packwick

i think some of the bottom half TX finalists may be a bit vulnerable in visual and GE to Brownsburg, Bentonville, and maaaaaybe Fishers if theyre a lot cleaner than the last time i saw them lol. Fishers is reeeally the one i enjoy the most and am rooting for lol. usually i give the edge to TX bubbles bc of music but im not 100% convinced it'll carry some of them this yr. my top 3 circa Sept 15th was carmel, hebron, and twhs, my first place around uil region was twhs. avon has been beating carmel in the somewhat similar issma circuit so they may be more in the running than my 1st impression of the show indicated, really didn't think the design was there relative to carmel but clearly there are ppl who disagree w/ me lol. avon's show IS a helluva lot more audience friendly than carmel's at least lol. but then carmel is just soooo elegant and expressive musically and visually, the attention to phrasing is unparalleled and so difficult to pull off as well as they do. but !! the show is also kind of boring and thematically not the most well communicated. also wasn't as visually clean at Indy as i was expecting but that's prob fixed now. that's where my prediction for twhs came in bc i think they're visually immaculate this yr and the show is both elegant and high energy/entertaining, also the theme is friggin obvious lol. buuuut i don't think having uil before BOA did them any favors bc it exposed some music weaknesses, at least based on how uil evaluates it. that's where Hebron comes back in bc i know they're a strong shot for 1st in music perf and that could also bleed into music GE, which is what will prob determine who wins. maybe??? i think hebron's show last yr had a lot more personality than this yr's show and was visually a little more on point but some of those weaknesses may be exaggerated. for example they got a box 5 score from Tim Pierce in both ens vis and vis ge at their 1st BOA event, tho the other judges for those captions weren't on the same page. but u see there's a possibility there. and w/ music counting for more of the score it might not matter anyway. blue springssss... the show just didn't really hold me, but it is an interesting one w/ a fresh theme and was scored higher than i would have scored it at St Louis lol. possibly a party crasher along w/ Mason whose show is very pretty but very familiar. but what about Pearland... hmmm...

see, UIL is still its own thang!!

twhs is on the wait list for Dayton which is odd bc they usually don't attend on school years they go to BOA Nats. 2022 was an exception to make up for the 2021 COVID season. maybe they think there's a chance they'll raise the funds???

even some of the bands like Bowie who maybe think they underperformed at SA could do better here than expected. BOA SA is reeeally not always that predictive of what happens at Nats even just a week later. Hendrickson last year for example, Marcus in 2021 and 2017 comes to mind too, so does Cedar Park back in 2016, heck their score shot up by like 7 points in a week. no i don't think anything that drastic is going to happen this year, but still. scores usually go up a little bit, sometimes they go down. contest dynamics and different judges blah blah blah.

that 19.55 avg i think is the highest vis perf average in BOA SA history, so maybe.

oh they'll be fine.

well if it makes u feel better they were a lot closer to Vandy in prelims. 95.7, 95.45, and 95.35. but then prelims scores tend to be more bunched up....

ok but B-lands ens vis score in finals is bizarre, wtf Chumley you're usually so solid!! LOL

im sure he's totally unaware!!

yeaaah the side by side music comparison w/ Vandy was not as close as i was hoping while recording it LOL. but im also thrilled tw has cracked a 96 for the 3rd season in a row!!! awesome job guys!!! and i think music will be stronger relative to Nats field than BOA SA field anyway.

almost time for somebody, totally not me, to start recording!!

noooooo! por qué!! LOL it's just that Kennedy had twhs rather low in music ensemble at State, one of their lowest placements. prob not the best panel for them for a GE comeback but we'll see!!!

yassss! Bridgeland! scores at the top prob super close for Marcus to win GE and end up 2nd.

cy woods floored me at Conroe in 2021 and they've still got it. it's not a question if they'll break through, it's just a question of when, bc they absolutely will. def part of the Houston Renaissance!!

well they def wouldn't look out of place in finals lol. i haven't watched absolutely everything, missed most of early yesterday, but even if i had seen all of it i wouldn't know for sure lol. so many contenders, but ld bell is up there.

the activity is richer when ld bell is as strong as they are this yr. it just is.

yasss college park represent!!! must be nice not having to perform so early this time!! much improved vis program, still love the music ofc. giant weapon line, guard def starting to make a name for themselves. looking forward to their return to wgi!! really im hoping all the open class guards step it up this yr.

close!! i would still prob give it to Avon 2019, they move just a bit better and have denser spinning phrases. but the top to bottom high cam depth of tw's guard is pretty mind boggling!! stellar run from them. im biased but that was by far the cleanest vis show ive seen at this contest from upstairs. super duper effective too. ironically the weakest parts musically for me are the small ensemble and soloist parts, weird instrumentation too. 1st trumpets still struggling w/ intervals in the ballad a little, but it's rather challenging.

Reagan was great!! gonna have to ask my brother in law what all the Dave Matthews music was, don't know any of it lol. they had a pretty nasty fall in the upper brass during the trombone feature, looks like the kid got pretty badly trampled. hope they're ok!! seemed to recover well. the two sided flags at the end are just gorgeous!!

judging music at large Texas contests would be awful, for sure.

that sfa show is quite a lot like a show i would do, a little bit of camp lol. the pointe of rebellion!! ballerina girl meets emo skater goth boy who turns her world upside down!! they move so well!!

ugh BOWIE!! that was so much BETTER than the last time i saw it!! much cleaner! what a fabulous ending statement!!

how long has Churchill been this small??! i was caught off guard by how BIG they sounded, really strong clear brass sounds, amazing soloists. i thought they were gonna sound waay more anemic than that!! solid vis performance too. also i love the guard outfits, reminds me of those marcus vanity fair costumes.

ugh B-land's guard is filled with SLAY QUEENS!!! welcome, our new overlords!! they're huge but also so friggin clean. that weapon work was exceptional, so many clean catches. i cannot waiiiiit to see them at WGI this year!! they're gonna do great w/ the right vehicle!! beautiful beautiful beautiful show!! the way the visual just unfolds on the field is so gorgeous. really strong impact moments. clarinet soloist is my favorite of the whole year! one of those soloists u know immediately is a top all-stater. super job!

awww cute lil magnifying glass set there at the end of Weiss's sherlock show. i LOVE overture to the school for scandal!!