I<3thebox

Hmmm... Ok I thought about this a bit and here's what I came up with. Basically it boils down to this, 1. You have to be "great" (reaons / factors of greatness are up for debate) 2. You have to KNOW you're great. Example, if a band staff has an attitude that their band IS great, it will rub off on the students and maybe they're good - but not great - if they go to a competition, and get SLAMMED they can either react (a) that they were just cheated or conspired against, or some excuse or ( they can say "oh wait... we maybe be good, but we got called on some stuff" - again alot of this is staff to student stuff - if the staff says "we got screwed" the students usually follow suit. Conversely, they're are schools that have real potential and they just don't know it - again alot is staff to students. The staff is the band's relation with the outside world. Band staff are the people who have done it all before, and know people from XYZHS and networking and all that jazz. If the staff doesnt let their band know they're great, they wont acheive greatness. Also their cant be any inconsitencies - if part of the staff says "great" and the other half says "mediocre" or if the whole staff says "that was great" and the band is like... "WTFlip?" or if half the band is believing and acheiving greatness and the other half is believing and acheiving mediocrity... you get the picture so basically everything has to match. So, I guess I've also come to the conclusion that a band needs an excellent staff with the right balance of techinical skills, leadership, personality, and very importantly networking if you're school can grab some DCI judge or the Techie from the Cavies or the Honor Band director or or or just b/c your directors know the right folks or have good reputations - you've got a sweet deal. Finally I also think name recognition plays a part. Like that guy up there said they hear about SFA and Duncanville and Reagan and such - people flock to those kinds of schools. If a kid is moving from A to B and he's got the choice of some random school or Reagan - hes going to pick Reagan - like someone said they get more attention and more students to pick from so they have a higher concentration of the best ones. Same thing goes for staff. If I just got out of Band Direcotr school at UH of something I immediately look for openings at top notch schools - they get lots of attention so they can be selective. Kinda like how Ivy League colleges work. wow that was long, ok Im done

Haha good joke. I'm bad - and nore do I actually one a gaming console of any type whatsoever (Indeed I am lame) 2. (following up on my promise) Q. Why did the woman cross the road? A. Who cares? Why wasn't she in the KITCHEN! ... as terrible as that is Does this dress make me look fat?

Hey does anyone know when Final's results come out? oh and BTW, Me and Mvmt I of Scottish Dances... yeah we're kinda a thing yeah... lol and along the same lines Me and Malcom Arnold... whew hott stuff

Indeed I am not. Why did the woman cross the road? (I will reply later with the correct answer if no one gets it)

OOOO.... thanks! Actually I've been told alot that I need to work on my my transitions - my music doesn't flow well enough and such and I see what you mean about the non-melody distraction stuff - most of it is "effects" and it might be the midi but yeah I like ostinatos and such lol cool that you liked it - woot

So after much wrangling with the FTP and such I have finally post my first finished piece for Concert Band (actually my first real playable piece I've ever finished) so... without much further ado I give you Opus Cogniai A little background - I started taking "music theory" lessons suggested by my BD when i showed him some of my music - over time the lessons have developed into more "how to write music and fix what you've written" but anyways I was talking to my PL teacher and I realized I don't want to write music for a living "when Im all grown up" (hopefully I'll continue it as a hobby) and unless I become rich and famous and can fork over $10k a pop for an orchestra to play my piece, I won't ever hear my work performed - so I asked my directors if maybe I could "premiere" a piece with one of our bands and they gave me a tenative yes - so I set off to work on this piece. Originally it was supposed to be around 5minutes and was inspired by a Marimba solo called "Process of Invention" - hence the name Opus Cogniai or "work of the mind" in Latin (if any of you take Latin and know the correct translation for Work of the Mind ... please tell me) then as I worked through it, it kinda ballooned to the 10 minutes it is now, but oh well. I took some inspiration from Profanation by Bernstien, some music by Rammstien (a kinda hardcorp German rock band), and Moby - who I guess is a kinda eccentric rock / indy/ new age music stuff. The slow section is also kinda inspired by John Williams and Eric Whitacre. So.... Tell me what you think! I'd love to get some feedback!

