El Gato_01

Percussion Class 1A/2A 1. Elgin HS 2. Manor HS 3A 1. Wimberly HS 2. Burbank 4A 1. McAllum HS 2. Akins HS 5A 1. Anderson HS 2. Smithson Valley Guard Class 1A/2A 1. Elgin 2. Manor Class A Champion: Travis HS Class 3A 1. Burbank 2. Wimberly 4A 1. Lockhart 2. Cedar Creek 5A 1. Dripping Springs 2. Smithson Valley Music/Visual Class 1A/2A 1. 2. Manor New Tech Class 4A 1. McAllum HS 2. Austin HS 3. Lockhart HS 3A 1. Burbank HS 2. Wimberly HS 3. Navarro HS( Used to Lanier HS) Class 5A 1. Dripping Springs HS 2. Brennan HS 3. Anderson HS Class 2A Peoples Choice: Manor HS Class 2A Champion: Elgin HS Class 3A Peoples Choice: Wimberly HS Class 4A People Choice: Akins HS Class 5A Peoples Choice: Brennan HS Finals Waller HS Travis HS Burbank HS Elgin HS Anderson HS Brennan HS Lockhart HS Dripping Springs Austin HS McAllum

Interesting that no other AISD bands were here today except Ann Richards. The rest of them opted for CapCity. On that note Ann Richards comes in 2nd to Hays CISD newcomer Johnson HS (first year in existence..so many new schools popping up in central texas)

ahh...my memory fails me then. My bad. Either way my earlier surprise call of Shadow Creek didn't pan out . Oh well...can't get em all right. Again as others have noted, shows the unpredictability of these events especially since we are all going off of historical results for this first contest.

Shocking to me that Round Rock HS made it in to state finals last year but not into a BOA regional today? I wonder if their early performance time (2nd of the day) had an effect? Any performance times yet?

Well it looks like CTJ may have been knocked down a spot to Vandy...

Yes I am hearing that deductions are happening for shows under 6 minutes.

Oh, speaking of rain...I didn't take that into account of my Shadow Creek surprise finals pick. SE Houston got hit by Imelda and I'm sure those guys lost lots of rehearsals due to rain...

I know the big talk in Central Texas is the BOA Austin Regional, but 25 miles down the road in the same city (yes Kelley Reeves is Round Rock ISD but City of Austin) at Austin ISD's Burger Stadium (home to Bowie's rehearsal lot) is the CapCity Marching Festival. Two previous BOA Austin regional finalist will be in attendance at this contest. It will be prelims/finals format and something I always thought interesting and kinda fun is the “People’s Choice Award” determined by audience interaction with attendees and online guests through Facebook live streaming The lineup is as follows: Manor New Tech High School William B Travis High School Elgin High School Manor High School Gonzalez High School Luther Burbank High School Navarro High School Wimberley High School Akins High School Austin High School Cedar Creek High School Lockhart High School Marble Falls High School McCallum High School Waller High School Anderson High School Brennan High School Dripping Springs High School Samuel Clemens High School Smithson Valley High School Temple High School

Most have Cedar Park in Finals as expected. It's a state year and the new staff there has settled and I'm sure they will be back up there and they have had Mr. Spicer and Van Doren out there a bit. I fully expect them to be finals. However, in the same UIL 5A Classification is Shadow Creek. An unknown and relatively new school and one that did not attend a BOA Regional last year. However, at the recent Honor Band placements they placed 9th while CPHS placed 12th: https://www.tmea.org/divisions-regions/band/honor-band/history So while Honor Band is a different animal (look at Lopez HS for example on stage vs field results) they are clearly playing at a high level and coupled with their unknown history (No BOA appearance EVER...I think) makes them a dark horse for me as finalist at this regional.

Thanks!

results?

So anything on the outcome of this meeting? Any legs to these rumors? AISD is facing a budget shortfall, alot due to the stats recapture policies, so they are really working on cutting as much as they can where they can.

Question. Does anyone know if the box5 subscription allows for replays? I would love to see that VR show again but with the directors camera view (one that mixes both high cam and field cams).

