Bandwoww

Keller +1 Cedar Ridge -1 Avon 5 CT Johnson 6 Flower Mound 13 Hebron 16 Hendrickson 12 Keller 14 Leander 12 Marcus 6 Ronald Reagan 10 The Woodlands 15 Vandegrift 10 Vista Ridge 8

You can only vote once per day

Keller +1 Vandegrift -1 Avon 6 Cedar Park 3 Cedar Ridge 6 CT Johnson 6 Flower Mound 13 Hebron 14 Hendrickson 9 Keller 14 Leander 10 Marcus 8 Ronald Reagan 10 The Woodlands 13 Vandegrift 9 Vista Ridge 6

Avon +1 The Woodlands -1 Avon 6 Cedar Park 5 Cedar Ridge 8 CT Johnson 7 Flower Mound 12 Hebron 12 Hendrickson 10 Keller 12 Leander 9 Marcus 9 Ronald Reagan 10 The Woodlands 12 Vandegrift 9 Vista Ridge 6

Keller +1 Round Rock -1 Avon 3 Bowie 3 Cedar Park 7 Cedar Ridge 6 Churchill 3 CT Johnson 9 Flower Mound 10 Hebron 10 Hendrickson 10 Keller 10 Leander 12 Ronald Reagan 9 Round Rock 1 The Woodlands 11 Vandegrift 9 Vista Ridge 4 Westlake 1

Avon 3 Bowie 3 Cedar Park 6 Cedar Ridge 6 Churchill 3 CT Johnson 9 Cypress Falls 1 Flower Mound 9 Hebron 9 Hendrickson 10 Keller 9 L.D. Bell 1 Leander 10 Ronald Reagan 9 Round Rock 3 The Woodlands 11 Vandegrift 10 Vista Ridge 4 Westlake 2 Bell -1 The Woodlands +1

2016 was a really difficult year to make finals at Nats. I think they could’ve definitely made finals with that show if they competed this past year.

Coldest Thanksgiving in NY in over 100 years! And coldest Macy’s parade on record! Feel bad for the Texas kids but they toughed it out.

Yeah...I would love for all these programs to go but iI realistically see 5 or 6 big-name Texas groups for 19. I probably shouldn’t get my hopes up

Hebron sneakily confirmed it on their twitter through a few hashtags such as #indybound and #grandnationals19. Apparently directors from Vandegrift, Keller Central, and Timber Creek were there at GN. I don’t know if Keller directors were there as well, but I bet they are way too busy getting ready for the Macy’s parade to take a trip to Indy if in fact they do plan on returning in 2019.

Yeah a lot of the weird things at Area just weren’t there at the state level. Leander did significantly better than Westlake, Keller was better than Waxahachie by a decent margin in both prelims and finals. Also Duncanville placed 29th in prelims, so I can’t imagine that Timber Creek would’ve been that low had they advanced. Bowie didn’t beat CTJ either, as Area results would suggest.

Prosper was seriously so good. They definitely deserved the highest music score in the bottom half!

I think Texas bands try too hard when they bring a show to GN. They really aren’t toning anything down. I actually think they are doing the opposite. They try to put out super competitive visual design (FloMo 16) and try compete with bands like Avon and Carmel. In reality, it hurts the rest of the show especially in execution. Texas bands need to play to their strengths when they go to Indy and not necessarily try to one-up Indy bands in design, because that probably won’t happen.

Prosper 7th in semis

Prosper brought that Texas sound!!! And looked so good! I could genuinely feel the emotions in their playing! So good!

Love this category

I think it came down to the fact that Vista Ridge had THE BEST designed show. It effectively showcased the band’s talents in exactly the right ways so that there was very little room for error. Vista did not have the most difficult show. By any means. But the students were given exactly what they needed to win. Yeah, they had to work extremely hard for it, but the reality is that all of these finalist students spent the same amount of time rehearsing, etc. It’s blatant that there was a major shift in direction and design this year for Vista. Not to take anything from them, but it’s the truth. Vista had the perfect show, and that’s RARE. Now, did the staff at Vista go into the season knowing they were going to win? No. But was this direction and design change inevitably going to put out a program that was pretty unstoppable? Yes.

Kindof all over the place but it evened out for the most part. Goes to show how close and competitive this year was compared to 2016.

They really are just that good

Goes to show that you must keep reinventing yourself to have any fighting chance in the activity and this competition. I hate to use them as an example because they have gotten enough crap, but Round Rock finished 26th this year. They were 10th two years ago. I don’t think I have to explain what that implies. I wonder what band has the record of the most consistent placement improvement or just not declining in placement. Some really phenomenal bands like Leander and The Woodlands for example tend to fluctuate but remain extremely strong but who else has that level of consistency at least recently?

Ya know, I thought last nights finals was almost just as competitive as 2017. Obviously Avon wasn’t there but getting into finals was just as cut-throat. Recent medalists, Leander and The Woodlands, found themselves back in the top 10, Vista Ridge made a huge statement and jumped to top 5. Ronald Reagan, Flower Mound, Hebron, and Keller found ways to improve after last year’s successes. CTJ and Vandegrift remain as two prominent Texas powerhouses. Westlake was such a nice surprise and completely deserved that finalist spot. Bell returned to finals after missing for a long time, and Cedar Ridge and Hendrickson proved they belonged with the best. Marcus is still Marcus and what they have achieved this year is spectacular. My top 4 favorite shows! 1. Vista Ridge - probably the most well produced and cohesive package I saw last night. Evokes an emotional response unlike no other, deserves every bit of praise and managed to EXCEED the crazy hype it had. Bravo. 2. Keller - It amazes me that a group can have such consistent success after being mostly unknown until a few years ago and it amazes me even more that they build off of it EVERY year. Truly inspirational performance last night, can’t wait to see what they do at state. 3. The Woodlands - The consistency in design by The Woodlands is unparalleled in my opinion. Every year their show seems to be one of my favorites. It’s crazy that bands like The Woodlands and Keller sit outside of the top half! These performances would’ve done NUMBERS before 2017, Texas band is crazy!! 4. Flower Mound - I reallllllly doubted this show until last night but oh man was I wrong! Everything about it was SO solid and each moment is perfect. Congrats on the win FloMo, well deserved!

Yeah, especially with how much closer Keller was to Leander in prelims

80th place: the bird (or birds) that manages to find their way into the Alamodome.

I feel like this weekend was the perfect reason to change the rule to include area as well as state especially because it came up twice. Now I bet they can’t change rules in the middle of the season but I don’t see why it shouldn’t apply to area as well.

In the end they did get their way :/