Eh well I think 4 people have already posted CP's show, Fire of Eternal Glory by Shostakovich at first I was little worried about it. The opener has really grown on me, the ballad isnt really a ballad - its very sparse and... idk I like rich velvety moving flowing grandiose BALLADS... so yeah lol. Closer - waiting so see just the actual FoEG is encoporated - worried about the rest of it cuz truthfully (in my opinion) there isnt a lot of "marching band" material in Symph 10 - and I overheard some design discussions and I'm just a little worried it might be a little repetitive. With that being said - I'm still super excited about the show, and I like the so-far unsaid idea behind it... Our Fire of Eternal Glory State 06 BABY!

Holy WOW! I wish I were... 1.... 100th the composer you are goodness I have to agree the drumset thing sounds a little odd - but your Midi driver or program is like... it sounds a lot better than mine -especially all those cymbal / auxillary / pit kinda sounds TONS better than Finale WHat program do you use? I think my favorite movement is blizzard (like I said Im in love with ostinatos) and the 4 horseman and I like the little jazzyness in the intro somethings: Im no expert... but I doubt youd ever find a marching band with the capacity to play this - maybe if you somehow got all the best musicians from every band and put them together, but still wow I've run into the same thing when Im writing though my theory teacher goes "did you want people to actually PLAY this, or is it just midi music?" then I go sulk while I fix the whole danged thing what else the fact that you have a "how to tell them apart" post means your audience is probably going to be a bit lost / minds reeling after 10+ minutes of pure intensity once again a "live performance" issue but once again - totally amazing. I hope someday someone can/will perform this as it is in its original pure state - the show potential is really there SUPERBE

tru dat^^ lol thoughts: To me, a show is about emotions or a journey or something so from that I base my opinion: In a show I like to see a range of emotions (or... moods I should say): powerful, sad beautiful, angry, triumphant, psychotic/chaotic, hesitant (but thats tricky), ummm and forboding? or ... I know of a school who did a 2 minute long intro - the ostinato from Feste Romane I believe... mvt 2? the procession or something - anywho I LOVED the way it just built and built and built until the announcer goes "please welcom....!" just like "here it comes.... wait for it, wait for it, almost...... BAM!!!!!!!!!!!" but then again I write nearly minamalist music and ostinatos are my lifeblood that being said - in order to show the ... shall I say gentler? moods/emotions I believe its nescecary to have a slowER movemnt or as fortissimo has suggested slower sections. unless someone can show me how to convey beauty or sadness or reflection through fast high brass impacts... do tell. Also I have to disagree a little on the "separate mvts are bad" assertion - while I dont think I like this is 1, this is 2, this is 3 kinda deals - I also dont like when a band just runs around for 8 minutes w/ music and at the end you go... ok that was forgettable. I in NO way mean to bash - but a good example of this (for me anyways) was LD Bell '03 - now maybe Im not quite attuned enough to catch it but it was called Convergance - 5 works by Samuel Barber and all I remember is sitting there and it ALL sounded the SAME and aferwards I couldnt remember any MOMENTS and "THAT WAS AMAZING"s nothing stood out. Conversely Ronal Reagan did the movement thing, but they flowed into each oterh (IMO) snippets of every movement were in the others, or at least there were allusions all over the place which I feel tied it together and it was much more of a package instead of 3 mvmts. (dang this is long) so my verdict: I want to see a RANGE of emotions, and I want to REMEMBER different parts of the show - so Id like at least a slow section, but it must be PURPOSEFUL and be connected to the rest of the show if you did Anger first mvmt - then I want some sadness/ agony kinda thing if you did chaos - I want some peace if you did ugly I want beauty like so^ ok Im done

whats up with John Williams??? If there are band arrangements of his music for concert why couldnt you use them for a show??? I mean anyone could play the Star Wars Suite for BOA Conc. Band Festival if they REALLY wanted to (lol) and then its on the DVD and BAM so is it a copyright issue? ohhhhhhhhh maybe its like ARRANGING the music for marching band...??? Thats a cryin shame cuz I listen to his orchestral music and I actually thinkg he would make an AMAZING MB writer - he really knows what to do with the brass and a lot of his woodwind work is interesting AND difficult (or vice versa lol) poooooooo on John Williams

