Liam Allen

And Panther Creek just blew the walls down. Incredible woodwinds. Brass is great as well. A few individual errors in marching. Some missed releases by milliseconds. This show will push 4A to its limits.

As of right now it appears that rain will hold off until about 11 pm.

Godley - having to follow CS is a time slot of all time. Lots of unclear melodic material. The fact that it still sounds like that makes me think that it’s not the band; could easily be arranging. Some really great moments in there. Balance is great when it hits.

China Spring - I don’t think that’s quite the run you wanted. There’s some spots that just don’t sound confident. I’ll chalk it up to Area jitters I guess. Other than that, some balance issues here and there and some feet issues here and there. Individual error is hard to delete, but you have to do it. Unbelievable sound in some spots. Go take it to Finals.

Venus - fun show. Western fits well. The horse broke horse character before she got behind the prop though.

Southwest - very impressive playing for that size. Carol Britten Chambers writes another baller book. Brass stuff was pretty tight; woodwind stuff was close behind. Great stuff.

Springtown - I’m hearing really impressive things in this warmup. Solid sounds being made. Visual is not being executed on a high level yet. Lots of individual error. Horns are killing except for a high G that needed to be a little higher. Overall, good things happening.

I am now in the stands for live roasting.

Can’t beat the multiple springs accusations lol

Son Lux went hard! Clearly yall have fun playing it.

Hebron - my second viewing of the Holy Hebron Marching Band. I can still smell the excellence. So I took no notes during the performance. I was too busy having multiple heart attacks. Going back through is going to be fun. From the first note of the first part, absolute clarity and musicality exists. However I found myself shocked to find a few errors. There was a single marcher on side 2 2 steps off the 50 that wasn’t in line. A trumpet held over a release in part 1. There’s some feet issues. That’s it. That’s all I can find. Everything else is entirely opinion-based. I wish the trombone gliss feature in Harmonium was more gooey in its entrances. It’s closer to it than the last time I saw it. I couldn’t quite hear the last part of the trumpet double tonguing over the trombones. I could use more of the small brass ensemble in the ballad. The huge woodwind feature at the front in Rocky Point needs to penetrate the rest of the ensemble. And now fire some positivity: Steven Solis-Welch is the best conductor I’ve seen on a high school podium. It would be a crime for him to not go into music education. What a spectacular performance. I can’t say enough.

THAT Wylie Band - I’ve heard good things about this show. Great preshow. This alto sax soloist is tapping his foot like he knows he’s about to shred. What an opening hit. I think these uniforms make viz hard to read. Great cue from the drum major for the beat 2 entrance. Good tuning in the trumpet sax duet. Update: the sax guy shredded. Ballad is killing. And altissimo from sax guy. He can’t stop himself lol. Oh my god Evan VanDoren finally wrote a mellophone note above F. Cool visual moment with all the individual people running through the circles to pairs. Hey Jude hit hard. Holy crap sax guy. Holy crap. As a sax guy myself, you’ve made me a very happy man. Altissimo D is crazy. Incredible performance tonight!

Waxahachie - They’re back for more and I’m ready for it! Playing the Carolina in my Mind chorale is a baller move for a warm up. Some trouble in the pit triplet runs. Still phenomenal tenor sax playing. Great shaping of the woodwind lines. Great transparency of sound. Fantastic opening hit! Cleeeean brass feature! I’m laughing at how freaking clean that was. Great shaping of the phrase. Powerful last impact. Check that Gb tuning horn soloist. Fantastic musicality on the Ticheli; he and Santa Clara Vanguard are very proud right now. Little tuning error on the mellophone D; a few people were about 2 or 3 cents sharp. Again the comment is yelled out “beautiful”! And we’re vibing with the tenor sax again. Holy crap sax soloists. I’m dead. Alto sax altissimo G goes crazy! Great closing hit and a great performance tonight!

Keller - my second time hearing this but my first time hearing the closer which I’m hype for. Alto flute is a great color. Good build in intensity. Excellent balance in the hit. Good shaping of the woodwind line. Some of the hits lack impact; I think it’s just some battery thing. Good woodwinds once again. As usual, great trombones from Keller. Great hit. Really clear sound and melodic lines. The organ has once again made an appearance from Keller. Oh Godspeed is freaking phenomenal. Nobody does closers like Keller. MORE ORGAN AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!! Outstanding performance tonight!

