packwick

there's def something to be said about getting your show spotless, that's an effect in itself, and i think flomo is going to get darn close to spotless w/ this show by nats.

funny you bring up A bc that's who i thought of when watching that last mvmnt, prob bc i had just watched em lol. reeeally it's moreso a bloo moment, like that transition into the ballad, which couldn't pooossibly be any more blooo visually. tbh just think there maaaaybe need to be some honest convos w/ the kids about some of those licks near the end + some talk of reworking it like they did successfully w/ some of the perc stuff. we shall seeee. down to the wire.

i dunno, vandy's marchers are always flying around the field, it's their guard that, uh, leaves a lil to be desired. tbf im not high on really any of the shows this yr from start to finish, just parts of them. def more of a glass half empty person lol.

ok well woodlands friggin finally did their closer at area and it's a doozy. dazzlingly well written drill, super layered and fluid and effective, guard so well staged and also finally reminding me why they 3 and a half pointed the world class comp. buuuut srsly wondering if they can clean this ending in 3 weeks. pretty much from the mambo brass lick to the end needs work work work. still don't like the drum break either, messes w/ the pacing. awesome perf until then. rlly cutting it close this year. dunno.

blaaaah, im gettin the feelin this is gonna be more like 2021 than 2019. hold me!!! lol don't think it'll be a blowout but def leaning towards an Avon win here rn. the vis program is soooo dynamic and difficult while having a fresh look that's right here right now lol. their ind marcher program is crazy, w/ all the layered body challenges and some proper lifts like you'd see in an actual pas de deux. music's never boring either. guard obv not as strong as 2019 but considering their world guard imploded just a few months ago, rlly pretty impressive. Carmel, yeeeeea, k, better than i initially thought, and Malaguena is more fun and spicier than id expect from them, but not 100% sold. they've still got the music boxes on the judging sheets mostly checked off ofc w/ their usual expressive range of skills. my fav part is the bull or maybe cow costuming on the guard, there's a lot of personality down there on the field. flomo, hmmm, tbh, didn't get the hype until the big hit of the ballad, then the music has such amazingly expressive qualities, the longer phrases, the ritardandos. sooo elegant, artistic. continues into the final movement when the vis difficulty steps up a lil after ind marching demand kinda light in the first part, relative to their peers. big finish for sure. flags a lil iffy on timing and angles throughout but was prob windy. overall wish the vis program was a lil more dynamic, it's so... big... a lot. the girth of it all!! lol. broken arrow, tbh, it's fun and interesting and stylish and bluecoats but somehow still not super memorable for me. big brassy tutti moments when the drill complexly builds into a central focus give u a lil bit of Wow, but i want more. reminds me of tw in me wanting something just a weee bit deeper. marry the fun to the profound. dont feel super strongly one way or another, just some feelings i have rn.

no wgi regionals for Emerson??? was gonna ask if they imploded but they're signed up for ntca. why no wgi?? unrelated: do u know how many tx guards don't follow the 8 hr rule?? was reading tcgc proposals, one mentioned how "most of us follow the uil 8 hr rule" which sort of implies maybe not all do?? btw weird it keeps getting called a uil rule when it's a TEA commissioner's rule that defines extracurriculars under its purview broadly as "competitive activities" and not just UIL ones.

wellll id be shocked if they miss state, regardless of whatever hate they get from ppl who don't know what they're talking about, which juuust so happens to be like 99% of band and drum corps forums ppl. haven't seen much hate tbh, besides that comment just above us hating on their stadium for some reason lol.

oh that's right, North shore isnt region 9, duh me.

yesss, their goal is GN. i just think it stands to reason the kids would perform the show more confidently w/ more public performances of the whole thing under their belt. buuut if they did just learn it last Friday it's prob not great rn lol.

no thoughts on North shore?? Klein Collins' Waldo show is giving me life, tomball's guard is also still giving me life!!!

aaaand yes, very very cool to see 6 spots to state. i reeeeeaaally liked grand oaks' show the last time i saw it weeks ago, the content of it at least, perf left a lil bit to be desired. guard was the bomb tho, cant wait to see what they bring to Dayton!!

