers are really taking advantage of it to show off their technique and volume! This band can pump out some sound! They just need to work on cleanliness, but once they figure it out (they will), then I think we will see this program improve very fast. If Tompkins is the next Katy ISD breakout band, then Cinco Ranch will be the one after them, in my opinion. JET: JET keeps doing their thing. Cleanliness = effect. They will keep getting rewarded for it. Really good stuff. Seven Lakes: My alma mater, and I think these guys will more than rebound from their placement at BOA Houston last week. Talking with current students at 7L, they agree that their performances tonight were definitely a great improvement over the one last week, and they seem excited. They are improving fast, and will make a splash at Waco next week! ... ... OK, let me indulge on that 7L closer. I love love love love it. I’ve always wanted to see Mackey’s Wine Dark Sea Mvmt 3 incorporated into a marching show in the Houston area, and the fact that 7L out of all bands decided to give it a shot (and arrange it brilliantly) makes me so happy! > Also, shoutout to my fellow 7L Trombone soloist!

I thought Tomball Memorial would place higher. They were quite clean but could have definitely used a bit more energy (casual observations indeed, lol.)

Finals Results. Katy ISD Champion (Tompkins vs Seven Lakes) : SEVEN LAKES!! Let’s go!! 9th place: 72.7 - Galena Park 8th place: 74.15 - Magnolia 7th place: 74.4 - Shadow Creek 6th place: 76.6 - Tomball Memorial 5th place: 78.65 - Foster 4th place: 79.9 - Tomball 3rd place: 81.05 - Bridgeland 2nd place: 81.6 - Westfield 1st place: 82.25 - Friendswood Well done to all!!!

Due to my fall break lying on this weekend, I’ll actually be able to attend this one in person! Really excited to see some of these bands alongside the Katy schools. Shot-in-the-Dark top 10 (probably completely wrong): 1. Tomball Memorial 2. Bridgeland 3. Friendswood 4. Westfield 5. Shadow Creek 6. Magnolia 7. Galena 8. Bryan 9. Brenham 10. Tomball

3 Katy ISD bands in the first block!

“2:30 John B. Alexander H.S., TX 2:45 Keller H.S., TX 3:00 Hendrickson H.S., TX 3:15 James Bowie H.S., TX 3:30 Ronald Reagan H.S., TX 3:45 Clear Brook H.S., TX 4:00 Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX” Oh my god

I wasn’t gonna be the first to say it.

Seven Lakes isn’t attending BOA San Antonio. I know; it’s weird, especially on an odd year.

No college football parade is going to stop me from viewing Seven Lakes!! Man I really enjoy the show design. Overall they look and sound phenomenal. I will say that, though, in comparison to the run at Rhodes last week, it felt like there was less energy, and that translated to some visual and musical dirt. I think GE will propel them to a good spot in finals, but they will have to step up their game for the finals run if they want to challenge the top dogs in this contest. Of course, they can definitely do that; they have the leadership for it. I’ve been telling my friends there that they have the potential to upset a medal. They can. LET’S GO SEVEN LAKES!!!! (Also, sorry Tompkins couldn’t catch ‘em.)

I agree, their ensemble sound will be the factor that likely pushes them back into finals. They have a really high standard given last year, lol.

First 2 block standout/surprise bands for me. SFA JET - Oak Ridge (feel the same about these two; they’re doing their thing and will get rewarded for their strengths) Cypress Woods Bridgeland Klein Oak (really surprised me! I think they make top 15 at least.) Dawson Also really proud of Paetow!

Do they not hold the entrances to the upper deck when a band is playing? If they don’t, that’s really odd; they did that when DCI was held there.

Ok, Bridgeland!!!!

Cypress Woods with some excellent ensemble sound! They really stepped it up this year! Also, getting some “The Shining” vibes with that Carol-Brittin-Chambers-Thais-Meditation-Key-Of-G-Flute-Solo. Love it.

Oh man, this is not good. I want to get some homework done this morning but I also want to see nearly every single band in that second block.

It’s all bench.

Good stuff from both Langham Creek and Westfield! Westfield’s show especially was a lot of fun.

YES PAETOW!!! Their sound grew immensely in a year and their energy is excellent given their size. I think they will be pleasantly surprised with their placement. Would love for them to place in the top 20.

Dawson really brought it with sound and technique! And those soloists! That’s a performance that begs to be seen again. We’ll see what the other BOA Houston bands have to say about it.

“Uh oh, something unexpected happened. You do not have permission to access the requested resource.” Really sorry, Churchill Fulshear. Hope the audio gets fixed.

Yup.

Welcome, all, to Legacy Stadium and the city of Katy!!!! So glad that this stadium has been given the honor of hosting a BOA contest.

Saturday 10/12 @ Legacy Stadium. Schedule: http://www.katyisd.org/dept/finearts/Documents/Copy%20of%20KMF%20schedule%202019.pdf Coming up in less than two weeks! We got Tomball Memorial, Westfield, Friendswood, Bridgeland, Shadow Creek, among others making the trip to this one!