Anthony V

Prelims Results: Rank) Band--music 1, music 2, music 2, marching 1, marching 2, (composite) 1) Marcus--2, 1, 1, 1, 2 (7) 2) Hebron--1, 2, 3, 2, 1 (9) 3) Plano East--8, 3, 2, 4, 4 (21) 4) Haltom--3, 6, 4, 3, 7 (23) 5) Flower Mound--7, 4, 5, 7, 3 (26) 6) Richland--4, 7, 6, 5, 6 (27) 7) Stephen F. Austin--9, 5, 10, 6, 8 (38) 8) Westwood--5, 11, 13, 11, 5 (45) 9) McKinney Boyd--6, 8, 12, 8, 18 (52)* 10) Trinity--11, 9, 7, 14, 11 (52)* *Tie broken by higher music score _______________________________________________ Interesting things to note: Hebron and Marcus were really close. Plano East, Haltom, Flower Mound, and Richland probably could have changed order entirely if there was a finals. There is a huge drop-off after 6th place (Richland). Trinity and McKinney Boyd tied--largely because of the inconsistency between the two marching judges. Judges: Music 1: McAdow Music 2: Chambers Music 3: Watkins Marching 1: Brashear Marching 2: Harloff

I'm not sure DMI is a good indicator of how things will go down in SA. It's UIL type scoring, AND we only had Prelims. SA will be a blood bath, though. It might as well be grand nationals.

I feel like once they add the closer, and the rest of the props, and start cleaning more, they will do much better. I was afraid they wouldn't make SA Finals last year because of their placement at Denton and St. Louis, but they blossomed at the perfect time, jumping up 7 or so points in only 2 weeks. BOA Denton: 75.9 --Sep. 29 BOA STL: 79.05 (+3.15) --Oct. 19, 3 weeks later BOA SA: 86.2 (+7.15) -- Nov. 2, 2 weeks later I'm not sure if they'll break into the top 10 again. We'll have to see how they do at Duncanville. I do think they will get a lot of credit for their drill if they can march it well. That's a lot of rotating boxes and lines to be had.

If you remember, the scores at Denton were also really high. I just think the bands were all really that good.

Wow! That's crazy. I apologize for my foot-in-mouth syndrome

Thanks for the info. Quick mention: Flower Mound, not Haltom, got 6th place. I wonder if Haltom's score was right there, also.

Maybe it's just me, but I'm definitely not seeing Coppell as a lock. Within shot of finals, yes of course, but with the level of competition going on here I'm not seeing it. There are just too many bands doing more difficult stuff and pulling it off pretty darned well. At area B, we definitely saw what happened when you pull off hard stuff pretty clean and with lot's of artistry (Plano East, Hebron, Richland) versus cleaner but not as challenging and thus maybe not as artistic overall (Flower Mound, Haltom), and what happens if you just don't pull it off that well, regardless of how artistic it is (L.D. Bell). Plus, the judges at Area B were nothing if decorated and extremely well established in the music world. I'm also excited about this judging panel for state. When I think of a good UIL band program, I think of clean, but also of artistry (which demands a show that enables the performers to be artists and not just robots). Usually when people think of artistry, they think of BOA. But I don't think that's necessarily artistry. I think there's a strong distinction between artistry and effect (although they certainly compliment each other). A prime example of artistry as a strong UIL component is Marcus. Ms. Amanda Drinkwater and co.'s brilliant artisan work allows the kids to be artists. As was said before, they are just pure class. Other good examples are Hebron and the ever consistent Duncanville. I'm seeing finals to look something like this: 1-2 Marcus, Bowie 3-5 Woodlands, Hebron, Duncanville 6-10 Plano East, CT Johnson, Bell, Richland, Westlake I think Berkner, Reagan, Coppell and Rowlett will be right outside of finals in a tight-knit group, with Reagan and Berkner leading the pack outside of finals. I could switch Reagan or Berkner with Westlake or Richland or even Bell though.