I clocked YOUR* show tonight, its 10 minutes and 20 seconds, but tonight was way faster so its probably closer to 10:45 - but thats with 30 secs of intro nothingness... so.... 10:15 ish? at an average of ... Id say 174 is the avg tempo dude... I can multiply! 174 x 10.25 = 1,783.5 BEATS - poor drumajors! (that half beat would be the intro skipping on Friday ) Good thing YOU* dont have guy drum majors... they'd have some SICK biceps *I use the word YOUR in order to remain officially anonymous

when I get finished making up 2 days worth of 5 RIDICULOUS AP classes... I will be posting a complete review along with my personal rankings, and possibly a hardest show rating until then... sorry kid

haha... I just forgot what I was going to say... I HATE when that happens... so for now I'll babble until I rember First off, I SURE hope some VERY speciale SFA (aka Scarlett Letter Band) members heard their shout outs before and after their show "GOOOOO SKIPPY!!!!" and "GO TONI" (but I dont think Toni is on the forumns) Funny I dont even know Skippy's real name lol anywho... Since my band didnt make finals (I remain technically anonymous band-wise just incase the Band CIA decides to hunt me down and verbally castrate me during 1st period...) any ways... I enjoyed making comments for 13 of that 14 finalist bands (sorry Coppell all I got to see was the last mvmt or so... but let me say I was quite impressed, HUGE band by the way) Hopefully I'll get to post the reviews when I get my notes back from a certain somewho who seems to be losing her roof Im resisting the urge to keep reading through the forumns with ALL my might , and tried my hardest to plug my ears or close my eyes when I saw finals placements... but I know some of them sneaked in their... obviously Reagan's 1st placement, and a few other surprises. All this of course if Mr. Clarinot and Dynasty approve... PLEASE Im gonna go check bands.org now to see if they have streaming vids of finals... I cant remember if you have to be a paying member or not? Hey, Dynasty and Clarinot - is there a way you could get a membership for the txbands.com and set up links for us leeches? Maybe thats illegal, but so is age discrimination, if Im not mistaken Oh I also timed most of the bands and Im gonna try and make a difficulty rating or something to rank them by also... Idk how well that will go since much is opinion... but we'll see off the top of my head, SFA started at 184, and accelled to at LEAST 200 (Skippy some confirmation please?) and it was a good solid 8 minutes, with some crazy drill ... so IMO... Hands down SFA played and marched everyone's pants off no pun intended on the whole Woodlands thing ... but entertaining nuntheless and maybe some of my good humor will make it in to soften the edges, cuz Im gonna make some tough calls on some of the judging... until then...

OK, so I just posted my predictions for SA SR. Looks like a toughie ESPECIALLY to predict for there are a BUNCH of bands Im not very familliar with heres my take: there are 4 or so "powerhouse" bands that will probably fit at least in the top half for finals, they are (in my prediction-ish order) Ronald Regan Winston Churchill SFA (I would put LD Bell here but theyre not going ... bah) The Woodlands Then there are the in between bands, either on their way to becoming powerhouses, fallling from grace, or just have a particularly good season (in not much of an order) Brazoswood Richland (which Im pretty sure I completely forgot on the predictions) Cedar Park Westfield Spring Marcus James Bowie Owasso (they went last year) i know Im forgetting some others Hebron, Haltom CyFalls will Langham Creek be there? and then theres the bands who've got a fair shot at making finals: Westlake Leander is Hendrickson coming? Clear Lake The Colony Clements ok thats it, Im done for the night I do not mean to offend people by my "categories" just how I view different band's chances at certains placements. whats everyone else takes on the comp? I think it is VERY hard to maneuver around in those top 5 slots. The next 7 or so are a COMPLETE toss-up, and the bottom couple are real wild cards I DEF think this will be a very interesing competition. Last years placements for refernce (are, I believe) Ronald Reagan Winston Churchill Owasso Cedar Park Haltom (sorry if I confused it with Hebron) Westfield James Bowie 8th 9th Spring Westlake? Clear Brook (I believe) sorry I forgot some of them