[insert comment about incomplete show on Oct 21st] it is incomplete... ... right?!!! def improving. rumor is Wayne was at the contest, might help explain that a wee bit. mambo brass lick sounds better, smart to rewrite that. srsly wish they would replace the free for all jam out choreo at the end w/ something that doesn't look so overplayed and... blah!!! i hated it when Reagan did it too, circa 2000. if they're gonna do it they need the shiny pink wigs or whatever Reagan wore lolol.

kinda wish this were being held at galena park as usual bc the stands go up a lot higher than woodforest. better angle to judge. fingers crossed tw finally performs their full show at region. dunno why it takes em so long these days.

find it interesting they start in 5th grade and staff haven't capitalized on that extra yr over the past couple decades. maybe too soft??? band should be mostly fun to be fair. last yr the jh didn't make it past region in honor band after placing top 5 at state a couple times in a row, which was kinda weird, tho they still had a ton of kids make region band. anywho, back on topic. my pick rn for boa SA champ is FloMo buuut i reserve the right to change my mind when the uil area vids pour in!!! can they win Nats too? hmmmm.... dunno. Avon looks and sounds... really good this yr. there's always a degree of layering/difficulty in their vis program that's hard to match and clean for bands w/ 8 hrs a week. luv luv loved broken arrow last yr and i bet they'll be awesome this yr too. blue springs, just okay for me rn but they do interesting things. carmel whom i usually love kinda bored me but haven't seen a recent vid.

most of tw's music is actually from the 40s/50s. songs covered over the years ofc. wish they would land on a theme that gives em a stronger visual hook, like crossing boundaries, etc. like how do u visually communicate hi-fi?? seems more of a feeling like mad mod go. difficulty, i would say theyve been slowly dialing it up the past few years. 2018 was the nadir, then 2019 was cranked way up, then the pandemic. this yr seems quite challenging imo. they'll do great at this contest but i doubt they'll win it. no biggie. also another thumbs up vote for M&G's costuming/scenic design lol. i love it. i think the music matches just fine too. who designs for them is a good question.

how high will moe and gene fly do u think? tmc prelims and finals GE panels, both w/ experienced judges, had significantly different opinions of them, but good agreement w/in each round.

ok maybe no GN band has won in a long time, but flomo always wins it when they're top 5 at BOA SA, so which trend will be broken, luv?? which one, huh? HUH? lol if the choice is vandy or flomo, i choose flomo. visually i think it will be team foot vs. team face again. music is a big crapshoot.

i haven't seen Coppell, but "lots of choreography" makes you think lots of movement, no? as a former marcher, i would argue that the dance stuff is much more challenging than marching. marching is just modified walking, after all. these days judges are absolutely looking at the variety and range of the individual movement skills. tbh wouldn't surprise me if some guard-leaning IndVis judges comment on dynamic efforts from the musicians. and i would agree w/ that, give credit where it's due.

in my experience audience reaction does not typically play a huge role in overall effect placements unless the judge is on the fence, which i don't think happens all that often. all the other stuff on the sheets is usually going to outweigh it. i mean no offence to em, i love Carmel and their shows, but they would never win effect as much as they do if the audience mattered much LOL

id like recordings of all 3 of b-land, Dawson, and tw, if somebody can get em. preferably a stable upstairs cam lol. thought tw sounded a weeeee bit iffy last nite + wanna confirm. still waitin to be able to hear the trumpets w/ the melody at the end of the opener, under all that brassiness. also for the ballad solos, all the non soprano sax solos in the show really, to sound like actual music and not just notes, + the euph to not be north of the pitch. obvi lots of rhythmic inaccuracies in the closer stuff too, but imma assume they just learned all that so won't be as hard on em. i really like the music so far tho. big vibe shift. hard show. not as sure 'bout the drum break in the middle of bo mambo, think it could connect more into the winds that follow, some sort of melodic throughline. others: genuinely curious to see how Dawson does here, they seem on an upward swing. parts of what they had last week were really great. huge Texas sound. lotsa visual cleaning to do tho. i think there's a more recent bridgeland i haven't watched yet on YT but an even more recent one wouldn't hurt.

suuuuure does make u question the whole 2 panel prelims system for super regionals again, don't it??? if after only a week the results shift so much bc of a panel change??? but boa's chief judges claim it's not an issue bc their judges are sooo well trained and know the box system so well. eyeroll!! biggest eyeroll ever!!! lol

wiiild shifts from last week... cyfair beat friendswood by over 7 points, and cywoods by nearly 3 points at Conroe. wowzer!! guess it's to be expected by now. methinks the judges are happy that boa doesn't do critiques like wgi and dci, only clinics, bc i feel like they would get pressed a lot on their collective inconsistency...

i just loved how the lights glimmered!! authentic!! the band sounded fabulous too!! a lot of really expressive playing.

oh it's the Beatles mystery tour song, that's right.

i love when Hebron does fun!!! my fave hebron show by a mile is 2022. it had PERSONALITY!! imma like this one too probably. what is that Velvet Knights piece they play at the beginning?? i feel like i should know it!! good vibes. curious if those things they move around are done yet, prob will be bus related?? ofc they're slaying musically w/ their billions of notes again.