Mad.Hatter

I was fortunate enough to attend both BOA Conroe and Westlake with friends and we had the same impression regarding how Dripping Springs fared at the two events and how it was an interesting illustration of the different scoring systems. There was not a lot of new elements to their show over the week; and the quality in performances were fairly consistent, maybe a little cleaner this week. They looked good and had their usual solid ensemble sound in both finals. Their visual and GE scores were low at BOA, though.

You're correct. Hendrickson did drop. Looking at my recap they finished 2nd in 5A prelims behind Round Rock and 5th in finals. (Dripping Springs competed in 4A) Don't remember seeing anything in finals between them, O'Connor and Anderson that would have changed that other than different judges. That's marching! :-)

Finals order Hays Cedar Ridge Hendrickson Cedar Park Connally Canyon Lake Travis Vista Ridge Dripping Springs Vandegrift

UIL REGION 18 (Area D) Tuesday, October 19, 2010 Toney Burger Athletic Center, Austin 4A BANDS 3:30 - Eastside Memorial 3:45 - Travis 4:00 - Reagan 4:15 - Lanier 4:30 - Crockett 4:45 - Lockhart 5:00 - McCallum BREAK 5:30 - Bastrop 5:45 - LBJ 6:00 - Connally 6:15 - Dripping Springs 6:30 - Jack C. Hays 6:45 - Hendrickson 7:00 - Lehman BREAK 5A BANDS 8:00 - Austin 8:15 - Bowie 8:30 - Akins 8:45 - Del Valle 9:00 - Anderson 9:15 - Westlake 9:30 - Pflugerville 9:45 - San Marcos

Ugh; that is irksome. This isn't WGI or a percussion contest;percussion and auxiliary shouldn't be as high as marching and music at a marching band contest (IMHO), but I'd hate to enter ANOTHER debate on scoring systems. Don't know the rubrics used at Westlake or Cap City - I didn't attend either - but I guess the controversy in scoring is half the fun on these boards...

What better time to talk MARCH-ing!!!

Love Friendswood. I hope y'all go and do well; put in a good word for us 4A bands

Area D 4A was already heavy - sending 3 bands into finals at State this year and 4 finalists in '07. Now we add Cedar Park who's been one of the top 5A bands, Connally who finished 2nd at State in '07, Vista Ridge who made 4A finals in '07 and then 5A State in '08, and Vandegrift who just missed out on State in their first year! WOW - it's going to be tough getting through this group in 2011.

Just now catching up on sleep from Tuesday. The State contest was great. I missed the first block of bands but saw everybody else. The level of competition was incredible. Seemed everytime a band finished we would turn to each other and say - wow, they were really good too! Congratulations to all the finalists and to Poteet (awesome as always), Friendswood (my personal favorite show), and especially Dripping Springs, our compadre in district, way to go! We squeeked by you in Area but you got the Big One and deservedly so - LOVE the color guard. Things I remember: big dancing shoes, a dead chess piece, Juliet falling on top of Romeo (whack!), the girl getting literally thrown out of heaven, over-priced food, the Dripping Springs and Hendrickson bands exchanging congrats in the lot, the Waxahachie band correcting the announcer on how to pronounce their name in the Finals retreat, TCU playing Voodoo Chile on tuba, and 26 of the best high school bands in Texas throwing it down in the 'Dome! Ahhh, good times.........

Was Del Valle at State in '07 or am I reading your asterisk (nothing personal ) wrong?

Agreed. Hendrickson's a young program and apparently still learning. Sorry for any...um...questionable posts. Please Hawk Band, read your comment before you post it and ask yourself "would Mr. G approve." Let's show the respect and discipline on this board that we do in competition. As for Friendswood, we saw you at Lonestar Preview and - wow - IMHO you should have been first over Brazoswood. Full sound, crisp marching, beautiful music - it'll be a very good band to place ahead of you at State. We also got to see Dawson there and enjoyed their show as well; glad to see them advancing.

Amen to that. First...fourth...as long as you're at the party!

Also, I still love Lake Travis' show and was hoping they would get through. Vandergrift was impressive for their first year of competition. I also enjoyed watching their director on the side as much as watching the band on the field; he was non-stop pacing and very into it. Steele had a nice full sound and I loved the stars in the hats in place of the plumes, nice touch. McCallum also sounded very good. Really, all the bands in finals were good; it was a tough one to judge.