On the topic from pg 7, re: area results in comparison to state placements Band Rank | Area Rank| State Prelims Rank| New Area Rank Area A: Pebble Hills| 1 | 37 | 1 Montwood | 2 | 39 | 2 Area B: Waxahachie | 1| 10 | 2 Keller | 2 | 7 | 1 Coppell | 3 | 15 | 3 Prosper | 4 | 16 | 4 Duncanville | 5 | 29 | 5 Area C: Flower Mound | 1 | 1 | 1 Hebron | 2 | 5 | 2 Marcus . | 3 | 9 | 3 John Horn | 4 | 22 | 4 Rockwall | 5 | 30 | 5 Area D: Reagan | 1 | 6 | 2 Bowie | 2 | 17 | 4 CT Johnson | 3 | 4 | 1 Hendrickson | 4 | 25 | 5 Cedar Ridge | 5 | 11 | 3 Area E: Pearland | 1 | 24 | 2 Brazoswood | 2 | 28 | 3 Dawson | 3 | 18 | 1 Austin | 4 | 31 | 4 Area F: Woodlands | 1 | 12 | 1 Oak Ridge | 2 | 14 | 2 North Shore | 3 | 19 | 3 Woodlands CP | 4 | 26 | 4 Area G: United | 1 | 34 | 1 Alexander | 2 | 38 | 3 Hanna | 3 | 36 | 2 PSJA | 4 | 41| 5 Harlingen | 5 | 40 | 4 Area H Vista Ridge | 1 | 2 | 1 Vandegrift | 2 | 3 | 2 Westlake | 3 | 21 | 4 Leander | 4 | 8 | 3 Area I Katy | 1 | 32 | 3 Jersey Village | 2 | 33 | 4 Seven Lakes | 3 | 20 | 1 Cy Fair . | 4 | 23 | 2 Taylor | 5 | 35 | 5 The argument that Area I is any different than the other areas in how they placed from each round doesn't really hold weight as evidenced by the fact that Areas B, D, E, and H all flipped around from the two rounds. So were the judges flawed in those areas too? Fact is that there are many contributing factors to these results, most notably the fact that you had different judging panels at area than state (a reason why I thought the two panel system at BOA prelims was flawed). Then you have to take into account that some bands just had different level of performances on those two Saturdays. Some bands also maybe rehearsed better within the week of the two contests. And finally you have performance order at the state which will naturally have an effect on how some of the bands are scored. In short, many reasons as to why the shuffling around of area results to how those bands then placed within their area at the state contest.

Yes. Both Weiss and Glenn are 5A's this year.

Probably around $1000. You are talking about though 9 different areas which currently staff 45 judges (5 judges) just for one classification. In a year like this (6A/4A/2A) that is 3 different sites so just 15 judges for one area. Payment is typically around $325 plus $30/hr for overtime and yes flights, hotels, meals, mileage if they drive, rental cars. So it adds up. This is covered by the bands entry fees to the contest, which then would mean an increase in bands entry fees for these contests to cover the increased costs. Region 18 entry fees for 5A/6A groups was $395 per band https://www.uilmusicregion18.com/uploads/1/3/5/3/13535811/region18_2018-2019-entry_fees-approved.pdf Then an additional $250 for Area fees for the bands that advance, then $500 for state entry fees (so I wonder if they pay the judges at state more). Each region/area may be different in the amount they charge bands but here for a band that makes it to state they will spend $1,145 in entry fees alone. And to give you an idea of how much money a region will spend on judges, I found this financial report from region 18 that shows Judges' Honorariums & Expenses of $86,829.45. Now that would include solo and ensemble judges, and UIL Concert & Sightreading judges on top of the marching judges...but none the less that was the largest line item expense for that region: https://www.uilmusicregion18.com/uploads/1/3/5/3/13535811/region18_2017-2018_financial_report.pdf Adding judges seems like it could be a tall order...but hey if bands are willing to pay more for entry fees then I'm sure it is possible. But schools already get so little from the state of Texas and on today this being election day, it is even more vital that we tell our legislators and all elected state officials that we need them to be better about financially supporting the public schools in this state. Just to get this back on topic...4 minutes until we resume the 6A State Contest. Looking forward to watching some really good groups.

Re: judging- dropping high/low This is already being done with TMEA in the region band audition process. 5 judges in that process and they drop the high and low, and mostly seems to work out. Because even in that process yeh you will see the similar ordinal spreads like 1, 2, 2, 3, 28...but that 28 gets dropped out and doesn't bring that poor kid down.