Legacy is a great band-- a REALLY great band--but San Antonio is just extremely stacked. Most people are just having problems rationalizing which "usuals" will make it into finals. If this were another competition I don't think anyone would hesitate, but it will be a bloodbath at BOA SA. There have been a lot of upsets this year, but you can't really predict a dark horse (otherwise they wouldn't be one) . I a side note, I should try and reiterate also that it's always about the kids. Sure predictions are fun, but we can't go so far into it that we forget we're playing with and talking about the hard work of young individuals. $0.02. Awards should be rewards. Not relief. I don't think BOA ever intends or intended for their circuit to be an 'eat-or-be-eaten" environment.

In their defense, they didn't start cleaning until yesterday. Of course it's hard, but Sloan knows how and when to clean up the drill he writes. He took one 3-hr rehearsal yesterday, and the closer is spotless. I think there will be some surprise on Saturday in regards to Richland's performance quality.

After a long 12 hour trek out to St. Louis (at least it was in a charter bus), all four Texas bands competing there made finals, and scored or ranked exceptionally well in the music caption in either prelims or finals (or both)! They sounded incredible live! Prelims mus perf. avg: 1. L.D. Bell (18.20) 2. Owasso (18.15) 3. Richland (17.80) 4. Birdville (16.65) 5. Union (16.55/20) 6. Anderson (16.50/20) Let this be a testament to the high standards of musicianship throughout Texas' band programs! Also for finals, I made a rankings recap (see attachment) to compliment the score recap. Let me say, however, I found the judging to be inconsistent between prelims and finals. For instance, Richland and Birdville knocked it out of the ballpark in finals (it was like night and day compared to prelims), but the scores/rankings did not reflect that. Scores and rankings aside, I'm very proud of all the kids that went there. Without them, competitive marching band has no meaning. It should always be about the kids! Kudos to the incredible energy that went into finals from those outstanding Texas bands!! You make us so proud Here are the finals results for those interested: 87.60 - Owasso H.S., OK 86.20 - L.D. Bell H.S., TX 83.35 - Blue Springs H.S., MO 83.20 - Union H.S., OK 81.75 - Anderson H.S., TX 80.65 - Rosemount H.S., MN 80.25 - Jenks H.S., OK 79.70 - Prospect H.S., IL 79.05 - Richland H.S., TX 78.25 - Birdville H.S., TX 76.45 - Eden Prairie H.S., MN 76.35 - Kickapoo H.S., MO 74.95 - O'Fallon Township H.S., IL 74.80 - Morton H.S., IL

Maybe I'm outta the loop, but I don't think Keller is in area B. I have a feeling they're taking 5 bands this year, though. I see it like this: Locks: Marcus, Hebron, Bell Fighting for spot 4 and 5: Flower Mound, Richland, Haltom, Plano East (I see it coming out in that order) I think the margin between Flower Mound and Bell will be really close, and Richland will be biting the heels of Flower Mound. This will be a very very interesting competition, for sure.

Where on earth did you find a recent video of Richland? That's my dept., and they're all private.

I will be hopefully (on-site) all day Saturday to get some prelim and finals reviews in. I'm using Twitter for the occasion (I'm not as fancy-schmancy as TXbands ): www.twitter.com/vecchant02_v I only plan on using it for contests, so no need to worry about hearing what color underwear I'm wearing, or getting an extended synoptic article on Aristotelian metaphysics.

Anyone remember UIL Area B a couple years back? Yeesh...

