mbui

Ohh, the love on this forum. Btw, I posted this in the other section of the forum but here's a picture of the TXBands crew at BOA San Antonio: The TXBands.com Team @ 2007 BOA San Antonio From left to right: Michael Bui (mbui), Alex Khan (Clarinot), Travis Imken (Dynasty), Daniel Sanchez (Xenon). Not Pictured: Dan Valdez (Danpod). I think he was wandering around on the field when we took this pic. Geez, we're old. Especially me and both Dan's.

The Alamodome's public address system was discussed on the BOA's podcast.... http://www.musicforall.org/Multimedia/podcasts/ The Alamodome is under minor renovation and they are in the process of installing a brand new PA system for the building. For some reason the Alamodome crew decided to take out several of the speakers prior to the Friday Prelims. After what happened Friday night with the speakers being shot out and fried, the dome crew worked all night on Friday and installed temporary speakers for the remainder of the Super Regional on Saturday.

Probably because they already went last year. BOA Grand Nationals is limited to 90 bands. http://www.musicforall.org/programs/gn/enrollment.aspx However, in the past if there are only a couple of more (like 92-95) bands signed up for Grand Nationals, rather than turn them down of such an incredible experience, BOA will more than likely accept them into the competition. They can always squeeze in a few more bands.

You're probably thinking about Mansfield HS. They competed at the BOA St. Louis Super Regional last year.

I've had quite a few people ask me about this so I hope I'm not way off base with this because I have yet to see Pan's Labyrinth. But... The little girl in L.D. Bell's show is supposed to be Ofelia (the girl from the movie) and the person dressed in the yellow mummy fabric is supposed to represent the Fawn in the movie. Pictures of Ofelia and the Fawn in L.D. Bell's show from San Antonio: http://www.bandorders.com/view_user_photo....62910&SUB=0 http://www.bandorders.com/view_user_photo....62910&SUB=0 "The Faun is there with his fairy companions flying around him (including the ones previously eaten by the monster). She learns that by giving up the eternal life as the princess to save her baby brother, she has completed the final task and proven herself to be the Princess Moanna. The camera pans back up to the surface world, where a faint smile passes across the girl's face as she draws her last breath." Also, the part where Ofelia dies in the show.... I hate to use superlatives but...the feeling I had when I saw the show in Prelims was unbelievable. I thought I had it bad when I teared up throughout the show but people all around me were bawling.

If you're a Virtual Member of the Music for All Network, full Finals Videos are now online from the San Antonio Super Regional. http://my.musicforall.org/?page=supervideo

If you're a Virtual Member of the Music for All Network, full Finals Videos are now online from the San Antonio Super Regional. http://my.musicforall.org/?page=supervideo

Yup, that was me. It would be awesome to have them perform at Grand Nationals as a guest exhibition band.

Where did you sit? I was in Section 312, Row 19, Seat 2.

Gotta put a face to the name..... The TXBands.com Team @ BOA San Antonio From left to right: Michael Bui (mbui), Alex Kahn (Clarinot), Travis Imken (Dynasty), Daniel Sanchez (Xenon). Not Pictured: Dan Valdez (Danpod). I think he was wandering around on the field when we took this pic.

Yes! That was the first thing that I thought of.

BOA has been pretty lenient on their camera policy. Portable digital and point and shoot cameras are fine. It's just the professional ones with huge lenses in excess of 4 inches that are a no-no.

The bands that I had in Finals such as Leander, Cypress Falls, and Clear Brook all had strong performances in Prelims. Why they didn't place higher and advance to Finals at San Antonio? Stiff competition. Plain and simple. This was the most competitive Regional of the entire season, bar none. The top 15-20th place bands were Finalists worthy, IMO. That's how strong Texas bands are this year.

Two different captions---they were 2nd in Visual Performance Individual and 13th in Visual Performance Ensemble. The Individual judge is on the field judging the band's individual body carriage, posture, and body/leg technique. The press box Ensemble judge is judging the band's drill sets, color guard, and creativity.. Are their sets clean, are they arriving their sets in time? Stuff like that. Hope that helps.

Yep, it's happened before. At the early season 2000 BOA San Antonio Regional, L.D. Bell scored an 89.65 in both Prelims and Finals.

Thanks for the comments. But, just a few things I've observed this year.... Richland: Trumpet issues. It became a little problem especially during their opener "Turbine" at San Antonio with people sticking out. But other than that, they have a great show. Visual design is the best I've ever seen from Richland. Ronald Reagan: They're solid execution wise. I just want a little more depth in the show. It doesn't have that "umph" to it compared to previous shows. However, I doubt what we saw in San Antonio is the full show. They're heading in the right direction. Clear Brook: Sell the show. Put emotion into it. I've seen the band four times this year and some of the performances lacked emotion and it felt flat. If they sell it like they did in Prelims at BOA Houston and BOA San Antonio, they'll be fine at Nationals. It's great to see how much Brook has improved over the years. L.D. Bell: Main issue that I saw in San Antonio, especially in Finals, was Visual Ensemble. A lot of sets didn't lock and it got a little sloppy. Musically the band sounds great this year. Overall, this show is such a treat to see in person. The Woodlands: Sometimes the upper brass (trumpet) is a little bright at times. Their show is GREAT this year. I would love to see them utilize the sudoku theme a little more though. I do love the narration and drill moments with the numbers. The ending is clever! Great woodwinds. Stephen F. Austin: Shape their ensemble sound a little bit. It can get a little sloppy at times especially when they get into the fast parts in the closer. But other than that, they have a elegant, classy, and beautiful show. I haven't seen Mabank at all this year so I can't comment on them. I'm just really looking forward to seeing all of the Texas bands at Nationals. They're going to make our state proud.

