titancoaster

Ok well I heard this mostly from my directors and my parents, at state we knew the Poteet band parents would run and hog the 50yd line seats. Well our parents wanted the non-reserved seats, so they showed up before finals got near to starting and started to get a few rows for Connally parents (put up a few signs like the poteet parents do) and our parents bgean to trickle in and sit down, well the poteet parents ripped up our signs, and moved our stuff in order to sit on the 50, and would sit in other peoples seat when they were gone, so our parents lost the seats they rightfully got to first, but they were nice about it and moved to the next section over so they still had good seats. When Connally took the field the Poteet parents sat deadly still and wouldnt applaud. Well our director took his director's seat which was in the middle of the Poteet parents. When we executed our first (false) impacted the Poteet parents just sat there and refused to clap, and at the end of our opener, the crowd applauded as is custom in marching band, except the poteet parents, who sat and stared without clapping. So our director, who is an amazing director, who really stands up for his beliefs (which is to support everyone in the activity) yelled to the Poteet parents "what were you trained not to clap" and they truned to him and stared. Once we got to the end of the trumpet solo during the third movement (which was played really well) they stared agian, and then my director yelled "What do you think about that!" and he was really mad that throughout our entire time on the field (pre show, show, and post show) the Poteet parents refused to acknowledge our hard work. My beef is, how is this activity supposed to stay alive, if we can only support oursleves? I really think that the Poteet parents made me lose respect for the whole program, I personally would rather come in second if it means that we are a well behaved, good moral band. Any thoughts/Opinions?

I agree with lyyiddd-2011, its all about how you feel with your own preformance, becuase every crowd is different and some wont pay attention to you or applaud you (football and Poteet parents) and some judges will put out controversial results. At Connally we have had many great examples of feeling proud of yourselves rather than base it off anything else. Last year at BOA Grand Nationals, when we walked off the field from semi-finals we were crying because we had THE preformance of our lives, and when the judges put us at 26th, we didnt care, we were so proud of our show, you would have thought we made finals, and we continue today to talk about that amazing preformance. This year when we walked off the State Finals Field we had an average crowd reaction, but once we got out of the dome, and on the steps by the entrance, we screamed our heads off, because we knew we preformed the show of the year, and we didnt care what placement we got, we won in our hearts, and when we got second, we kept the feeling that we had won, we ignored the crowd and the judges, and celebrated, becuase we knew we PREFORMED our show.

OMG, I cannot believe we just got freaking second at state! We are very happy to have an amazing ending to this odd-ball season. I would like to congradulate all the band participating at the state contest, it was a memorable one for sure!!

I know at Connally we are making a giant push in order to, hopefully, medal at State. We had a heart to heart this morning and our band is pointing in the right direction, and we are geared up for a memorable state marching band contest. P.S. The field conductor from Connally is freaking awesome!!! lol, j/k (sometimes being injured isnt so bad)

I tried out for this year, but didnt make it (two seniors did) but my directors said I was very close, and do to an injury I had last week, I was unable to march at area, so my directors had me field conduct during the show, so now that Ive had a taste of being drum major I want it even more, and everybody in my band has come up to me and said they really want to see me as drum major, so I am thinking I have a really good shot for next year.

for prelims I know that, Hendrickson preforms 7th, and Connally preforms 19th, please place your position if you know it.

Our prelim preformance was really good yesturday, unfortuantly our finals preformance was just a little bit worse, and when you add in the fact we went second to last in prelims and first in finals, it was amazing for us to make second, our scores were: 2+5+2+1+1=11

thanks, and yeah i was between mccallum and lehman for the tenth spot.

Finalists for Area D: (In Alpha) Connally Dripping Springs Hays Hendrickson LBJ New Braunfels New Braunfels Canyon Schertz: Steele Vista Ridge and 10th im not sure, Lehman possibly? As far as who will advance: (alpha in true area tradition) Connally Dripping Springs Hendrickson New Braunfels Alternate: Steele I know Connally has had a rough first half of the season, but we have turned it on since the 13th. We have had the best rehearsals that our school has ever seen (even better than the band that took 3rd at state). We are truly a changed band, we are sounding much bigger and playing with much better tones. Our timing issues will definantly be lessened with the addition of another field conductor (I cant march for a week due to a groin injury, but am being used as a field conductor). The biggest issues were phasing which we have fixed 90%, and after tomorrow should no longer be a problem. We will be a strong contender at area this saturday. Even our region judges said that we were one of the best shows that preformed all night (beating the 5As). Dont want to seem like im bragging but just letting the world know, watch out the Connally band is back, and as strong as ever. and as for area D champs, I think it is too close to call right now, it will depend on who has the most heart saturday night, and draw order will deifnantly be a factor in this extremly tough area

this just in 7 made it from region 12, so we will be having 4 bands goin to state!!

