crunchycookie3

Klein Oak was one of the visually cleanest of the morning block, in my opinion. Very, very well performed! That show has grown on me a LOT since Conroe!

Very fitting for this show! I loved seeing it in person at Conroe.

Well done Haltom! Exciting to see the first of ALL 3 BISD schools at State. Does anyone know how many districts with multiple high schools sent all of their programs to state?

Reagan was good! I was a bit surprised by some of the quality of sounds made and some feet timing issues from them. I’m pretty confident that they’ll stay a finalist, but there may be a bit more room for some new faces in the top half of finals.

Timber Creek was definitely clean and loud- they’re making an excellent case for finals! I’m interested to see how their show will be received by a design judge, which would be the only question for finals left in my opinion.

CTJ had a little bit more dirt than I was expecting- but there is SO much to love about that show! They will be in excellent shape for Grand Nats, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see them miss finals here. I absolutely loved the Eras Tour-inspired moment with the guard at the end with the quote of Firebird!

Wow….. that’s some disagreement!

I thought the same thing based on their STL score! I personally don’t connect super well to their show, and I think TWHS, Hebron, Avon, Mason, and Carmel will all have a thing or two to say. Who knows!! I’ve been wrong many times over, and their near-94 is very, very impressive.

Looks like I’ll be eating crow…. and it wasn’t even close! Congrats to Blue Springs! Seems like they’ll be SUPER scary at Nats in a couple weeks.

I’m hoping that’s Bentonville West, not Bentonville

Even if they were, I’m willing to bet that will change with Wakeland’s slot in finals

I was hoping to get to see Hebron, Keller, Flomo, and Coppell today at Show of Shows, but looks like that’s not gonna happen! Does anyone have recent videos of these groups they could share?

To be entirely honest, I haven’t seen any contest streaming service NOT get hate. Flo gets dragged through the mud every DCI season, and Box5 has definitely dropped the ball this season. Quite frankly, I miss when Flo streamed BOA, it seemed to legitimize the sport aspect of the activity. As previously stated above, NFHS is definitely the worst, but I’m curious what people would say is the best alternative.

Looking at what’s happening with Area F right now, I wonder if they kept BOA Waco on the calendar in case of weather impacting Area F (which seems more likely than not at this point.) If Area F gets postponed to a different date, hopefully we will get to see them shine in Waco!

Honestly, I’m a little surprised by Blue Springs. I know it’s just one viewpoint in one video from a week ago, but they didn’t look like the visual powerhouse I’m used to seeing, and I’m thinking they won’t be a match for that TX music either. I’m very interested to see how Saturday shakes out! We may very well be seeing our first TX winner of STL this weekend! Maybe even 2 TX medals??👀

I don't think name plays that much of a role, if at all, anymore. Historically, I would have said that groups in UIL tended to place better on name alone, but that has definitely changed in recent years, at least at the state level. Even in BOA, some groups with wonderful, rich histories have had less successful seasons. Hendrickson--a recent Grand Nats finalist--has missed regional BOA finals twice this year. LD Bell--a Grand Nats champion--missed BOA San Antonio finals five years after winning the competition altogether. Cedar Ridge--a medalist at state last year--failed to advance out of area this year. You're usually not going to see a top-tier program place low, not because of name recognition, but because they are SO consistent in successful show design that properly showcases the students' technical and artistic strengths.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that 43 bands in state prelims makes this the largest SMBC in UIL history!

It seems the other areas know their prelims placements, does anyone know how it stacked up here?

…moving past the negativity, glad to see that many groups are reaching above and beyond today! To be honest, Keller kind of took my breath away at Prosper finals, and hearing that they are at an entirely new level is all the more exciting.

Not that I condone the other behavior from others on this chat, but this is also not true- Bell rightfully won Prosper prelims by nearly a full point and placed above all other Area B competitors (except for Coppell) in Bedford finals. They are a true force this year. Coppell also has a lovely show. Both of these things can be true

While this trend is true, I think it’s important to remember that the performance captions still play a role in BOA, and Waxahachie and Keller were still quite below groups like Bell, Timber Creek, and Keller Central in those captions. It’s not that they have poorer products than normal this year—it seems Bell as a 3-grade high school has finally weathered their COVID struggles and that band as an activity is beginning to really take off all across KISD.

Personally, I think DFW bands tend focus more on an extremely refined, polished, and “pretty” product, whereas Houston bands seem to place more emphasis on having an “exciting” product. One is not better than the other, however I am much more partial to DFW style of band as it feels more artful. Pearland seems to be an exception—they feel to me like a DFW band that has been placed in Houston.

I cannot imagine how difficult this must be for these students. The students at Brazoswood have a great product this year, and they deserve to be recognized for their incredible work. The determination and strength of these kids is quite impressive.

So true- I’m hoping with 14 state finalists this year we’ll see that change finally!

And knowing Area I, there’s someone not even being discussed right now who’s gonna advance to state. I love/hate this time of year!!