Sorry if my post came out as "biased" against a certain band. I have no affiliation with any of the bands that competed at BOA San Antonio. I graduated from Angleton HS (south of Houston). We only did two BOA's which was back in 2001. But, people were asking me left and right for pics of L.D. Bell. I first posted this on the BOA Forums because a lot of the out of state people were talking about their show and they were curious. So, I posted pictures for them to see. I then decided to copy and paste it on here on the TXBands Forums because well...I'm a regular here. Like I said, I have additional pics in my photo album for your viewing pleasure. As for the musical selections/repertoires, that came STRAIGHT from the BOA program with the exception of Richland because I'm familiar with their musical selections. So my apologies if I didn't type out the musical selections for Marcus. With the exception of Make Our Garden Grow, I don't know the name of the opener and closer. It wasn't listed in the program. It just had the show title and the movement names. Again, the recaps were just for fun. Don't take it personally.

Below are my own personal score recaps from Finals as well as my Prelims scores and rankings. I didn't post the Prelims full recap because that's going to take forever and a day to type up. I'll post it eventually if anyone wants it. Keep in mind that this was for fun. Actual recaps can be found on Monday on the Bands of America website. In addition, I posted pictures of several of the Finalists bands----Brazoswood, Cedar Park, Marcus, L.D. Bell, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, The Woodlands & Richland. (Recommended for high speed internet users only.) I took about 100 pictures at the competition. You can view the rest of them on my Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=513400887. Congrats to everyone that performed at the Super Regional. You guys were all fantastic. Brazoswood HS, TX "Rain" featuring The Passion (John Debney), Cloudburst (Eric Whitacre), Escapade (Joseph Spaniola), Water Night (Eric Whitacre) & Aegean Festival Overture (Andreas Makris) (Bands forms the sun. Rain......sun, get it?) Cedar Park HS, TX "The Pursuit of Happiness" including Dance of the Tumblers, Claire de Lune, and Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (The winking eye....) (Cedar Park at the end of their show.) Marcus HS, TX "Botanika" (Ladybug attacks the field!) (Band performing their ballad---Bernstein's Make Our Garden Grow.) L.D. Bell HS, TX "TRANSCENDents" featuring Claude Debussy's "Engulfed Cathedral", Steve Reich's "Variations for Winds, Strings & Percussion", Javier Navarette's "Pan's Labyrinth", and Eric Whitacre's "Lux Aurumque: Light of Gold" (Little girl on the right.) (Opening statement.) ("Tinker box" drill.) (Continuation of the "tinker box" drill moment.) (Floating clouds.) (Little girl singing.) (Guard surrounding little girl.) Westfield HS, TX "One” Winston Churchill HS, TX "Letters from Home" featuring the music of Aaron Copland, Bela Bartok, John Rutter and Morton Gould (Band during the moment of silence.) Ronald Reagan HS, TX "It Chooses Me" featuring themes from Symphonie Fantastique by Hector Berlioz and original music by Aaron Guidry The Woodlands HS, TX "Sequenza" featuring Profonation by Leonard Bernstein and Einstein on the Beach by Philip Glass 5 6 (Band reveals all of the numbers along with the woodwind feature--lower right block.) Richland HS, TX "iShow" featuring the music of Halo, Turbine by John Mackey, Vide cor Meum by Hans Zimmer and Song of Aeolus by Karl Jenkins Awards Ceremony (Go for it, break ranks!)

Reading the previous posts about crossing the line in marching band.... Maybe it's just me but marching band is not just about marching and performing a classical piece of music. Marching band is an art form. A performing art. To me, the football field is a canvas and the band and colorguard acts as the paint.

Just got back from San Antonio. What a fantastic competition. Congratulations to all of the bands that participated. I saw all 55 of you that performed in Prelims in addition to the 14 Finalist bands. What a weekend. Pics to come.

Word.

http://www.bucband.org/video/USSBA-2007.wmv Brazoswood's performance at the USSBA TX State Championships last Saturday. ------- Westfield's performance at a football game a couple of weeks ago. (Note: The band has a different closer now.)

I died laughing when one of the girls was trying to fake punch the other girl. (:57 mark)

Area F Finals Music Judge 1 - Music Judge 2 - Music Judge 3 - Marching Judge 1 - Marching Judge 2 1. Friendswood HS: 1 - 1- 1- 1- 2 2. Dickinson HS: 2 - 2 - 2 - 2 - 1 3. Little Cypress-Mauriceville HS: 4 - 3 - 5 - 3 - 6 ----- 4. Galena Park HS (Alternate): 5 - 4 - 6 - 4 - 3 5. Vidor HS: 3 - 6 - 4 - 7- 4 6. Lumberton HS: 6 - 5 - 3 - 6 - 7 7. Huntsville HS: 7 - 7- 7- 5- 5 Prelims 1. Dickinson HS 2. Friendswood HS 3. Lumberton HS 4. Little Cypres-Mauriceville HS 5. Galena Park HS 6. Huntsville HS 7. Vidor HS 8. Barbers Hill HS 9. Dayton HS 10. Santa Fe HS 11. Willis HS 12. Hargrave HS 12. Montgomery HS 14. Crosby HS 15. C.E. King HS Entire Area F recap can be found @: http://www.uilforms.com/regions/19/AreaMar...eaF-Results.pdf

They've made Finals at BOA Regionals for years now. But, with not making Finals at BOA Houston (and still winning the Prelims Music caption), I'm really excited to see Brazoswood again and I hope they excel and get back into Finals at San Antonio. They have a GREAT show this year. I've seen them several times this year at BOA Houston, UIL Region 17 & USSBA State and the show just gets better and better. Their intro (from The Passion) is the most emotional opening statement of the season for me. Can't wait to see them.