inmysights31

I’m sorry you felt the need to make another account and I appreciate your response. Anyway, yes! I totally agree! All three shows were powerful and entertaining. Regan was breathtaking, Georgetown was fun, and Lake Travis was very clean.

For those who attended, what show or shows were your favorite?

If scores take a back seat to the ranking, then what is the purpose of the score anyways? Instead of having each judge tabulate a score for every band in his respective caption and then combine his score for let's say (music individual) into the overall score. Why just not have the judges assign rankings to each band? Judges should calculate scores because they are almost just as important as the ranking at every contest. The scores show the performers like me and the staff roughly how much ground you have to cover. The scores can show roughly on that given day and time how good you actually were. The scores can show in what areas you need improvement. Selfishly, the scores are important to me because I love to compare them by analyzing the spread, scores from previous years, etc. While putting the right band in 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc is the most important, how they achieved that ranking and by what margin is almost just as important.

I think the most interesting outcome of this contest will be how all of these regional programs stack up to the national level program that is Ronald Regan. With this being an automatic win for them, it will also be cool to see how the judges decide to score them vs the rest of the field.

I think Lake Travis and Harker Heights are missing from the Texas Marching Classic predictions list.

Vista was a really interesting contest I must say. Due to our placement, we are really excited to get the opportunity to improve before TMC. That being said, we are going into this week probably with a big focus on playing on the move so we can up our music and marching scores. The band wants to put on an amazing performance for the fans, alumni, parents, and anyone at that is watching TMC this Saturday!

I mean it is an interesting question to ponder, but I have no association with LISD so I have no definitive answer.

I know what you mean. Maybe LISD can only effectively support the bands it has right now. From all accounts, the Glenn has lots of potential, but maybe it doesn't have the resources to grow faster?

Does anyone else have any other thoughts about finals?

My thoughts from backfield were that they were one of if not the cleanest group of the entire night. Their dance team was insanely clean, the drill was clean, the music was clean, the whole thing. However, I thought the show was not very complex, especially compared to what I saw from the majority of the 6A groups last night (WOW Hays!). In addition, I was not really impacted emotionally the way I was with other programs in finals. Brennan made the hair on the back of my neck stand up and Hays almost made me shed a tear it was so beautiful. Lastly, their general effect, in my opinion, should have been much lower than many of the other finalists who really set the field well last night with props and stages. I didnt't fell underwhelmed by there performance, but it was not one that I would want to go home and write about either. Overall, I would have had them in the bottom half of the finals and do not understand, other than the precision with which their product was performed, what granted them a win with 5 points to spare.

I'm just going to put it out there that I do not agree with Weiss coming in first. All I can say is good for them. It is a nice jumping off point for there season and a confidence boost before St. Louis.

To give credit where I think credit is due, I really thought that the performance of the mics was pretty good. Cedar Ridge had one shotgun mike and used it to great effect, and on the large part even the groups which straight up put 5 mikes on the front sideline (I’m looking at you Winston Churchill...) were still able to create a good mix of miced sound and real sound. So to be completely honest I was ok with the use of the mics. However I have heard much worse, expecially from DCI finalists who get this sound where you can here both the sound captured by the mics laid over the top of the corps and it sounds incredibly distracting.

I for sure felt Leander’s presence last night! I don’t know anything about the program because I do not go there and can’t speak for them, but let me tell you that hornline plays with such an intensity. I can’t really chalk it up to energy, because it’s not that. Every program last night brought energy. It felt like to me that Leander’s brass was just playing ruthlessly, expecially on that opening statement. I think the judges picked up on that last night and that contributed them getting the music caption.

Some of my thoughts if you want to read them. 1. I am quite surprised by Round Rock’s placement tonight. I would definitely not had them in 10th. 2. To me Bowie’s placement was shocking. Don’t get me wrong. All of the finalists were great, but I probably would have had them in either 9th or 10th. There show just wasn’t really doing it for me. 3. Given Cedar parks preliminary performance I am stunned they made it into the 6th spot in finals. They have improved a lot from two weeks ago and their show is much more cohesive, but the Cedar Park Winds, on of my favorite H.S. sections ever, just didn’t sound that great compared to everyone else tonight. I would have probably had them in the 8th spot. 4. Winston Churchill in my opinion was ok tonight. It looked like they gave it their all. However, they just lacked that little extra to push them into a higher placement. 5. I really liked Hendrickson tonight! There show was refreshing and I thought the voiceovers were a nice touch. Also, that featured soloist was amazing playing Rhapsody in Blue! 6. Cedar Ridge was really impressive! In my opinion, they had one of the best wind sections of the night, despite being half the size of some of the other finalists. In addition, the vocalist was nails and added a lot to the program. Well done Vesar ridge! I really thought they would be in the 4th or 5th spot. 7. Vista Ridge has a solid production for sure. The brass and soloist were solid. The visual package was ok, and yes, the marching was outstanding. I am so happy for them tonight! 8. Wow what can I say? Vandegrift blew me away again this year! The show was well put together and fluid. The winds just play and march like robots with an outstanding pit and drum line to back them up. I’m pretty surprised though that they didn’t take home the silver medal tonight. 9. HELLLLLOOOOO LEANDER! There has been so much improvement from last year to this year. The show concept is really nice and the brass in particular just plays unapologeticly. Plus the new unis looked great tonight. I would definitely look out for them in the future... 10. What else can I say other than we all saw it coming. CTJ wins it again. The show was engaging and emotional. The voiceovers helped guide the audience through while the winds played the crap out of the book. Not to mention the visual package for this show looked pretty demanding at times. Lastly, the props just set a perfect backdrop for this program. I honestly don’t know if this show once cleaned can be topped. MY UNOFFICIAL placements for tonight 1. Claudia Taylor Johnson 2. Vandegrift 3. Leander 4.Cedar Ridge 5.Vista Ridge 6. Hendrickson 7. Round Rock 8. Cedar Park 9.James Bowie 10. Winston Churchill Music: CTJ Visual: Vandegrift GE: CTJ

Thanks herbaflerb I’m glad you liked it. Anyway, this year we should have the full show out on the field this time so I am really hoping for the best! By the way, are you attinding VRMS this year herbaflerb? If so what band are you in I would like to came say hi if you don’t mind.