Statebound
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Posts posted by Statebound
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Wow...that's either a really a good draw or a really bad draw for CTJ at 8:15 am having Hebron and Coppell immediately after. One good thing for those bands is that there will probably be a decent crowd there that early to see all of them plus Marcus coming an hour later. I'm sure a lot of us have been there when that place is virtually empty and it's an absolute barn.
Very very unusual draw. The FloMo people must be thrilled, pinching themselves, etc..
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I'd love to see a final tally if anyone has it because it had to have been close. Marcus really nailed their prelim to earned first place but then I thought that Hebron blew the roof off the place in finals and I was a bit surprised by the result. I had LDB 3rd and truly feel bad for those kids. Their visual performance was absolutely awesome. I wouldn't be surprised if they finished top 5 Saturday night in San Antonio.
Also, we've been following these events for many years and I was super impressed with the fan support received by many of these programs. Specific big props to the Mansfield, LDB (nice apples), FloMo (nice streamers), Hebron (the alma mater thing is almost spiritual), and Marcus (alright, alright...) supporters. Your support for the kids is what makes these events so special.
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Don't want to overstate, but if I consider myself one of the top bands I really like that 9:45 am prelim time for Hebron. This is not a scientific statement, but the morning bands never score as well as the afternoon bands and you assume the Hebron kids will be coming straight from DFW to the Alamodome with no sleep. I believe that Marcus may have had the same issue a couple years ago. The plot thickens...
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I'm sure that this has been posted somewhere, but would someone please remind me why Plano and Plano West do not perform at Area? They are two of the 5 biggest high schools in Texas so participation can't be an issue. PESH has done well historically and has put some very nice, competitive shows on the field.
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Totally agree about Marcus at UIL Region 24 last night. Lewisville, Hebron, Marcus, and FloMo played back to back. The Marcus show has gotten much tighter and their visual presentation has moved them to the top of the class. Hebron is still playing a much more demanding musical show but they appear to have put everything on the field where Marcus is still adding.
FloMo seemed to be a little off their game Saturday night but I still believe they have a good chance of advancing to state. If nothing else, they should do well at BOASA. Lewisville gets my vote for most improved band program. Really nice colorguard and visual performance and they're steadily bringing their music and drill to a higher level.
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I'm a Hebron fan and have enjoyed watching their rise since they won 5A Honor Band a few years ago, but I'm not sold that they can win UIL until I see how their closer is going to come together. I saw BOA Denton live and have now seen video of the HEB contest finals and as good as their show is (and it's darn good), the closer feels chaotic and disjointed to me with some drill thrown together behind some huge dark brass hits. To be fair, the ballad segment where the spinsters turn into princesses is absolute magic.
On the other hand, Marcus is still yet to field a significant amount of their closer and I am very anxious to see their complete show because that show has big potential. I haven't had the "Wow" moment yet with their music, but their is much more complexity in their drill this year and the visuals are back to their normal gold standard. They know how to win and normally don't put anything on the field until its perfect.
I also think that The Woodlands show is more UIL friendly than CTJ. I love the power of their low brass and they appear to have also stepped up their drill. I simply think that UIL is still very wide open.
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Based on what I've seen so far, pretty much in this order...
Hebron
CTJ
Marcus
TW
Bowie (Music is harder than FloMo)
Flower Mound
LDB
Round Rock
I would put Coppell in this mix but I don't believe they are going to BOASA and that's unfortunate.
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Everyone seems to have a different opinion about LDB. We saw their finals performance and left thinking that they had big potential, especially from a visual and GE standpoint. Their music was a bit muddy and not up to their usual snuff but they've got lots of time to pull it together. It seems strange to say this, but I would label them a dark horse to finish high at both BOA and UIL in San Antonio.
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Respectfully, I think you're about to find out how good you're band is going to be this year. They just posted the schedule for the HEB contest and you've got Mansfield, Aledo, and Hebron in that contest who all just made BOA finals. There are also several others that are historically pretty decent. Most importantly, I truly hope you have a great time and that your band does well.
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Based on a couple videos that I've seen, I wouldn't forget about Woodlands. I realize that they never seem to finish as high at UIL as they do at BOA but they sound strong. We'll know more after their BOA this weekend. Any other thoughts about why TW seems to place higher at BOA vs UIL??
- BaritoneBro and jmatthews
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Any thoughts about where the penalties may have come from? I noticed that Marcus had a penalty in finals.
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I thought that Martin was very good and personally had them ahead of Aledo and Berkner. Proves what I know because Aledo finished 6th overall. Several bands had penalty deductions including Marcus. Any thoughts as to why?
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I'll take Richland and Flower Mound as my wild cards for Saturday. You never know what those two are going to put on the field but it's going to be creative and well choreographed. There's a good chance that one or both will place high.
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Stole my thunder on the LDB 2010 closer but the other one that came to mind was the Hebron "Young person guide to the Orchestra" closer at the state marching band contest in 2012. Mostly I remember two players (a flute and sax I think) that were playing maybe 40 yards apart from each other and perfectly in time. I'm sure that one is floating around on Youtube somewhere.
