abbytheflute

It is when all the bands just give up.  

I just adore the Leander show.  I notice something new each time.
Curious that both here and at BOA Austin, the announcer said they were from Austin instead of saying Leander…
Though, he also pronounced Buda like Buddha when announcing Johnson LOL.

Wow! I gotta say, being on the other side of the field for the first time this year is a whole different kind of fun. Absolutely blown away by both Cedar Ridge and Lake Travis! Going to be SUCH a fun competition

Sounds about right haha. Those electronics never want to cooperate??

Love that flute solo and the intro music! The Be Our Guest part is so much fun!!

I have a feeling they underestimated how many people would be watching the streams and weren't prepared for the traffic on their website. Definitely hope they'll be prepared for the traffic flow for the rest of the season, especially for the super regional

Mine is working now after the website kept going down. The prelims stream was flawless so it sucks that they’re now having issues.

Go Weiss!!!! So proud of them??

Go Weiss!!!! So proud of them??

Personally I like Vandy's overall ensemble sound much better, although I found ctj a bit more exciting. Both were incredible performances though!!

Sounds about right haha. Those electronics never want to cooperate??

Has anyone seen anything from Reagan yet, other than the show announcement? I'm always a big fan
Excited to see competition season from the stands(or dorm?) this year!?

I live in Cedar Park. My son has graduated and I have no "horse in the race" as I write this. 
 
My wife and I have watched the top 4 heavy hitting Leander ISD bands in person already. The status quo, based on early season development is quite different this year than recent years. Not sure if we are seeing adjustments for UIL and BOA in the same year or if bands are struggling with missing a year developing younger students. It's going to be a fun season. Having TMC and Leander Festival of bands within 3 days of each other is going to be fantastic to see how the bands are developing. 
Leander: great show and I believe there's a ton to add. Right now it feels vacant. Still have my favorite trumpet section in Texas. The show theme is refreshing. Excited to see where this show can go. 
Vandergrift: holy moly they are marching a lot of students!! They are really playing together really well with the very defined Vandy sound. Kevin is proud! This show is starting off very well. 
Vista Ridge: I think they are taking development slowly. It's nice to see them in uniform. Not really jumping up and down about the show yet. They will improve drastically as the season progresses. At this point it's pretty bland. LISD directors will all step up and pitch in to get this show into Nats finals. The production seems tentative right now and it's tough to hear any section that's really laying it down. That will quickly change. 
Cedar Park: OH my! New uniforms. This is a very aggressive show. Marching more students than in recent history. They are being rewarded with a much bigger sound. They need to contain it and will as the season progresses. As always the percussion section is fantastic. Crazy work happening in the pit right now. The brass is up a few notches from the last 2 years.  Show design is complex and being marched at a high level. They need more GE to really break through. 
Very early season power ranking:
 
1. Vandy
2. Cedar Park
3. Leander
4. Vista Ridge
Remember: these are not even set in mud yet. The real work is beginning on the the show. This is just some extremely early season feedback. 
 

The Rouse HS band from Leander presents “Papyrus.”

Today I found out that my former head band director resigned unexpectantly due to health concerns. I am asking for prayers because this is a HUGE hit on our community/band. I am overcomed with emotion from this. He transformed Lumberton, for the 5 years he was the head, into the band it is today. Lumberton would be way different if he was not there. He was the first person, other than my parents, that knew of my ability to make drill designs, and was shocked when I told him i was 6 years old when I started. We talked many, many times after school, about marching bands/drill, even to the point where he was going to allow me to help with the 2019 fall show, which later on i could not help bc of getting a new job. But still, He means so much to me and to hear this, breaks my heart. Please just have me in y'alls prayers tonight or tomorrow. Thanks yall

I guess it was just a little to open-ended and needed to be better defined. I respect that they are taking much care with this and are protecting the artform. I still, however, don't think that adding woodwinds will hurt the artform in any way. Like I stated before, many changes have happened over the decades that have changed it drastically, but every time the corps have used the new changes in a manner that enriched the level of performance. It hasn't been a drum and bugle corps activity in a really long time.

I am dying to see a huge marching band moment using One Republics “Secrets” I can see it being used for a big dramatic extravagant climax to a show and I’d love jt

It will be weird not having Leander and Vista locked together.

I think it's too much in our identity to see a change anytime soon, although I don't know what goes on behind the scenes. Personally, I know us performers absolutely love our current style, even if the numbers can get a little low. Our director always drills into us that it's not about the judges or the scores, it's about the audience, and that's why our shows tend to cater more towards the excitement that comes with modern electronics rather than more orchestral pieces, and spicing them up if we do use them (ex: actual fabric explosions during 1812). At the end of the day it doesn't matter where we place so long as we can get the audience on their feet at the end. It would definitely be interesting to see what we could do with more classical pieces musically, though I think (and of course I don't speak for everyone) us kids would love to stick with our current direction.

It’s over. I’m done fighting the battle to keep my videos up. I understand that in order to maintain your copyright you must pursue infringers, but a lot of the time it seems like they forget they’re making all this money off kids. All of this money comes from kids in an activity, for fun. Many of these kids never get a chance to see their show from above, to see the product of their hard work for months and months, hours and hours. They put in countless rehearsals, countless reps, and despite this, the quality recordings of their end products are hidden behind a paywall with an exorbitant price. It saddens me that some kids will never get to see their show because of what seems to be corporate greed. But at the end of the day, I expected nothing more, nothing less. Thank you for all your support over this season.
 
Dan

Great response Abby. The Leander kids definitely love what they’re doing show-wise these days, and it absolutely gets the crowd on their feet. Mr. Selaiden has really never been about winning a competition so much as band member and audience enjoyment. And Leander has that in spades.

So glad to be part of a great LISD school district!!
Vandegrift - 2019 Grand National Champion Leander - 2019 Class 3A Grand National Champion Cedar Park - 2019 UIL 5A State Champ Vista Ridge - 2018 UIL 6A State Champ Rouse - 2018 BOA SA 2A Champ  Glenn - 2019 BOA SA - 13th place 3A / 47th overall

I understand all of that fully, it's just that it feels disheartening and discouraging when you hear that you score lower after two weeks when just about every other band improved. And of course like you said the scores don't really reflect across competitions but we did significantly better in prelims and semis, both above what we scored in SA. So when they turn that around and tell us "91.2" it instantly makes us, or at least me feel like they're discrediting what we've gone through and accomplished in the past two weeks.