Well *knock on wood* there should be atleast 5 bands making area from region 12 Seele, clemens, canyon, new braunsfels, and canyon and five really strong programs who shouldnt have too much trouble getting a 1. So now its just down to which 4 of the the "outstanding 6" will go to state (Connally, Dripping Springs, Hendrickson, Steele, New Braunsfels, and Canyon)

I cannot deny that we had a very poor weekend, especially when put up to connally's past. We were very shaken on the bus ride home that we had only gotten tenth in westlake finals and were beated by dripping springs. We had not heard about our USSBA Hays results until today, and alot of ppl still dont know them, but they will come at a complete and utter suprise to our band. Just to let you guys know what really happened yesturday from a preformers perspective. We had a really bad run during westlake prelims, and were ready to make hays a great run in order to redeem ourselves. When we arrived at Hays our warm-up time had already started so we were cut short of the long. usual warm-up, but that wasnt too big of a deal because we had just preformed about two hours earlier. When we got on that field, we really felt it and put it all out there, and had one of our best preformances of the year. Now just to bring something to everyone's attention we preformed about 2-3 hours before the second band of our clas went, and i really think that had a serious effect on our scores, but we wont let that be an exuse becuase we should have been so outstanding that the judge should have had no doubt that we were first. When we got back to Westlake, we only had time to make it behind their scoreboard before the finalist bands were named, and when we heard we were in finals we were extatic, because we thought we had no hope. Then we heard we had to preform first, and that really brought spirits down, becuase some of the bigger band nerds in our band said we were screwed and had no chance of getting higher than tenth. Well most of the band bought into that, and then when you added how exausted we were from our two previous preformances, and being on our feet all day, we werent in a good state to preform. We then went onto the field, and went through the motions of preformance, but didnt think about what we were doing. Our flute soloist had issues with the speaker/mic in her first solo so it came off as silence and some playing, and i think that flipped some freshman out and thats where it pretty much fell apart that run. Our flute soloist was in tears becuase of the mic/speaker issude (not sure which one) so i was busy consoling her, but when i finally got around the band, i heard them talking, and they knew we were going to end tenth. I believe that going to two contest days was a good plan, but our band this year was not up for the daunting task. I really disagree with Bonepit's statement of us being out of state contention. The flute section leader (the soloist) and I came together and realized something needs to change, so we called an emergency leadership team meeting and we are going to "start over" and do things right from now on. WE were beaten but our scores were not far off from first, and I feel that if start working really hard now, we will make state. Sorry for the long post, but i just felt like letting the band world know what is really going on with Connally, we may be down, but we arent out!

where will you be?

I completly respect your opinion and see where your coming from, Im just saying alot has happened between the last time we have been on the field and now, and will be a force to reckon with on the 13th, and all the UIL competitions.

I am really glad I stumbled upon this article, as a member of the competitive Area D hopefuls its always scary on a state year to see who all is a contender. At Connally we have taken a different approach to the state game this year, hoping to have a more entertaining show, rather than playing the gorgeous music that lacks the entertainment value that other bands have turned to. We have shrunk by about 10-15 members, losing one of our strongest classes in the history of the school. Our entire band has done a good job of stepping up to fill the shoes of our retired class. We have run into many musical issues which is why we seem so far behind. During summer band we lost the good sound concept for the Super loud in your face sound. Believe me though, after the USSBA Hendrickson show, we got many great comments from our judges, and have immediatly gone to work in fixing our issues, we have lost some volume for now, but we sound 10x better, and have added our fourth movement. We continually strive for a better show, and are working extremly hard to earn our way back to state and hopefully become a medal contender. While I understand where the Shadow Weaver is coming from, believe me by our next show (the 13th@ Westlake and USSBA Hays) we will be a different band, and prove that without a doubt, we are the returning Area D champs. I would also like to take the time to wish all the 4A bands good luck, leave it all on the field EVERY time, and I hope to see you in the Alamodome!

I dont know, like my parents really want me to stay in Texas for college, and I really want to teach in Texas, so thats why Im not thinking about any out of state universities

My goal is to double major at UNT with majors in Music Education and Composition. With my wishes of being a high school director and writing my own shows.

We had a good first preformance, our drill is lookin pretty good on any standard, but music still needs our biggest attention, and of course it rocked that we got to preform in the Alamodome for our first game!

our show hasnt been released, but if you want to see it we are playing in the texas football classic as our first game (its in the alamodome) its supposed to be on fox sports southwest (sep 7, 7:30pm) , and halftime is included in the telecast, but if you dont watch that our show info wont be put up till our first competition

Wow, I didnt realize that UIL decided to move the texas state marching contest to Indianapolis, what a odd location!!!

well, we have learned our opener and spent two day cleaning it already, we start on our second movement monday! Our first movement is very verry clean for this early in the season. Our guard work owns, and is better than any guard work chs has ever had, imo. Our second mvmt. has an awesome percussion feature (think winter drumline on the field) so i think our chances of doing well this year are better than they have been in a long time! Watch out for the Connally Cougar Marching Band in '07!!

My director is out of town, and i know we were entered so I was wondering if anybody knew any

Well, we have a strong fish class for next year who will be a great addition to the band, and our show sounds incredible and fun, we already sound pretty good on our opener so I think we can do very well next year. I think Hendrickson has a good shot because even thought this past year wasnt as good as the previous, I believe they will have a reborn drive to do well next year. But in the end, we will never know what will happen until it happens, it should be a very interesting 4A state competition.

Well, mine are TOMORROW! and i am wigging out. I have a pretty good chance , but the thing that will count against me the most is my age. I am a junior and everyone else audititioning is a senior (for next year). But I was a sophomore section leader, so i have the same experience as everyone else.

Auditions in THREE DAYS!!!!!! omg, i am freaking out. This has been the longest saterday of my life, and sunday is going to be longer, but tuesday will be the worst, trying to make it through a school day completly focused on that afternoon's auditions. I feel prepared, last year's drum major was correcting everybody else's conducting, but when I asked him about min he said it was really good, and couldnt find anything for me to fix. I am a good marcher, so now all I have to do is worry about the interview. I just hope I dont screw up!