Jump to content

ctex1994

Members
  • Posts

    57
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    1

Everything posted by ctex1994

  1. 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!
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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....
  8. How so? Westlake earned every bit of that Third place finish at Area and state advancement.
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. 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
  12. 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.
  13. My prediction after prelims: Finalists - Leander CTJ Vandegrift Vista Ridge Cedar Ridge James Bowie Westwood Lake Travis Round Rock Hendrickson Cedar Park
  14. OK now CY woods is really strong. I have been impressed by every band so far. Literally every one.
  15. My order so far: Leander Vista Ridge Cedar Rirdge Lake Travis Round Rock Cedar Park Rouse Hendrickson Del Rio
  16. WOW. Lake Travis. Could easily see them making finals tonight, even if it means Hendrickson, Round Rock, Rouse are on the outside looking in.
  17. Whoops sorry should have clarified! Austin HS in Austin Is not going to BOA Houston!
  18. Got to see Austin High and Westlake halftime last night. Westlake didn't have any props, but I know they are using the pride of cincinatti props. Not sure why they didn't use them. They sound better than last year at this point I think, and the show seems cleaner. They played and marched up through the ballad. They have really upped their game form a choreography standpoint, there are very few moments in the show where they aren't doing some type of body movement. The ballad has a really nice full band choreography moment that is really really cool. The color guard is also really strong and featured multiple times in the show. Overall I think they are building on their success of last season and will do really well this year! I am predicting top 3 at BOA Houston, could possibly challenge the woodlands? I also don't know how Oak ridge, seven lakes and cy fair are performing....so hard to predict! Austin high is doing really well! They are getting stronger every year and are way better than when I was in the band. They are 6A now, so no 5A state for them, but I still think they will do really well this year. I think they have vista ridge props from last year.
  19. Smaller guard? there were multiple times when the guard covered the entire football field.
  20. My alma-mater is playing Westlake tonight in football at House park in Austin. I get off work at 8 and work right next to house park - so hopefully I can check it out if halftime isn't over.
  21. 1. Claudia Taylor Johnson HS (they are done with everything in...going to be a mess but effect wins. 2. Vista Ridge HS (this show is LEGIT. So much harder than last year. Drum corps level. Will be messy.) 3. Leander HS (Will be messy but this show has the most potential I think.) 4. Vandegrift HS (will be the least messy out of the top 4 but also the safest) 5. James Bowie HS (Will be solid.) 6. Round Rock HS (Grand Nats year for them....they could place higher, but based on videos the show seems to easy.) 7. Cedar park HS (Rebuilding. Band sounds better and guard is better but show design and drill......IDK) 8. Cedar Ridge HS (always solid) 9. Hendrickson HS (I am afraid they may be slipping a bit...) 10. Westwood HS or Rouse HS (whomever is the most effective at this point gets in!) This will be awesome to watch. I wish Reagan, Westlake, Lake Travis and Churchill were here....would really make it interesting!
  22. I wonder why some of the other top lines in the area don't go to this. I'm thinking of Cedar Ridge, Round rock, Westlake, Leander, even Reagan and CTJ.
  23. My thoughts of videos I've seen so far, mostly from Austin Area - Leander - Lots of potential. I could see this being a contender at Grand Nationals. Obviously dirty and not sounding super great at times, but the design is so good. They have 11 weeks to clean it up. Britney Spears section is so well put together. Almost seems like a blue devils show in design. Vista Ridge - Not the vista ridge from last year. The ditched the fan friendly vibe for a visceral and more modern vibe. Not nearly as clean as they were this time last season, but the show seems way harder. I predict they will do well. Weiss - Solid step up in design. Way more BOA than the previous 2 years. The band does not sound super hot though....percussion aside. Round Rock - Seems solid, though maybe not creative enough to challenge for finals at BOA Grand Nationals or San Antonio. We will see how it progresses. They have always been a good band, just struggled with design lately. Westlake - Very solid start for them. Colorguard is a big strength. The band has some pretty intricate work with the props. The band is playing much louder than years past. Opener is very fast paced and pretty clean for this point in time. Will be interesting to see how they do at BOA Houston. Keller - Playing super well. Starting to sound almost Hebron like! Show seems a little boring and drill maybe not the strength but the band sounds amazing. Bowie (Saw them at a football game) - Reminds me of LD Bell from the late 2000's. Very mystic if that makes sense. They have a singer. Band seems pretty loud in person. They will challenge for BOA finals again. Cedar Ridge - Band seems small. Still putting out some volume. I worry that they may be too small to make finals at San Antonio. Percussion is outstanding as always. Cedar Park - Band seems small here as well. They seem weaker than years past at this point. Guard seems like a step up though. I have confidence they can clean it up. Pflugerville - Seems like they are falling off a bit after they lost a director to Leander.
  24. Magnolia HS Conroe HS College Park HS Dawson HS Paetow HS Langham Creek HS Westfield HS Sandra Day O'Connor HS Katy HS James E Taylor HS Oak Ridge HS Cypress Woods HS Bridgeland HS Klein Oak HS ​Friendswood HS ​The Woodlands HS Stephen F Austin HS The Ann Richards School William B Travis HS Cinco Ranch HS Pearland HS Clear Brook HS Little Cypress - Mauriceville HS Pflugerville HS Cypress Falls HS George Ranch HS Westwood HS Cy-Fair HS Richland HS Brazoswood HS Westlake HS Obra D Tompkins HS Seven Lakes HS Ronald Reagan HS Those are my picks for finals. 6 out of 10 finalists in the last block.
×
×
  • Create New...