11BandMan11

GREAT finals draw for Hebron, hoping they and every Team Texas school pulls out their best performances for finals! I'd LOVE to see Hebron and Woodlands in the Top 3!

The Top 5 for the Area I think are going to be the same as this year, with potentially some changing of placement between 2-5. Bridgeland is going to continue throwing down and improving. The only big change I could potentially see in the Top 5 is with Seven Lakes. They just added a director on staff this year who used to be at the Woodlands during that programs dominating years. I'm just guessing here, but I bet they take on more this coming season and Seven Lakes jumps up. 6 - 15 could literally be ANY of the bands that placed in 6 - 15 this year depending upon their show design and execution. Every group is going to continue to grow throughout the spring and summer; it'll be a complete mystery as to who will end up where until we actually get to next fall and can get some more concrete grasps on each bands performance. At this point, we could ask the Zoltar and they'd give us a prediction with the same accuracy as any of our guesses. 🤣

Absolute fantasy land thought.... I know it's COMPLETELY unrealistic - but how crazy interesting and cool would it be if UIL and the State decided to foot the bill for travel to GN for the State Champion for each classification (1A - 6A) to go up to Grand Nats and represent Texas each year? (I know logistically, monetarily, timeline, planning for students, etc. this is not possible, but still fun to think about)

Found it! 2017 BOA San Antonio Finals Results 96.625 – Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX 95.600 – Hebron H.S., TX 95.575 – Vandegrift H.S., TX 95.375 – Avon H.S., IN

I think it's going to be a close one for some of #TeamTexas with Finals this year! I'd LOVE to see all of #TeamTexas in Finals, but with some of these performances, I don't know if that'll happen 🫣

The minimum cost per program in the past was usually in ballpark of 200-250k to go to Grand Nats. With the increase in costs for literally EVERYTHING now, I wouldn't be surprised if schools, more specifically schools boosters, have to account for and budget a minimum of 300-400k depending on the size of the group to go up to Grand Nats. Unfortunately, with the funding struggles for all school districts across the country, there's no school district that would ever be willing to cut a check for that dollar amount, let a lone for the equivalent amount of 3 groups to travel, no matter the amount that could be saved on the back end with bulk purchases of accommodations. The cost for travel to Grand Nats is one of the reasons I STRONGLY believe that BOA San Antonio should be a Pre-Lims/Semis/Finals format like Grand Nats, or have Grand Nats turn into an every other year format where the location is moved between Indianapolis and San Antonio, Dallas, Oklahoma, etc. somewhere that is MUCH less cost prohibitive for Texas Groups to attend. I know I'm selfishly advocating and specifically talking about Texas groups, but even beyond Texas, currently it is an impossibility for the vast majority of groups across the country to have the opportunity to attend and perform at Grand Nats due to the cost. #TheStruggleIsReal

The Finals performances this year were INCREDIBLE! It astounds me the level of musicianship, performance, visual control, etc. these HIGH SCHOOL students are achieving now! How many more BOA San Antonio contests with this INSANE depth of performances will it take before BOA realizes they need to make the San Antonio Super into the same PreLims, Semis, and Finals format as they currently have for Grand Nationals? Not throwing shade at any of the other amazing ensembles and contests that occur outside Texas and throughout the country, but if we're all very honest with the depth of competition at the San Antonio contest specifically, any of the ensembles that placed between 15th and 25th at BOA San Antonio and DID NOT make finals this year, would ABSOLUTELY be making Semis at Grand Nats, and many would push and make Finals as well if they went up this year. Knowing how much time, energy, money, etc. these programs invest into performing at San Antonio, I would LOVE to see more performance opportunities for more groups! Just my 2 cents! Looking forward to seeing #TeamTexas at Grand Nats this year!!!

BOA San Antonio might as well be called Grand Nationals - the depth at the contest is RIDICULOUS compared to every other BOA Contest in the country, especially when watching these finals performances. So. Freaking. Good. #TeamTexas all the way at GN this year and beyond!

So happy there are more groups representing the Houston areas this year! LOVE IT! Also, may the force be with the judges - definitely DO NOT envy the position they are in with ranking all these amazing groups!