If you were in charge of your school's marching show, what would you do? Personally I think Star Wars music would be AWESOME (why hasnt anyone done star wars before? I mean people did Pirates of the Carribean) John Williams, if you really pay attnetion to his music rights GREAT stuff that could very easily be transcribed for MB. and its usually at good tempos too. not to mention the GE potential etc. what esle? Catch Me if You Can (more john williams) Lord of the Rings (can you tell I like film scores?) Firebird Suite (although I've only heard bits and pieces, besides the finale) Eric Whitacre's "Paradise Lost" - see my other thread on this thats it for now

Theme song? How about Catch Me if You Can da-da-da DA da-da-da DA da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da- DA I wanna do a marching show with that music it would SO COOL

oh and when you hear the metronome in your sleep, or just randomly during the day. Or you hear music randomly too

oh my, when you have DREAMS about marching band. 1) I went to sleep and forgot I was chewing gum. I had a dream that I had eaten those little granules of fake rubber dirt from Astroturf, so in my dream I spit them out. I wake up and find gum all over my pillow (luckily not my face) ewwwww 2) That night at the football game I had gotten set facing the wrong way (when you have a bass drum on its hard to see ok?) and then I could only sleep on one side, cuz I was worried of being set the wrong way- THAT was annoying 3) my friend who plays a WOODWIND instrument, on Spring trip he had Spin Cycle as his ringtone, and we had to wake up at 7 or something for breakfast and he used his phone as an alarm clock. Unfortunately for him, he had a dream where he was playing with the Cavies (which I found interesting seeing that hes a woodwind) needless to say, when he heard the ringtone, he didnt wake up cuz he thought he was playing the show. OH WOW GOODNESS we ARE NERDS

we have an A B schedule so we have Snares, Tenors, Wind Ensemble 1st/5th Basses, Symphonic 2nd/6th Concert Band 3rd/7th Pit and Cadet 4th 8th the drumline was split up to provide more attention, and to minimize schedule conflicts cuz its closer to the band they would make

do you know the muffin man? the MUFFIN man? yes, doesnt he still live on drury lane? oh my gotta love Shrek lemon poppyseed, and chocolate and... almond... SCONES are SO much cooler though (the European kind)

oh my. Hello to all of us not-talking-about-band-band-geeks. and oh, now I cant check th avatar. But whoever has the one with the little kid in the white box w/ the bouncy ball that like gets himself beat up with it LOL ROFL wow hilarious

oh wow do I wish we played schools that had bands Halftime is always fun or us, but then we stand and watch the other band.... oh my *ha I just realized that the cooling fan from my laptop is blowing a popcorn kernel around my desk* (sorry for that random thought lol) oh, and we had a saturday game cuz of Rita (gotta love 'er) and it was supposed to be during BOA Houston. Oh my we almost didnt go - THAT was like the dumbest thing ever. Apparantly once upon a time it rained at a football game and so the band had to packup and leave (uni's, instruments = lightning rods etc) anywho the football team lost, and it was ALL OUR FAULT apparently. So now we go to every football game. Probably due to the fact that our team = NO es bueno and so if we left, no one would be there, and the people who WERE there would be majorly bored. lol

or if your band directors are just MORE COOL THAN EVER you could wait for the DVD to come out in like 3 months! cuz watching bands in the stands would... tire us and distract us from our performance ugh

cool stuff. not that I know anything about music eras - but to me it sounds kinda impressionist era? like mid 1800's in Europe, maybe a little earlier. my 2 cents ^^^ see ya in San Antonio

hey! cool piece I dont know what kinda background you have as far as instrument playing so here are few opinions/tips 1) I think it should go faster - I tried it at 120 and i thought it sounded cooler, it has more forward momentum. I presume this is a ballad? and I think really good ballads arent just quiet music, they build, and you can feel the movement (imo) 2) that timpani part is very cool - but unfortunately you probably wont ever hear it unless its miced (what is the past tense of "to mic" ???). Since its a pretty important part in the first section, I would suggest transferring it to the tubas, or the entire mallet section in the pit. The tuba drones could be transferred to euphonium/trombone (I'm a percussionist so my stuff regarding the brass may be impossible, idk?) 3) I would def add more music, either like a reflection after what you've written, or (in my opinion the better option, but harder) add more music before the big sutff at the end - more momentum building just my opinions but all in VERY COOL I like it!