tubapop

Bridgeland was hosting this contest and I volunteered, so I can shed a little light. First things first, Bridgeland was just providing volunteers. Not at all in charge of high level decisions about the contest. That is the state UIL and the venue is operated by CFISD employees who were voluntold to participate. i think that uil and CFISD did the best they could under the circumstances. They can’t control the rain and they cannot afford domed stadiums for all the area contests. That is a financial and logistical impossibility. they provided indoor shelter to the bands that were stranded in the rain, inside Berry center. They covered instruments and equipment the best they could. Tarps were used for equipment left in the parking lot and for front ensembles on the field for Cy woods. Who by the way eventually won the contest with all equipment seemingly working as it should. All volunteers, uil, and CFISD employees worked together to make the best of a bad situation. yes, the students didn’t get to put their best foot forward. But there were a lot of positives. For one, the kids learned to deal with some adversity. As a parent I don’t necessarily want my kids cruising through their teen years with no challenges where they have to rise to meet the moment. That is what champions do. That is what everyday heroes do. That is what adults have to do. Strange scoring/judging debates aside, that is what cy woods did, and congrats to them for doing so. As a volunteer who directed the students off the field after performing, I didn’t encounter ONE sourpuss kid. They were all clearly tired but focused, and consistently polite and respectful. “Yes sir no sir thank you sir good luck to Bridgeland sir.” I saw social media videos on Bridgeland’s page with all the Bridgeland kids high fiving the Katy kids as they headed out to perform. i think ALL of the bands had a hard night and they all rose to the occasion, if not in victory or in advancing to state, then to being a total class act in difficult circumstances. Band contests aside, this music community is raising some great adults, leaders, and human beings of tomorrow.

Poor cinco ranch. Were it not for Cy lakes DQ, cinco would’ve gone to state.

First rule of living in Houston, the weatherman always overestimates the chance of rain. I predict the contest will go forward on Saturday as planned.

Agreed. I thought the same of the New York champion. The California champion was actually pretty impressive, but a small band, so easier to pull off difficult shows.

This is the second time I’ve heard someone say difficulty plays a minimal role at area. Don’t they use the same scoresheets at area and state? https://www.uiltexas.org/files/music/Area:State_Adjudication_Sheets.pdf

I don't think Woods' show complexity is enough to win area, tbh.

I don't remember which captions they do at Area, but I feel pretty good about Bridgeland taking home all but music (non-percussion). Cy Woods just makes great sounds.

OK, I misunderstood

Bridgeland's brass has historically been a weak link and the woodwinds outperform them. Last year state UIL finals, the woodwinds came in ahead of Pearland, Coppell, Reagan and TWHS. The brass lost to everyone but Cy Fair and Keller. And this year, the sounds coming from the brass section, particularly high brass, are weak, uncontrolled, and shrill. I'm not imagining it; the music scores this year have been a problem for us at each contest, with music being a factor at Webster, losing the music caption at Lone Star Preview, and losing one music judge at Berry. Unfortunately, it's not something that's easy to fix - you can't magically transform your brass section into a powerhouse overnight. It takes years and starts at the feeder middle schools. Bridgeland has established relationships now with the feeder schools and I'm hoping that translates to great things from the brass a few years down the line. I think an exception is the percussion. Mr. Ngyuen has transformed that section into a beast, and now he works (part time?) at the feeder school, so by the time they are marching freshmen at BHS, they've already been trained for 3+ years by ex-phantom regiment member obsessed with winning.

lol never mind

Could be wrong but I don’t think berry is one of the fancy contests where they release that info

JET gonna give Bridgeland a run for its money

Very impressed with Langham’s show! First time I really got to see it. The drill is more challenging than expected and while they have a bit of dirt it’s probably going to be in good shape in a week or two.

I will be at the contest and awards later today and will be sure to report back with the results.

is there a vid of pearland anywhere? can't seem to find one. i was at boa webster but missed them in both prelims and finals.

I think they meant that Tarpon, like Texas bands, spends a substantial sum on a regular basis to travel to GN in Indy. Avon and Carmel spend virtually nothing, so their total spend over time has been minimal. Hence they should fork over some money from time to time and make the trip down here to compete at BOA-SA. I don't necessarily agree with this take; as I mentioned earlier, I'd prefer BOA-SA be largely restricted to bands competing on a level playing field in terms of allowed practice time. I don't like the idea of a bubble Texas band not making finals at BOA-SA because Avon and Carmel, who get far more practice time than the Texas bubble bands do, take up more space at the top. Perhaps those bubble bands might be as good as Avon and Carmel if they had the same practice time.

I actually like BOASA being mostly Texas bands who are under the same practice restrictions. It’s a more level playing field. Avon and Carmel get far more practice time. Feels like they’d be muddying up the results. If they’re skrd to come down, I’m fine with them staying up there.

All the points yall are making are fair, but I just didn’t think the other poster’s prediction was necessarily “bold.” Interesting history, at langham in the mid 90s the head director would get very frustrated with BOA for rewarding the things they did. We were amazing from a UIL perspective, incredibly incredibly clean, but just not the visual and general effect you’d want in a boa show. Eventually he said screw boa and we stopped going for several years. Tried again later and same result, so they stopped going altogether, even as they were ranking as high as 4th (or maybe it was 5th?) at state.

How is it bold? Langham was dead last at BOA Webster.

Got my sweatshirt today. Looks real comfortable for the cold Indy weather.

Most of the prolific commenters here seem to have real time knowledge of how many bands in the state are progressing. So I’m wondering, what’s the source of your knowledge? Do you really attend that many BOA or independent contests? Is there a treasure trove of videos online somewhere im not aware of? Word of mouth? Attending football games or watching online?

Isn't Leander going to GN too? How are they going to handle GN, state, and BOASA? Insane.

Where did you find the schedule? I see several sites for the contest but none has a schedule. Would be thankful for a link.

Bridgeland attends every other year

Bridgeland is