ctex1994

Leander Dropping to 5A is a big deal in 6A Area H. Leander almost missed state in 2018 because area H was too competitive with Vandegrift, Vista Ridge, Westlake, Leander and Lake Travis all competing for 3 spots. Westlake is a lock for state now (as if they haven't made it every year since like 2000) and Lake Travis has a wayyy better chance now. Especially considering 2 more 6A schools were added, Harlan and Wagner. Hopefully that means 4 will advance from this Area now! Also 5A Area H - Now officially the most competitive in all of 5A and could very likely produce all 3 medal winners at state in 2021, with maybe 4 finalists!

Im not saying none of those groups didn't deserve to be in. Of course they did. I am saying there are so many worthy bands that in order to accurately place them a smaller number needs to be taken to semifinals. Then they all need to be judged by the same panel in Semifinals.

Congrats to all the finalists! Some things to note After watching finals and watching videos of the groups that narrowly missed, I think groups like Cedar Ridge, Westwood and Westlake could have easily been in over groups like Pearland and RR, but contest dynamics especially with the format of 2 panels plays a huge role. There is not much a performance difference between the groups that place 11-18 or so. Surprised that Cedar Park and Rouse were so low....Cedar park seems to be GE which many predicted, Rouse just kind of low in everything, except for Music GE where both judges had them in the top 14. Crazy to think that rouse beat Bowie at the Texas Marching Classic. Contest dynamics play a HUGE role in a contest of this size. When you play and who you play near. My summary is that BOA needs to respond to the extreme interested in this contest and the extreme number of amazing bands. A semifinals round with the top 30 would make the placements much more accurate and gives the judges a better shot at picking the right bands for finals.

This will go into effect in 2020. So next years 5A schools will have to make a choice between BOA SA or UIL Area. This is even more reason that BOA needs a "grand nationals" in Texas. Make it the Second weekend of November. Those that truly want to do BOA SA can attend this event and extend the season a week, as well as other out of state schools.

Yes, and lets not forget that ultimately, the Administration for each school gets to decide what events they attend. The campus principal approves everything. Most administrations are going to (and already do ) require that the band attend the state sanctioned (UIL) event.

Actually, this area contest would likely be the same weekend as BOA San Antonio for most areas. If this rule were enacted for this current season for example, this upcoming weekend would be 1a/3a/5a Area (the "state year" classes) and 2a/4a/6a area would be the weekend of BOA SA. This will actually be a huge conflict with the current weekend of BOA San Antonio. BTW - this change to host area every year was voted yes by every region except 3 - one of them being region 32 (Leander ISD and Westlake). Not sure which other regions but if I had to guess, it would be the region with Lewisville ISD in Dallas and the region with NEISD in San Antonio. Outside of these 3 Large power schools districts, participation in BOA is pretty inconsistent district to district. The subset of bands in Texas that participate in the BOA super regional is actually pretty small. There are 1,247 schools in Texas, and almost all compete in UIL activities. On the flip side only 84 bands are signed up for the BOA super regional, and they aren't even all from Texas.

LD Bell just made a strong case for San Antonio finals. The show is super well designed. My favorite since 2011 "The Circles Edge" - the last year LD Bell won the SA Super regional. Lake Travis......I love the show. It is still really dirty at this point. They started sooo strong - hoping they can clean it up the next 2 weeks before SA. WIll be a finalist tonight i bet. Missed coppell....

How so? Westlake earned every bit of that Third place finish at Area and state advancement.

Panel 1 Locks - Reagan CTJ Flower Mound Keller Panel 2 Locks - Hebron Vandegrift Leander Vista Ridge Panel 1 Bubble - The Woodlands Lake Travis Vista Murrietta Cedar Ridge Bowie Round Rock Rouse Coppell Panel 2 Bubble Marcus North Shore Westlake Westwood Cedar Park LD Bell

BOA Houston was AWESOME! Top 4 were pretty clearly above the rest in my opinion, with reagan way out in front. A case could be made for Clear Brook to be in this group also as they beat Woodlands Westwood and Westlake in captions. Reagan - Holy....I have never heard a high school band sound this loud. They were twice as loud as any other band. Louder than drum corps even. The whole show just has a swagger to it. I loved it. Will challenge for BOA SA gold. Woodlands - Not my cup of tea as a show. They are not as loud as they have been in years past, though maybe by design. The music stood out from other finalists because of how closely related to the source material it was. I think this show will grow on me by the end of the season. Westwood - They are so good! Wow, the brass especially. They hace some really great small ensemble moments as well. i think this show may stall out as other groups become cleaner, but I think would challenge for BOA SA finals. Westlake - A big step up for them from last year. They have been on a quick growth back up the last couple of years. The props in this show and the multiple uses of them is so cool. I think this show is a little dirtier than the other 3, but has a little more potential than westwood. Clear brook was awesome as well! It was SO HOT during prelims toward the last block. You could see it on the kids in each of the bands in the last few slots, even reagan. The kids all powered through some pretty amazing performances regardless.

Been doing some video searching. Saw the video of Reagan from last week that others have seen. Just found this video of Westlake! It is over a month old at this point (posted aug 29) but pretty impressive! I think they will do well and could possibly sneak up on the woodlands since the woodlands are focused on peaking at Nationals. Looking for a video of 7L and the woodlands - and then I think I've seen every potential BOA Houston medalist! Westlake - www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BG2ZmnIaVY

Yea that money chart is misleading and incorrect It is just considering the income of the entire city. When it comes to bands IN the city of Austin (Westlake, bowie, and vandegrift) these are all in the super nice parts of Austin, where the houses are bigger and incomes bigger. Westlake and vandegrift and Lake Travis are all on the west side of Austin, which is one of the wealthiest communities in Texas.

My prediction after prelims: Finalists - Leander CTJ Vandegrift Vista Ridge Cedar Ridge James Bowie Westwood Lake Travis Round Rock Hendrickson Cedar Park

OK now CY woods is really strong. I have been impressed by every band so far. Literally every one.

My order so far: Leander Vista Ridge Cedar Rirdge Lake Travis Round Rock Cedar Park Rouse Hendrickson Del Rio