Ahh, the joys of UIL scoring. Two years ago was the same. You'd see a band get second, third, ninth! There always seems to be that judge or two who is looking for something very different from the others. I thought all the finalists were very strong. As each one finished I would think - wow, they were good, too. But I think the judges probably got it right in the end. Hendrickson was really on in finals and I'm a little surprised by the one 5th place in music; I don't get the sixth place rank from one judge for Dripping Springs, they looked as good as ever; LBJ's music was beautifully done, a very nice show, as well as Hays. Congrats to all the bands and especially to those going on to State. It was a great night of bands.

I like Dripping Springs and Hendrickson to make it thru to State. The other two spots will be interesting; I like Lake Travis' show, if they're clean then I think they'll be there. I'll go with Steele for the fourth spot. Great to see Crockett at Area; they were IT around here back in the late 70s/early 80s.

Posted Schedule for UIL Area D Prelims: Clemens HS Dripping Springs HS McCallum HS Alamo Heights HS Lehman HS Lake Travis HS Crockett HS --BREAK Canyon HS Lampasas HS San Marcos HS Killeen HS Vandegrift HS Seguin HS --BREAK Jack C. Hays HS Midway HS Hendrickson HS Steele HS Waco HS LB Johnson HS Jefferson HS

REGION 18 , Oct 20 @ Burger Center, Austin 4A Crockett....................1-1-1 Dripping Springs.........1-1-1 East Side Mem (NV)....3-3-4 Hendrickson...............1-1-1 Jack C. Hays..............1-1-1 Lanier........................2-2-2 LBJ............................1-1-1 Lehman.....................2-1-1 Lockhart....................2-2-2 McCallum...................1-1-1 Reagan (NV)..............1-1-3 San Marcos................1-1-2 Travis (NV)................3-2-1 5A Akins........................1-1-1 Anderson...................1-1-1 Austin.......................2-2-2 Bastrop.....................1-2-2 Bowie........................1-1-1 Connally....................1-1-1 Pflugerville.................1-1-1 Westlake...................1-1-1

What a terrific contest - some great shows! Just a few... Dekaney's "Porgie and Bess" was a crowd pleaser, beautiful music from Hendrickson, Friendswood was as billed - they were terrific. Clear Brook's "Repeat: Repeat" show was my favorite - very fun and the best Guard I've seen so far this year. Loved Klein's percussion - very deserving of the caption award. The Woodlands in exhibition did their own drum-thing - lots of energy, lots of fun. Brazoswood's "Black Swan" show - big controlled sound...very nice. Nice stadium and layout. Gotta love the Lonestar Preview competition!

Biggest reason is Hendrickson has a lot of seniors taking the SAT on Saturday. Competing with the bigger schools gives them a later competition time, although as it turns out not a lot later!

Looking forward to seeing Brazoswood and Friendswood this year. How are things looking with them........

I was curious as well about how they determine the order at this event. So it's done based on the past year's results not a draw? How about those who didn't compete the year before?

The schedule I received is: Class AA/AAA Lago Vista 11:00 Llano 11:15 Class AAAA Vandergrift 11:45 Steele 12:00 Alice 12:15 Hays 12:30 Dripping Springs 12:45 Class AAAAA Shoemaker 1:30 Anderson 1:45 Hendrickson 2:00 Vista Ridge 2:15 Westwood 2:30 Lake Travis 2:45 Georgetown 3:00 Round Rock 3:15 O'Connor 3:45 Weslaco 4:00 Pflugerville 4:15 Economedes 4:30 Clements 4:45 Akins 5:00 Bowie 5:15 Cedar Park 5:30

"Aledo and Sherman are in Area B..." Oops...didn't catch that. Somebody switched the A and B on my keyboard! Yes Area "B" and Area D.

Dripping Springs made an early bid for the Area D lead. They looked solid, sound was a little small but still very early. They have always had a great Guard and this year is no exception. Leander had a big sound and pretty much look ready for the season; several of the shows it looked like were not complete yet. Akins was pretty polished as well. Lake Travis' has a Japanese-themed show which looks good and they might make some noise at Area D this go-round. They use these taiko drums - I'd have liked them to use these more in the show than they did. The host band, Hendrickson, marched in exhibition so I don't know what their score was but I'd guess they were probably close to Leander. They were one of the bands who appeared not to have all their show in and I don't think they would have beat DS --would have been close, though. It will be interesting to watch Area D this year. Another point of note - many of the bands seem to be bringing a LOT of props to the field this season.

Hmmm.....the Area to watch this year? Although Area D lost Connally and Vista Ridge, I still think they'll put up some pretty good bands. Or maybe Area A with Aledo and Sherman. Area F was strong last time with 2 of the top 5 in state in '07, but they lost Dickinson to 5A.