Marching Observer

Oh my gosh. Music for All helped setup the Sophie Rinehart Fund in honor of her after she lost her life just hours after their Grand National finals performance and have pledged to donate $1 for every ticket sold to the Indianapolis Super Regional in 2017, 18, and 19. Today, they were happy to say they were able to give $15,194 to the fund to help those who also wish to learn music. For those that don't know, Sophie was the Castle singer and part of the flute duet in their finalist show. This is simply incredible and fantastic that Music for All is doing that. All the feels!

A lot can certainly happen in two weeks. I've seen plenty of groups go from night to day in less time than that. Avon doesn't really seem like a band you would ever want to turn your back on and underestimate.

That performance was so much better than their prelims run and they still won that. With two weeks to clean, it's going to be something special because that run was the first time that they really sold that show to me and felt that that could really contend.

My trepidation is that I'm fairly certain they didn't put on their closer yet either. Without that, I'm worried they won't have enough time to clean the rest of it. I never heard Ginastera in the show. Maybe I'm wrong though. We'll find out in a few weeks though.

Guess I've got to be the one to finally be the dissenting voice on this one. I didn't really care much for the show though I do like it better than last years so far. Compared to many other groups here today, they just seemed far dirtier making me question if they will even be top 7 here today. That said, MC always does an amazing job of cleaning and with 3 weeks left, cleaning they will do! We all can have our opinions though.

I typically speak in generalities rather than absolutes. Those shows were certainly ambitious. It takes time (in terms of years) for a staff to really learn how to effectively clean shows of that depth. Not going to be able to do that right away in most cases. If they maintain those difficult designs, they'll eventually get there. There is definitely a balancing act for many groups of trying to fit the model of both UIL and BOA.

With the way the draw boards look, I don't think we are going to have that problem!

If you didn't get a chance to see Rosemount, definitely try to see them tonight. I would be extremely shocked not to see them in finals. Great energy and really fun show.

Avon will need to really clean up from what their prelim performance was yesterday though if they want to take visual though. I'm sure they will but a clean show should almost always beat a difficult but dirty show. And if there is something Texas is great at, it's being pretty darn clean at SA.

Everyone ready for Day 2?! I know I am. Quick final thoughts for some of yesterdays groups. Avon - Tremendous show that just needs a lot of cleaning at this point. Musically dense but they they had a solo mic left on making individuals stand out in the closer and an absolute prop failure it seem (really not being able to move them efficiently, etc). All things that can and will be fixed I'm sure. Carmel - This is pure Carmel. You're either going to love or meh their shows pretty much. This is one of the few ones that I can really get into though. Lawrence Township - Well this is certainly different than what we are used to seeing from this group. I'm on the fence though if I like it. They are performing the heck out of it though! Castle - This show is just raw emotion with such beautiful music. I think the visual is a little too shallow though to continue carrying them forward but we'll see. Love listening to them though.

I hope no ads play for you during any shows LeanderMomma! Center Grove just gave a great performance. A great design that I think only a few bands can pull off and they are nailing it. First show of theirs I've really enjoyed the past few years.

There have certainly been some surprisingly good performances here today that I wasn't expecting too much out of. I'm always happy to be surprised and proved wrong. In a good way anyway.

With that kind of payroll, it's easy to see how Texas is able to get (steal ) all the best talent out there!

HornRank swag? Sure! Can I just save on shipping and get it hand delivered at a regional or Grand Nationals though?

With the pace the scores have been going up, I wouldn't be surprised if multiple bands score above that or even break the regional record. Going to be a great show!

They certainly still seem like the front runner but who knows. USBands can certainly create surprises and we may see a band really step up and exceed expectations.

Currently watching live and have to agree that Beech Grove had a great run! Also some great performances by Floyd Central and Greenwood in that first block.

As I'm sure it has been said before, the rankings are just for fun. Never let them get you down but use it as a motivator to improve if you feel slighted by them. So many of these bands could compete with each other and be ranked or scored any which way on any given day. A place does not define your band.