Origin

Now that pretty much all the heavy-hitters competed tonight… Keller and Coppell are the two that would be shocking to see not advance. Waxahachie does really well with UIL scoring, as was evident with the Duncanville results from tonight. I think they have a good chance to advance, but hearing that they still have more show to put on the field is a *bit* concerning. I think LD Bell will do better than they did in 2018, but is not a lock just because of how tough and unpredictable this area can be. They’ve had a solid season so far. Carroll had their first BOA DFW finals appearance and just followed it with a top-half St. Louis finish! Even if they don’t advance, it’s been a historical season! I think the show *might* excel more with BOA than UIL. I would be devastated to see Timber Creek end up as alternate once again. It’s really unfortunate that this area just missed the cutoff to take 6 bands to state. I have absolutely no idea where Duncanville ends up. It’s hard to count them out based on reputation. If they continue their streak, I hope it’s because of more than reputation. No idea where Haltom ends up either.

They were definitely on my radar because I could’ve sworn that their head director came from Hebron, but after looking it up, I guess not??? Idk, they’re doing great things nonetheless.

😳😳😳

Hasn’t Rock Hill only existed for a few years??? Them being so good doesn’t surprise considering where their director came from.

Avon certainly know how to throw down a finals performance. They were on fire tonight.

That makes sense, thank you!

I didn’t see the performance, but the guard had a fantastic WGI season in 2020, so yes.

I actually don’t remember how the UIL judging has changed this year. The DMI website just says “We are revising our scoring system to match the UIL Area/State system” but I can’t find any detail beyond that.

Well, not many surprises there! According to the website, the sheets are the same as UIL Area/State, so this is a great preview of Area B next weekend. I knew Waxahachie would excel on the UIL sheets, they’re really clean! However, I’m still really confused why Waxahachie’s show is so short…only 6:50! Does anyone know what’s going on there? Even their 2020 show was longer.

I assume that’s the performance order of finals? Is it also the backwards prelims placement order?

Um this is unnecessary

3 Texas bands in the top half!

My medalists right now are: Broken Arrow - No explanation needed. Looking like a medal lock. Flower Mound - Strong across all captions Carmel - IMO a flawlessly designed show. So much demand and so much talent. Potential medalists in random order (any could probably swap with Flo Mo or Carmel): Reagan - If they can get the execution up to 2019 levels, a medal is in reach. Avon - When is the last time they didn’t finish top 3 at Nats? Super demanding show visually, but it’s not their most memorable at the moment. CTJ - This is a big show. It certainly has the demand to contend for a medal, and they’ve given themselves plenty of time to clean. The Woodlands - I love this show. I don’t have it higher because I’m not personally convinced that there is enough demand to medal, but I hope I’m wrong.

Interesting show from William Mason. It’s honestly a bit weird to see them without a ton of giant props. I thought the flyovers were a bit overkill and sometimes silly looking. I’m not familiar with Top Gun, so I don’t know if the music came from that movie, but it felt very cinematic. Overall, my favorite part of the show was the music, it was really beautiful! Woodwinds are strong as usual.

Unless Homestead can reallllly clean, I think the last (or maybe last two, I didn’t see Blue Springs) nats finals spot is still kindof wide open. I quite like the show though, very ambitious. Castle’s show is probably my favorite of theirs since 2018. Also dirty, but there’s time to clean. It’s a given this year that there’s going to be more dirt, so with the bubble bands especially, I think it’ll come down to which can give the cleanest performance. Cmon Round Rock!

Found this Keller performance from tonight where they perform the show with the closer added (starting after the opener). I like what they’ve done with the props at the beginning, it adds much needed verticality to the visual design imo. Keep adding in cool visual touches so the show peaks just at the right time!!! I like how the Hallelujah and Breathless Alleluia themes come back in the closer. Not their most difficult closer ever, but it still leaves a great final impression. Overall, they sound fantastic (at least on this recording). Like Waxahachie, I think they are way too strong fundamentally not to advance to state.

It’s hard to get a read on the music performance because the acoustics of the stadium hide a lot of potential inconsistencies. There is definitely some dirt in the visual performance, which is probably a byproduct of there being so many people on the field. I like the design of the show much more than the 2017 and 2018 shows.

Super clean. Not the longest show, I don’t even think it’s a full 7 minutes…is there still more to add? I don’t think they’ll have a problem advancing, especially since music matters more than marching.

Watching Avon and Carmel back-to-back, I actually thought Carmel was better, but maybe it’s just personal preference. Carmel has fantastic woodwinds and the guard was extremely impactful.

Avon has a great show but is also quite beatable right now in my opinion. The guard wasn’t as solid as I expected.

I love Carmel’s show! Love the Paganini. Maybe my favorite of theirs since Adagio Presto. Also saw Broken Arrow. The visual scale they create on the field is insane. The ballad was stunning (before the video got cut off). I think I would predict them winning the eagle right now.

I know the judging is different, but after BOA DFW, it looks like Keller is still the one to beat (I think they won their Area in 2014, 2016, and 2018*). I would be shocked to see Coppell not advance…also LD Bell (especially since they aren’t attending BOA SA, so all focus will be on UIL.) Call me crazy, but I don’t think Waxahachie should be underestimated one bit. Yes, 14th at BOA DFW seems doomed, but I think this show can do very very well at UIL. Timber Creek is giving probably their cleanest show since their recent rise in success. I would love love love to see them advance. Carroll has a good shot too. Those are my top 6 right now. Haltom missed BOA finals (not surprisingly…I also had them first out). And there’s obviously Duncanville. Idk when the last time was they didn’t advance to state. Though I do think the area judges were extra nice to them in 2018… *Edit: Forgot that Keller *technically* didn’t win that year

Saw a video from mid September of the show. The show feels like an attempt at a BOA show (idk how else to put it) which is ironic cuz they don’t do BOA. It’s like an imitation Broken Arrow show. It’s dark, it’s edgy, the visual theme is ambiguous, and it’s also a mess. There’s actually a good amount of difficulty though. I don’t know how much they’ve cleaned but they got 9th at a local competition this weekend.

Interesting things from the recaps: Keller 1st in individual visual by quite a bit. Bell going from 15th to 3rd in visual GE. The visual GE scores were all over the place in prelims. I agree with them in finals especially with how it’s Keller and Wakeland’s weakness.

Haltom was first out, followed by Waxahachie.