ViewFromTheBox

Nice performance today, Kennedale! Last break before the final block of bands for prelims.

Lovely show this afternoon, Trinity! Hope to see you again in finals tonight.

Great job today, Ranchview! That was a really fun trumpet buzzing feature.

Wonderful performance today, Colleyville Heritage! Loved the use of Pure Imagination as the ballad.

Nice show Granbury! Really a lot to like about that show, especially musically.

That was a “sweet” show, Highland Park. Lots of fun moments in there, both musically and visually.

Wonderful performance there North Crowley. Loved “Sleep” for the ballad. The ending definitely was interesting as well.

Wow Carroll! That was a fun show as well. Love the french horn feature.

Lovely show this afternoon Timberview! That’s a fun show, and y’all do a great job despite the small band size.

Good job Reedy! That’s the first time I think I’ve ever seen a contra bass clarinet on the field.

Nice job Lake Ridge! Wonderful sounds and I love the ballad.

Well hello there Martin! Wow that was a great performance! Loved the arrangement of Mr. Sandman. Also, Enter Sandman had me wondering if Virginia Tech or Mariano Rivera would be running out of the tunnel.

Much much much improved performance for Summit compared to last night. Lovely sound as always. Side note: those uniforms (new for this year) are miles ahead of what we had 10 years ago.

Great job Midlothian. Nice sound and I loved Firebird to end the show.

Wow! What a sound Fossil Ridge. Absolutely lovely ballad as well.

Great all around performance Legacy! Great brass sounds and a wonderful piccolo solo.

Nice job this morning Arlington Seguin. Wonderful arrangement of the Inside Out piece (can’t remember which track specifically).

Wonderful performance by South Grand Prairie! Loved that arrangement of Danzón No. 2 on the field. Great job by the clarinet soloist in that too.

Nice job Lakeview Centennial getting us started today! A lot of really nice musical moments in that show.

Good morning from Newsom Stadium. Watch says it’s 71 degrees. Slight breeze out of the south. Good enough to keep us spectators comfortable, but hopefully won’t affect the shows too much. Good luck to all of the bands today!

I graduated from Summit in 2012. We never worried about homecoming. I would be shocked if they skipped finals for that.

Burleson Centennial Colleyville Heritage Mansfield Legacy Mansfield Summit Midlothian Birdville Richland Red Oak Seven of the eight schools made finals at their respective area competitions this past cycle (Richland was 11th at Area B 6A). Centennial, Midlothian, Colleyville Heritage and Birdville went to 5A state last year. You can certainly argue that the top end of District 11 is better, but top-to-bottom District 4 is loaded. Would not be surprised to see all eight schools in area finals in 2021. But yeah, I can't wait for district play to start.

Schools move up or down a classification based on their enrollment and the numbers set by the UIL. Schools can opt up a classification (or division for football in Class 1A through 5A), but they cannot opt down. Most of the time the move down helps in football and marching band since it's better to be one of the biggest schools in 5A instead of one of the smallest schools in 6A, but not always. As a Summit alum, I'm interested to see how the drop down plays out. Football moves from a district with powerhouses Desoto and Cedar Hill plus South Grand Prairie and Lake Ridge to District 4-5A DI where all eight teams made the postseason last year. So who knows if it will help them. (Side note: District 4-5A DI might be the best band district out there for the next two years.) If you want, I believe TMEA has finalized their region and areas for each competition, which you can view here: https://align.tmea.org/align_2022/index.php Also, Dave Campbell's Texas Football put out a great explainer on realignment:

The furthest I found was 315 miles between Seminole and Perryton in District 2-4A DII. That's a district that also features Lubbock Estacado, Levelland and Borger. That's going to be a lot of traveling come October. https://realignment.uiltexas.org/alignments/2020/4AD2FBMAP.pdf Also, District 3-5A DII is ridiculous as well. Abilene Wylie, Wichita Falls, Wichita Falls Rider, Lubbock Cooper, Plainview and Canyon Randall. https://realignment.uiltexas.org/alignments/2020/5AD2FBMAP.pdf

True, although I don't really think any schools would take the opt up for marching band. The opt up for football, I believe, is for school districts to keep their schools in the same classification/division so that they are in the same football district and keeps travel down. It's not really a competitive decision. I'm not entirely sure why a band would choose to opt up (but I could be wrong and I probably will).