Did anyone else think the scores kind of high? I mean, check out finals scores from the past few years in Arlington (besides '09 because it was a week later): '11 81.25 - James Bowie H.S., TX 81.20 - L.D. Bell H.S., TX 75.95 - Richland Hills H.S., TX 75.50 - Flower Mound H.S., TX 75.45 - Legacy H.S., TX 73.35 - L.V. Berkner H.S., TX 73.20 - Keller H.S., TX 72.45 - James Martin H.S., TX 71.50 - Winston Churchill H.S., TX 69.65 - Hebron H.S., TX '10 83.90 L.D. Bell H.S., TX 81.10 Marcus H.S., TX 76.05 Berkner H.S., TX 75.95 Pflugerville H.S., TX 74.95 Keller H.S., TX 74.40 Richland H.S., TX 73.70 Hebron H.S., TX 72.15 Colleyville Heritage H.S., TX 70.55 Legacy H.S., TX 68.45 Birdville H.S., TX '08 82.55 - Marcus H.S., TX 81.75 - Cedar Park H.S., TX 79.90 - Hebron H.S., TX 76.75 - Berkner H.S., TX 73.65 - Mansfield H.S., TX 73.25 - Coppell H.S., TX 72.65 - John B. Connally H.S., TX 70.20 - Legacy H.S., TX 67.90 - Martin H.S., TX 67.85 - Aledo H.S., TX Up top, scores are about the same, but everything else just jumped way up. Check out 10th place scores: 68ish, 68ish, 69ish, then 74ish. 5th place is 73ish, 75ish, 75ish, and now it's 79ish. Unless the judges got together and decided to inflate their scores at similar degress, I'm just blown away by the level of achievement this early in the game!

Maybe you could get a tiny umbrella for your iThing I'm sure there's an app for that...

Aww How sweet! They're progressing extremely well this year. Their show this year is... not easy. They've actually benefited greatly from their 2 new directors (I know, again!). Both are brass specialists, and at the rate they're improving, the brass will be stellar by the end of the season. Plus, the drumline dominated at HEB and Plano Drumline Contest. And as usual, the color guard is incredible. It's too overwhelming to think about how well they will do at Denton because I don't want my bubble to be popped!

Leander has an excellent program. You've nothing to be ashamed of at all! I watched you guys live, and I enjoyed your show very much! In my humble opinion, there were some placements I didn't agree with (notably Haltom, Marcus, James Martin, Vandegrift, Plano East, and Hebron), but it matters more what you take off the field than what you put onto the field. Never forget what matters most!

I've been hearing from my friend's in percussion that we got 4th, not 5th. And we got the cymbal caption (sorry Round Rock).

Us and Haltom do that when we go to the same competitions

I would keep an eye out for Haltom this year. I think they're going to be the dark horse. They sound phenomenal, they play some really hard material, and their marching is very decent. I have a feeling they will place extremely well at Duncanville, and make a surprise appearance in the top 8 at finals in San Antonio.

Is anyone else super excited to see how the 3A crowd will stack up? Stephen F. Austin, Cedar Park, Pflugerville, etc. There's been a lot of mixing up of the 3A season thus far. Legacy came out of nowhere to steal the 3A class and Pflugerville didn't even make finals. I wonder if the same deal will go for tomorrow. This regional is going to be so exciting!

Just a nitpicky item, but Richland placed 3rd in visual in finals with a visual avg. of 15.05. Flowermound had a visual avg. of 14.7.

I can't quite decide if it's because you guys are so good or because LD Bell is losing their touch. Too bad ya'll aren't going to Arlington. All three of our schools could be in Arlington finals! Birdville is fantastic as always-- they're definitely state bound. I guess we'll just have to settle for San Antonio But in all seriousness, the tiers of years past are starting to break down. This is going to be a very interesting and surprising season. I really can't say how Arlington will turn out. It's an extraordinarily mixed bag!

If you think about who usually starts peaking score wise, and estimating that through out the season, here's how I would guess (based on last year's results. For instance, Richland placed 5th in 2009 at BOA Arlington, but placed 6th in BOA San Antonio, thus beating Hebron, who placed 3rd at BOA Arlington. I'm trying to be as non-biased as possible on Richland though ). Tier 1 (LD Bell, Marcus) 90+ Tier 2 (SFA, James Bowie, Woodlands) 88-90 Tier 3 (CT Johnson, Cedar Park, Hebron, Reagan, Spring, Richland) 86-88 Tier 4 (Churchill, Plano East, Coppell, Keller, Pflugerville) 82-86 Tier 5 (Aledo, Birdville, Mansfield, Round Rock, Flowermound, Haltom, Brazoswood, Colleyville Heritage, Vandergrift, Anderson) 78-82 Tier 5 (Keller Central, Leander, College Park, Akins, Vista Ridge, McNeil, Judson, Westlake, Sandra Day OConnor, MacArthur)72-78 Tier 6 (Those not mentioned above) 72-