I would count on Roma and Sharyland Pioneer from Area G to a least be contenders for finals. The other Sharyland placed well at USBands this past Sat and Pioneer (which I think is stronger). Pioneer was 9th in their class at the Super Regional and Roma was 7th in their class and 43rd overall out the 84 bands. They were also both on that 2nd panel. For comparison Rouse was in Panel 1 and placed 27 overall (same class as Pioneer).

Or simply put, it's a different year. Still great teaching, but different set of kids. As noted earlier, Honor Band doesn't always equate to success on the marching field. and I don't think it is due to show design as UIL rewards playing execution of whatever show it is the judges hear. That's not to say that I don't think design has some effect too since a well written music book is like wearing a custom tailored suit. It will highlight your strengths, mask your weaknesses, and is easier for the kids to execute. Back to honor band though. The group that wins honor band is the varsity ensemble fro the previous year. Many programs will have 3-5 different concert ensembles. So the honor band is 1 out of 3-5 bands, and then those seniors that won the honor graduate and don't return the following year. Those two factors alone are why it is tough to equate honor band success with the same on the field success. Then bring back the show design argument and that plays it's role too. The honor band director chooses their repertoire from a prescribed music list and will pick a program that best showcases that particular ensembles skill set, which too should factor into that. So many variables, but the one constant is the great teaching and great systems that are clearly in place for those schools to perform at a high level on the stage and on the field.

Good point. Doesn't always quite work out that way but yes that is an indicator of some high level teaching occurring on those campuses. The 2018 5A Honor Band was Waxahachie (finished 3rd at 5A SMBC last year) and the other hand you had the 6A Honor Band before Vandy in 2017 which was Brownsville Lopez who finished 25th at SMBC prelims.

Yeh, I knew it would pop out some weird stuff, but I really was curious as to how it would play out, so I said, "egh what the heck, why not." Now again, of course if I was a betting man I would not go by this at all and be out all that money. But as I just mentioned, it is fun to just throw that out there and see what it spits out.

Right...which is why I stressed multiple times that this is not a fair comparison, but none the less fun to add into the topic of discussion. Like I also said, if anything this goes to show the flaws in the UIL scoring system and how inconsistent it is from contest to contest. This is why as someone mentioned elsewhere why the hornrank guys likely don't take UIL contests into account with their rankings. Yeh, lets be real this will not even come close to playing out this way, but I am very curious to see how much it is off when all is said and done.

Now I know this is not an accurate comparison but I went ahead and complied all the raw scores from the Area finalists and sorted from largest to smallest. Now again, disclaimer, the only similarities one can gather from this is the fact that the contests were all on the same day, around the same time, and using the same judges sheet and scoring system across the state. That is about it when it comes to similarities. Judges themselves are very subjective, and as mentioned earlier on the thread, the UIL subcaptions on their sheets allows for lots of freedom based each judges interpretations (as evidenced by the vast differences in ordinals AND raw scores across the state at Area) especially when they are comparing bands based on the multitude of groups that they see on that particular day. If anything the following is an example of the huge variations in the UIL scoring system. That said, taking this with a huge grain of salt, here are all the area results and a very hypothetical ranking of 1-41 of all finalist from the 9 areas, again using raw scores (which is why some bands are ranked higher than they actually placed at area): 1 Vista Ridge 4877 2 Vandergrift 4837 3 Woodlands 4792 4 Keller 4741 5 Waxahachie 4739 6 Leander 4706 8 Coppell 4706 7 Westlake 4703 9 Prosper 4670 10 Reagan 4634 11 Oak Ridge 4606 12 Duncanville 4592 13 North Shore 4573 14 Bowie 4543 15 Flower Mound 4537 16 Woodlands CP 4531 17 Pearland 4516 18 Katy 4513 19 Cy-Fair 4512 20 CT Johnson 4509 21 JE Taylor 4503 22 Hebron 4502 23 Clements 4498 24 Brazoswood 4466 25 Seven Lakes 4454 26 Laredo United 4440 27 Dawson 4438 28 Jersey Village 4407 29 Marcus 4394 30 Austin 4367 31 Hendrickson 4343 32 Laredo Alexander 4330 33 Cedar Ridge 4317 34 Harlingen 4282 36 Hanna 4235 35 Pebble Hills 4234 37 PSJA 4206 38 Round Rock 4158 39 Montwood 4131 40 Rockwall 3865 41 John Horn 3756