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Talked to a parent at that game and they echoed your exact thought. Marcus has always been criticized for simpler drill with exacting musical performance where Hebron tends to error towards exhausting drill and solid musical performance. They said that the Marcus drill is much more complex but still deliberate while Hebron has stepped up their musical complexity. Can't wait, can't wait!!
BTW--The Woodlands video is awesome. I'd be more worried about them right now.
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Seeing all these shows is really getting the juices flowing. I'm told that Flower Mound Marcus is playing at Hebron this Friday night 9/19. Anyone that can post a decent recording of that halftime is going to have quite a following on this board.
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Thanks for the heads up on the Hebron show. Great video quality. I'm a little concerned about how the kids are going to hold up through that closer. It reminds me a lot of the LDB "Bitter Earth" show a couple years ago where the closer was very aggressive (fantastic flute solo) but the kids were exhausted and it became very chaotic. Hebron always marches difficult shows so there's no reason to believe they won't pull it together. Also, the ballad seems to be more abbreviated than normal. The Hebron ballad, Marcus props, and CTJ pre-shows are some of my favorite parts of marching season.
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I've seen a ton of HS football games the last 10 years and Allen has the absolute best "game" band -- and that's a high compliment from me. They play from the beginning of the game to the end. If I remember correctly, they play "Macarena" when the opposing QB comes up to the ball and it's extremely intimidating. The kids seem to have a great time.
The other great "game" bands that come to mind right now are Plano, Duncanville, Hebron, and Coppell (insane brass). Plano plays "Hey Baby" and the entire crowd sings along. Hebron plays "Iron Man" when the other team has the ball. Coppell brass is just really loud and reminds me of a college marching band.
No slight to Marcus, but I've always noticed that their band does not play much during games. Probably saving energy for Saturday contests. Whatever the reason, it obviously works.
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I was finally able to get through the finals performances and it looked like TW was just too strong. I do think that Carmel and Hebron would have been tight for 2nd. I was not as impressed with Avon as expected and it looked to me like Bowie and maybe CTJ could have made a run at 3-4.the Marcus parent was telling us that she was told by a Carmel parent earlier that day that "Texas bands don't win here". I guess that Carmel parent was a little surprised and unhappy a few hours later!
Also, I thought Marcus's finals run was really strong and tight and I thought they and Avon would fight for 3rd. Nice surprise and a great result for RR. It's been a long season, I hope everybody gets some rest now!
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I need to respectfully disagree with this one. Wakeland was 6th in prelims and moved up to 4th in finals. In fact, I think the argument could easily be made that the "1" was the outlier. If you dropped the high and low, as you suggested, they still would have gotten 4th. These kids have put in hundreds of hours into these programs, let's let them have their moment.UIL judging again proves to be a joke, just like in some of the area contests. Major scoring differences for Wakeland cost them a medal. Glad my kids have graduated, as it is impossible to explain how the scores can be so inconsistent from judge to judge. It's getting to be like the Olympics. It may be time to add judges and throw out high and low scores before tabulating results or come up with another system completely. The disparities in scoring are unfair to the students and directors.
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Daniel Sanchez get big props from me. Picking 13 of the 14 finalists correctly could be labeled as heroic. I think a trip to Vegas may be in the offing.
The Visual and GE categories actually seem very reasonable. It's the music caption that had some bizarre placements. I thought Hebron and Coppell had two of the most impressive musical shows that I've heard in years of these contests (LDB 2011, Marcus 2010) and they placed 4th and 5th in Music. Marcus finished 11th in Music--please??
Regardless, TW and Hebron were the two best shows Saturday night and they both have great kids and parents. Congratulations!
BTW--big, big props to Blue Springs. That show was awesome and they should definitely make finals at GN!
- Parkwoodmom and ~ME~
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Fantastic by anyone else's standards but just lukewarm by Marcus standards. There are probably a handful of bands that think they have a realistic chance to beat Marcus this year. They still have some of the classiest kids and parents you'll come across.
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Outside of the usual suspects, I'll give you Cedar Ridge and Bowie as dark horses for medal positions. I'm not sure if CTJ would be considered a dark horse, but they could sneak in as well. Also, I really liked the Haltom and Plano East shows at Duncanville and I think they make finals.Name a band that is the dark horse in this competition
2014 BOA San Antonio Super-Regional Predictions
in Events on TxBands.com
Posted
I need to raise my hand and call spoiler alert for LD Bell. I am awed by their visual presentation and hoping that they can bring a little more power to their musical performance for BOA because my take is that their music is a little too subtle. For all you conspiracy theorists, I've also come to believe that "reputation points" play a bigger role at BOASA than you may think. LD Bell has played at GN several times and they are a well known entity. I'll pick them for top 5. I think we should all also remember that TWHS won a very important eagle last year--the judges know this and I truly believe they will get the benefit of the doubt if it is close.
Lastly, the Flower Mound and Leander shows both have wonderful visual appeal and will be crowd favorites. However, neither appear to have the musical hammer that is required to crack the top tier. A big group of us were able to see FloMo, Hebron, and Marcus play back to back at UIL Region a couple weeks ago and you could very easily see the separation between programs. I felt the same after watching a couple of the Leander videos. My guess is that their time is coming soon.
Woodlands
Hebron
CTJ
Marcus
LD Bell
Bowie
FloMo
Leander
Ronald Reagan
Round Rock