ViewFromTheBox

So halfway through prelims there have a lot of great performances today, but I’m not sure if there’s one that’s been head and shoulders above the rest. I think I have Azle slightly above Colleyeville Heritage at the top. This area is just so wide open.

Wow Arlington Heights! You might be a “small” band, but you don’t sound small. Awesome job today.

Hauntingly beautiful show Richland! Love Pure Imagination as the ballad.

Wonderful performance today Cleburne! That’s come a long way since Mansfield POC. Lot of good musicaL moments in there.

Well hello there Burleson Centennial! Strong run today. Lots of great musical moments. See you again in finals tonight hopefully.

Awesome job today Colleyeville Heritage. A lot of clean marching. And the ballad section with the two soloists on opposite 25’s is wonderfully done.

Great performance today Brewer! I’ll admit, I’m a sucker for the Main Theme from Band of Brothers, you nailed it.

Great job Northside! Y’all have a great sound for a smaller band.

Nice job this morning Southwest! Loved the musical selections.

Wonderful performance today Newman Smith! That Moondance section is delightful, and looks like fun to perform.

Great job Burleson! Much improved from when I saw you at Mansfield POC. Love the musical selections.

Azle is not fazed by the first time slot today. Great sound and great movement. Excited to see that in finals.

Good morning from Birdville Fine Arts and Athletic Complex. The watch says it’s 74 degrees. Mostly cloudy skies and a slight breeze out of the south. Good luck to all of the bands today!

Hey all! So it's just about that time of year ... err, well every two years ... where the UIL realigns all of the schools into the correct classifications (and divisions for football) based on school size and and then groups them into districts for athletics and academics. First up is Snapshot Day, which is Oct. 29. The enrollment of schools on this day will be what the UIL will use to figure out the cutoffs for the classifications and sort schools into said classifications. If you're new here, there are six classifications (though we might see a seventh in a couple of years). Next, the UIL will generally release the cutoff numbers some time in early December. There's no real set date for that, it just kind of happens. And then finally on Feb. 1, the UIL will release the full realignment breakdown with the districts for various athletic and academic competitions (seriously, by my count there are 11 different variations of the 2020-22 realignment for various sports). What does that mean for band? Well, the biggest affect this will have is who is in what classification. Will somebody move up or down a class. And depending on which schools move around, it could impact that Area for marching band. I want to say that TMEA will also be realigning the regions and areas once the UIL realignment comes out, but I don't remember for sure, so don't quote me on that. And if you want a video version of the breakdown on realignment, Dave Campbell's Texas Football did a great job of it two years ago.

10:00 - Jordan 10:15 - Baytown Lee 10:30 - Baytown Sterling 10:45 - Kempner 11:15 - Waller 11:30 - Goose Creek Memorial 11:45 - Paetow 12:00 - Manvel 12:15 - Barber's Hill 1:30 - Angleton 1:45 - Fulshear 2:00 - Terry 2:15 - Brenham 2:30 - Watrip 3:00 - Lamar Consolidated 3:15 - Foster 3:30 - Friendswood 3:45 - La Porte Seven bands will advance to finals. Three (I believe) will advance to state.

Yeah, this is starting to get a bit too weird for me...

I hope not. This is really odd, confusing and a bit concerning. For the record, my username comes from a sport blog I had for a while in college as a sports journalism major (so technically not band related). I have no idea where the rest came from.

For me, I think it's two things for thinking Summit is currently ahead of Legacy. First, I saw the video of the finals run at BOA Midland and that was a very clean run for Summit. Like 1000 miles better than at Mansfield POC. And second, Summit took Music Analysis over Highland Park at McKinney finals. While yes, the judging system between that and area isn't the same, that's still a pretty big deal, especially when there are three music judges and just two marching judges. I do wish the two went head to head again before Saturday, but I don't get to make the schedule. Either way Saturday will be really, really interesting. Edit: Also, the only thing that matters is Saturday's performance(s). Nothing is preordained, especially in this area. So it all comes down to how the groups perform on Saturday.

If they get posted, it looks like they'll get posted here: https://www.birdvillemarchingfestival.com/festival-results.html I'll check back in the morning to see if they've gotten around to posting them.

Schedule is out: 10:00 AM - Azle 10:15 AM - Burleson 10:30 AM - Newman Smith 10:45 AM - Southwest 11:00 AM - North Side 11:30 AM - Brewer 11:45 AM - Colleyville Heritage 12:00 PM - Burleson Centennial 12:15 PM - Cleburne 12:30 PM - Richland 12:45 PM - Arlington Heights 1:45 PM - Summit 2:00 PM - Midlothian 2:15 PM - Creekview 2:30 PM - Timberview 2:45 PM - Legacy 3:00 PM - Birdville 3:30 PM - Aledo 3:45 PM - Joshua 4:00 PM - Saginaw 4:15 PM - Grapevine 4:30 PM - Granbury 5:15 PM - Awards/Announce Finals 7:30 PM - Finals begin 10:15 PM - Awards Ceremony http://www.uilmusic31.org/area-f-5a-marching.html

If anyone is looking to watch a good game tomorrow night and possibly sneak in watching a good band performance, the Dave Campbell's Texas Football crew will be doing a watch along for the Vandegrift vs. Cedar Ridge game. Not sure if they'll really show anything from the halftime shows (I can't remember how it went for the first time they did this). But Southlake Carroll head coach Riley Dodge and West Mesquite head coach Frank Sandoval will join them if you want to learn more about the X's and O's of football. Also, that game might be for the District 25-6A title with Vandegrift coming in undefeated and Cedar RIdge undefeated in district play. It will be on their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/DaveCampbellsTF

So as of this moment, this is my prediction for finals (in no particular order): Summit Azle Aledo Birdville Burleson Centennial Colleyville Heritage Legacy Midlothian Richland Granbury And then to be honest, I really think you can make a legitimate argument for any one of these 10 groups to grab a state spot. Every group is going to have to have their best absolute best run of the season in order to have a shot at advancing (which I know is a given, but even more so with this area). I honestly don't think you can lock anyone band into a state slot just yet. To me, this feels like a super wide open area because of how evenly matched everyone is. Can not wait for Oct. 23 to roll around.

Region 5 Results: Arlington - 1 Bowie - 2 Cedar Hill - 1 Lake Ridge - 1 Lamar - 1 Mansfield - 1 Martin - 1 Paschal - 1 Sam Houston - 2 South Grand Prairie - 1 Grand Prairie - Did not attend

You should see the football, too! Slightly off topic, but if anyone is looking for a neutral game to go to, Colleyville Heritage and Summit square off at Mustang-Panther Stadium on Friday night to essentially decide the district title. Should be a great game and halftime. Wish I could make it up there.

So here is the unofficial performance order: Azle Burleson Newman Smith Southwest North Side Brewer Colleyville Heritage Burleson Centennial Cleburne Richland Arlington Heights Summit Midlothian Creekview Timberview Legacy Birdville Aledo Joshua Saginaw Grapevine Granbury