YES!!! Bridgeland has been crazy good the past two years! I believe I heard somewhere that Jeremy Spicer was working as their program coordinator? Maybe? Someone have more info? Cy Fair, Cy Woods, Seven Lakes, and Tompkins will all represent the Area really well at State! THANK YOU for showing love to the groups who didn't make finals but have been improving like CRAZY the past years! Cy-Springs, Paetow, Langham Creek, and Waller had solid prelims runs as well. There has been a TON of growth and development across the entire Area the past two years and I can't wait to see what happens next year! Were there any surprises from anyone in the Area of groups that have not been doing as well as anticipated?

Who else is going to be at State?! I'll be the one with the dopey smile nerding out at the crazy good performances this year 🤣

Wasn't able to be there for pre-lims but made it in time for all the finals bands - GREAT performances from every group that made it to finals this year! Hoping one of the State qualifiers this year gets to State finals and represents the Area!

This is why the band community is awesome - thank you for the heads up and informing people!!!

YES!!! I wish I lived closer and could do the same!

The top half of Area finals seem pretty locked up with the usual groups. The 6 - 10 spots could literally be any one of 10 - 12 different groups who have either been in area finals before or groups who have been on the outside looking in. Paetow has been progressing a ridiculous amount this year! They took the percussion caption at Katy Marching this year and have been cleaner musically and visual than the past. Cy Ranch has continued to improve throughout the season and has put up some great runs of their show at contest. JV always seems to show up at Area contest and thrown down and bump people out of finals. Langham has been throwing down the last three weeks of the season and improved their show musically and visually a ton. Each group from 6 - 15 can be described like any of the above, literally anyone could be in those Area finalist spots. 1 - 5 will be cool to see who advances to State, fingers crossed for an Area I state finalist this year, but I'm almost more interested in what's going to happen with 6 - 10 with how many groups have improved this year!

PREACH! One of my biggest gripes with the new UIL sheets, are the 'individual' woodwind, brass, percussion, etc. For example - HOW is a judge supposed to accurately judge individual performance and musicianship of woodwinds from the box?! Thoughts?

Looking around at the posted snapshot numbers, thank you football coaches and parents who post that all over the twitter-verse😂, it's amazing and crazy the sizes schools are reaching across the state. Looking at the numbers posted online from KISD, the SMALLEST school that just opened, already has over two-thousand students! Every other school has well over three thousand students. LISD, AISD, CISD, etc. all have schools well over the two-thousand five hundred number - which not saying that it's the number, but lets be honest, the cutoff number will more likely than not be 2250-ish. Would not be surprised at all with an additional 7A classification added with the number of schools growing to larger and larger sizes. VERY curious to see and hear what happens in the discussions and legislative sessions in the future to see how they handle this continued growth.

Area ticket costs usually vary depending on the different stadiums - some are $5 per ticket, others are $10-15, just depends on the stadium.

I'll be either at Area E or might drive to Area H, it just depends on the shift I have tomorrow morning🙃

Really hoping weather cooperates during this contest and doesn't cause any performance issues for any of the groups. Top 3 prediction - but definitely could get changed up based on performances! 1: Porter 2: Magnolia 3: Galena Park

If this spreadsheet can exist every year that would be amazing! Not all hero's wear capes...but you certainly do abtwitch 🙌

Unfortunate prelims draw for Jordan to start the contest at Area E this year. Friendswood and Foster should be locks for Finals and 2 out of the 3 State spots this year with how they are performing. Wondering how weather will play into the shows and performances on Saturday with the rain in the forecast - fingers crossed it's just cloudy and every group can have their best performances! 🤞 There's 8-10 groups truly fighting it out for finals spots - my predictions below: (All just IMHO😅) Finals/State Locks: Friendswood Foster Should be in Finals: Churchill Fulshear Barbers Hill Katy Jordan Katy Paetow Bubble: Manvel Waller Brenham Kempner Thoughts?

New Region Alignment: Any thoughts on how this will effect different regions and groups? https://align.tmea.org/align_2022/index.php

TEAM! TEXAS!

Congratulations to all of these AMAZING groups! Bravo to all students, staff, and parents! 1. Cedar Park 2. Highland Park 3. Wakeland 4. Rouse 5. Burlesson Centennial 6. Friendswood 7. Wylie East 8. Lebanon Trail 9. Aledo 10. Dripping Springs 11. Weiss 12. Lone Star