Southlake Carroll - my second viewing of this. Can’t wait to see some bubbles again! Good visual at the beginning. Such a unified decrescendo! Woodwind run shape is great. Don’t shortchange the end of the feature though. Great jam moment. Effective visual moment in the eye of the fish. Clarinets could check their A tuning. Good build in the hit. Some inconsistency in the leg pop and coming out of it. Wow, low brass is on another level. Clean drumbreak. Here comes the Bluecoats special. Some timing issues front to back. Pretty sure the soloists are a little ahead. What a wall of brass sound! Oh wow the clarity in the section features there was incredible. What a great closer and an incredible performance tonight!

Rockwall - the uniforms look like Crown 2011. Cool. Holy cow that leg visual was cleeeeean. Great intro ok Festive Overture. Clarinet solo was good with the exception of inconsistent eighth note length. Shostakovich wanted it long, but people play it short. Do either, not both. The arrival at the brass chorale moment must be heroic. Trumpets need to sing through their ascending line. Mars is going very well, could use another look at note length on the iconic stabs. Fantastic solos. Is the soprano sax bending up to that D? Don’t know if I like that. Delete the bass drop at the end of the ballad. Entirely acoustic release please. Wow trumpet quartet. Wow. Great sixteenth drop into tonic. Great performance tonight!

Yeah that’s an issue for a lot of people. You’ve got to have everybody unified and hype to close it, and it takes a lot to get there. Really nitpicky comment though, you’re on a good level if that’s what I’m complaining about lol

Keller Central - my second viewing in as many weeks. Didn’t realize there was Peter Graham in there. Swingin’ opener! Great woodwinds there. I think saxes blew one little phrase. Hi mellophones! Really good clarity from the brass. Saxes need to control the intonation on their high C#. Holy cow mellophones! Push through to the end though on both long notes. Tasty flugelhorn. I think that move in lines to the front needs more definition if the upper body direction. Some people going all different directions with their shoulders during the move. Great intonation from the flugelhorn! Solid tuning on the extended chord. The contras give a more direct sound and I dig it. Dear god mellophones coming at me again. Excellent clarity from woodwind runs. Ah don’t die in the middle of the last note and then push. Fantastic feel at the end. Great performance tonight!

It’s whole steps so you can only get two scales out of it. It’s the C whole tone scale and the Db whole tone scale. If you go up to D then it’s just the C scale again starting on D. Eventually you’ll get to modes where you actually do start on different notes of a scale and it’s technically in a different key.

JJ Pearce - I wonder what Percy Grainger would think of his music being on a football field. Still, good translation. Great visual moment with those line moves. Solid section features. The synth’s higher range isn’t cutting off at the same time as the band. I might be hearing some weird harmony on the ballad hit, but I also might be losing it. If the flute soloist can get that trill all the way to where it wants to go that will fix that phrasing issue. Some good use of grace notes in the whole show. Oh my god it’s an EWI! Woodwinds all on swing flags is crazy. It works. Great performance tonight!

Getting more judgy as the night goes on lol

Did you learn that there’s only two of them? Only 3 diminished scales too.

Oh come on man it’s not dingy it’s an artistic choice lol Yeah that’s me

Welcome to brass band repertoire lol! Shame I like to put at least 1 in all the shows I write.

Plano - some idiot blasting rap from his car covering up what I’m sure was a great opening chorale. Skill from the woodwinds for sure; some whole tone scales in there. Cool drum line visuals lol. Brass clarity and time are issues. Mellos struggling on a high b; rest in peace for that note. Again, excellent woodwind sound. I wish we could take some edge off of the tenor saxes though. I think that the mello book is a little too unachievable. Saxophones losing tuning on an E which isn’t shocking but vent it with your low Bb. Some tasty beats from percussion; always like to hear brake drum. Saxophones are getting sharp on all the notes now. Good push to the end. Great performance tonight!