Dallas Hobbs

Class 3A Caption Awards Outstanding Music Performance: Blue Springs Outstanding Visual Performance: Blue Springs Outstanding General Effect: Blue Springs

Class 4A Caption Awards Outstanding Music Performance: Westwood Outstanding Visual Performance: O’Fallon Township Outstanding General Effect: (tie) Bentonville and O’Fallon Township

Also “University High School” is an interesting name for a secondary-level educational institution lol

Excited to see the results considering this is a big, out of state contest.

I like watching bands that do what they do with conviction, and McKinney was certainly one of them. Their appearance in finals was justified by their big sound and clean marching, and the composure they demonstrated in finals night. A very well prepared and fun show to watch. I loved the vibe of the rhapsody in blue in the closer!

I think Flo has gotten better based on the quality of the DCI recordings. In the past, I felt that Box5’s were better with their visual and audio quality than Flo. Box5 looked clearer, more vibrant, and sounded clearer as well. I remember someone last year saying that NFHS’s audio quality sounded like the performers were backfield all the time and I see what they mean. And there were issues with the color saturation (e.g. blues looking like purples or vice versa, I think). As well as ill-timed camera panning and zooming. yeah I want someone else, too. Lol

Anyone know the name of the pieces LD Bell plays this year? I know one of them is “Firefly” by Ryan George

Btw yay LD Bell for making state in two consecutive cycles! First time they’ve done so in 11 years (2010 & 2012 cycles).

I at first was gracious with NFHS last year but over time realized that the streaming quality really isn’t the same as Box5tv and it was less satisfying

I remember feeling really impressed by the sportsmanship the crowd showed to every group in finals. It felt like a very supportive atmosphere.

I was only at Area C for finals. I haven’t seen either school’s show this year

What I loved about McKinney Boyd was that they picked a piece, Machu Picchu, that had a variety of performance responsibilities which included fast technical passages as well as the slower lyrical passages which allow you to hear the quality of their tone. And I liked how the visual design was set up where the props were present to showcase the theme, but were spread out far enough that the program could use the space of the field to show of their mastery of comped drill formations. It exposed the visuals more I swear Rock Hill is one of the smoothest moving groups I’ve ever seen. When I first saw them on the Box5 livestream at BOA prosper their marching was the first thing that stood out to me. Omg Wylie is one of the most professional sounding groups out there. It was so cool to listen to how cleanly the brass could enter in the ballad with all that silence surrounding them. They ensembles maintains the integrity of their tone and tempo so easily despite how varied their responsibilities are. One of the groups I wish I could listen to in person again.

Omg Wylie East immediately stood out to me with the mastery of their marching technique at faster tempos. And I loved that brass feature with all the fast slurs and double-tonguing. The talent level was definitely different from some of the groups I saw at Area B. My souls is currently trying to re-enter my body after watching their performance yesterday! Lol My goodness, they are a program that excels at a high-risk/high-reward performance style. Every year they demonstrate levels of musicianship I’d never heard before. One of my favorite moments was during the 2nd mvt(?) where there were these ascending pentascales in the mellos and woodwinds that just kept getting higher and higher. I was like “omg where are they gonna stop?” Once again the most impressive musical group of the season

*gears turning in my head trying to remember their show* ⚙️ ⚙️ *checks YouTube* “Oh right that show!” Superb sonority during that trombone feature in the opener. I love that tune! I remember Marcus playing it in their 2018 show. That drill formation with the big line moving through the big circle was impressive because of the demand required to execute. A very deserving finalist group who’s shown considerable improvement over the season

I was actually in attendance for finals! Any band(s) you want commentary on, specifically?

Was there a rule change for this year? Because I know for the past two years we had ties for the last state spot and those were broken by judges preference. (I think they were both area b, or was one also in area c?)

Ok I’m starting to remember. I looked up some pictures of the show online and I remember being impressed by how well they made that big circle formation in the opener. I know large curvilinear formations like that take work to pull of. I see on the results sheet that the two visual judges placed them higher than 2/3 of the music judges, so it seems their visual proficiency was at a high level during prelims and they were close to making finals because of it

Could you refresh my memory on what your show was about? They were the show that got away from me, I forgot to comment on them. I’ll do my best to comment on what I remember from their performance. I did not stay for finals but I did see them in prelims.

That’s UIL for ya!😍

Btw my apologies for not commenting on Richardson high school. I know someone asked about them. Somehow I forgot to comment on them. I even forgot to put a place for them in my prelims placement predictions!🤦🏾‍♂️ But I see that they got 14th place out of 35(!) bands so they must have been superb anyway!

wow so 1st through 7th place didn’t change at all

Finals results. State qualifiers were 6th place and up. (these were posted late because the txbands website’s dang server was in shambles all night!): AREA CHAMPION🏆- Hebron Marcus Flower Mound Wylie Prosper Wylie East McKinney Boyd Rockwall Lakeview Centennial Byron Nelson McKinney Rock Hill fun fact I correctly predicted 1st-7th place. 8th-12th could’ve been more accurate but not too shabby.

My heavens, the server was in shambles all night and I couldn’t post anything because the dang website would not load!

How am I nervous before watching Hebron perform when I didn’t even go there?

Ok because I have band ocd I might leave immediately after the last group performs so I can get over to mesquite earlier enough to get the seat i want lol. If I do not post the finalists here, is there someone who can?