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A quick comparison, and reasoning. *Note* I'm not bashing any band, I love both schools, and I love watching these two duke it out in recent years, I'm just pointing out what I saw, and what went through my head. The thing that got to me was that, sure Marcus was using props, but at the same time, their band didn't have nearly as many hold sets as Bell did. Marcus' music was pretty amazing hearing that clarity on the move. I loved watching the Bell band, but when I looked down i saw 5 synthesizers! Then when I looked even closer, I saw mic'd instruments within the band! When I looked at Marcus, I saw that the only mic'd instruments were the oboe, and bassoon. And you can't march those instruments. Both bands had high entertainment values, but for different reasons, for me, it looked like Bell was playing THEN marching most of their show, than marching AND playing. When Bell did play and march they had very slow easy to march tempos. Bell did have fast tempos, but on the other side of the field, the sections that were playing had either small steps, or were holding. This must be what the judges saw, because UIL is very strict on how they judge the DIFFICULTY and how well its executed, whereas BOA wants to know how cool of a show they can execute. Don't get me wrong, UIL and BOA both judge cleanliness, but when both bands are excellently clean where do you go? In my opinion, they went to difficulty. Congradulations to both Bell and Marcus on outstanding seasons, and I'll be rooting for Bell at Grand Nats!