Trumpeter75

Congratulations to all the finalists in 3A marching. Once again the finals were very competitive and as I told friends after prelims and knowing placement that anything can and will happen in finals. I think all bands have those that make comments about this one shouldn’t have been here etc. I know our band received several of those from other band members parked beside them that they did not deserve the medal. Unfortunately that stuff happens in anything you put to a competition-and it usually stems from parents etc that make the remarks. I think the placement was pretty correct. I think Hondo could have been up closer to 5-6th place. My comment to my spouse after Raysmondville and Mineola performed was that if BKB went to BOA comps they would prolly win. It is exciting but lines were not crisp and sound dynamics weren’t there like the reigning champs. Mineola show may not have the glitz as others but the marching and dynamics of play is different. And this coming from a Redwater band family. Same for redwater. They have an exciting show and making gains in the marching and lines and sound dynamics but just not there yet-but improving each year I feel. Like I said I think all communities should feel excited about their band. In these smaller districts the band/fine arts are sometimes more important then the athletics and draw kids into a school more then athletics do. I found it awesome to see pictures of middle schools taking time out of their day to watch their programs play. Those are the moments to remember. Congratulations to all bands who made it to state. It is a tough feat to do year in and year out. Many things have to line up to make it.

Yeah. That second block has possible 4 of top 10 and really prolly your medalist in it. Crazy. Judges better come back from break ready to score.

Well good morning, Here is my little recap from the evening. I thought we had a good presentation of bands today. I wanted to give a few of my thoughts. Mineola- Well deserved all ones in finals. I could make a case that visually Redwater could have taken a point from them from the judges as they did in prelims, but i have no issues with them having straight ones. The colorguard is one of the best in state and really help band visually. good job mineola. Redwater- I thought overall the prelim show as an ensemble sounded better, but issues with the electro sax sound hurt in prelims. In finals I felt the show was very good, electronics still need some adjustment and they need to get those nailed down before state. I think we will have difficulty catching up to Mineola just based on the difference in pieces the woodwinds play between the two groups. I think our brass section and music hold well with them, but there is a diffference in the difficulty of the woodwind pieces. I think visually you can gain points on Mineola, but ultimately a challenging task to take down the champion.. Atlanta- I am just underwhelmed by the show. There are instances that I feel they should just pound the stands and it was just like not there. The upper brass seems not as strong as last year, and the new ending just leaves me going ok...I already finshed clapping for you, why this little ending except for you need to take more time. Commerce-I like the sound that the ensemble has, when they play together. The problem is they do a lot of S line marching and soloist play to me. I think the ensemble music and drill is not as difficult as the bands above them in this area.. Queen City/Winnsboro- I have mentioned multiple times my opinion on Winnsboro show. I thought similiar to Commerce they had some movement of the band and guard, but a lot of soloist/small ensemble play, and whole ensemble did not wow me. I thought QC played their butts off in the finals.. After they finished I said to someone, that just made them State.. I am not a super fan of the show design, but i felt the ensemble play was good and that trumpet player at end was not gonna be denied to hit that ending. Like i have said before, i felt redwater and Mineola were pretty good above the other bands. I am not sure how much Redwater can change or add in the coming week to take points away from Mineola, or stave off a Raymondsville, Whitesboro/Holiday challenge. I have not seen any of those show yet. I think REdwater has an earlier then normal time for state prelims so hopefully that doesn't affect finals placement.. Overall I thought yesterday was a good showing of bands and there was a good crowd of people cheering on these bands. All these bands show hand their heads high as being one of the top 10 bands in this area is one of the hardest I feel. Any of the non qualifying state bands could have made it in another area. Ready for state and to see if this area can capture all the medals again this year.

Well. Gonna be a fun day seeing who makes it out of this area. Can’t lie looking for redwater to make some redemption in the loss to winnsboro at Mineola. Really think draw of finals hurt us there. Hope all have a good run and judges score with fairness and accuracy. I’ve always said it is subjective and it still is but there are some rubrics that they apply to scoring. Anyway. Hope all have a safe travels to the event and let’s get ready to watch some of the best 3A bands in the state of Texas.

I think top 5 moving onto state in order I have them ranked. 1. Mineola 2. Redwater 3. Atlanta 4. Winnsboro 5. Commerce.

I thought the rule I had read is that if one judge is really far away from the other judge then the head judge ask them to convene and discuss why the difference and come up with a moderation in the score be it an in between the two numbers. I think that is what I read in those UIL manuals.

Not sure why they don’t move to Sunday like the 3A contingency plan over Monday. That keeps the issue of busses and drivers down. Weather looks from my tv forecasters that rain will lessen around 8am but then heavy rain and storms return about 4-8pm.

Soccer one ops on YouTube has a good video of pg at Mineola. May also check pleasant grove band boosters FB page they may have one too

Seen on Wills point page an hour later they got second. But at event nothing was noted while students and spectators were watching.

That was not how they were called out at the event.

Battle of the spear results. Due to weather being an issues most of the afternoon and evening the event was switched to a one and done event. Most of the large 4-5a bands withdrew and I had the notion some may pull out just for the fact their bands had been busy over the past 3 weeks and area was just around the corner. With that said there were 11 bands at this contest. Most were 3A bands in and around the area with Hope coming in from Arkansas. results: 1. Redwater - best colorguard and percussion 2. Wills Point-changed after tiebreaker—at event nothing was reported on this so must have happened after the fact 3. Atlanta 4. QC 5. Grand saline 6. Hope (kind of a shocker for me) 7. Quitman 8. Hooks 9. Mt vernon 10. Edgewood 11. Malakoff Yes, I know the competition may not have had the punch that it would have e if weather wasn’t a factor. Redwater did what they need to do. I thought they improved from their last showing, especially from Friday nights show. Electronics still an issue with some soloist working better then others hopefully that can be ironed out before state. I thought the woodwind ensemble sounded better tonight then they have—I think the quartet still needs work . I love the brassy punch at the first of-Here we are, but others may not like that. I look at it as having 4-5 moments where you hand over the credit card and just plaster people to the wall. Still work in progress but making improvements as they go I think their ensemble blend will do well at state in the large dome Atlanta just was uninspiring to me. They sound good at times but nothing just punches me or makes me wanna give my credit card to them. Ending of show is just like—ok was that it? They have 12 tubas and I am was waiting for that deep punch in the middle song and it just did not happen. The others were just forgettable to me nothing to make me really stop my thought and go —who’s that! I think several have made great gains from last year —hooks and Quitman but still a ways away from Mineola and Redwater I think it will be a two dog race at area between Redwater and Mineola. Both have great shows and depending on judges and kids that day, and electronics could change the outcome Just my thought from a band dad

Due to weather this contest has changed to mainly 3a bands playing a one and done finals.

A good source for several of the bands is a YouTuber called Soccer One Ops. He videos several of the contest in the area

My Finals order Mt Pleasant Redwater-I am hoping they come back angry to show why they were a bronze medalist last year. Willis Point PG Hope Ar West Mesquite Atlanta Terrell Marshall Queen city

Schedule I found and posted only had 19 bands with Winnsboro listed as exhibition.