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Interestingly enough, all of the 4As except for Sherman are in Area C. Just add Waxahachie, Midlothian, and Pine Tree and you basically have the whole picture.

Oh, I don't doubt that Poteet could come in first overall. They just won't be eligible for the Grand Champion trophy. This makes me miss the days of 4A Coppell. The Poteet/Coppell showdown in Area C every other year was pretty awesome.

2007 MMF Schedule: 11:30 Bonham 11:45 Wills Point 12:00 Quinlan Ford 12:15 Red Oak 12:30 Rio Vista 12:45 Edgewood 1:00 Malakoff 1:15 John Horn 1:30 BREAK 1:45 Lovejoy 2:00 Prosper 2:15 Eustace 2:30 Commerce 2:45 Crandall 3:00 Royse City 3:15 Celina 3:30 Canton 3:45 BREAK 4:00 Greenville 4:15 West Mesquite 4:30 Terrell 4:45 Sherman 5:00 Forney 5:15 Highland Park 5:30 BREAK 5:45 Rockwall Heath 6:00 North Lamar 6:15 J. J. Pearce 6:30 Poteet 6:45 Timberview 7:00 BREAK 7:45 Mesquite 8:00 South Garland 8:15 North Mesquite 8:30 Coppell So Coppell is going to win in a walk, but the 3A and 4A competition is still fun. Mesquite ISD schools are rated, but not eligible for awards, so I predict Sherman will win Best in Class 4A. 3A should be an intense battle between Canton and Wills Point.

I actually saw Dickinson's state prelims performance and I was very surprised by the two last place rankings. I was only able to watch the last two blocks of prelims and I thought Dickinson played better than at least three other bands I saw. Only goes to show how subjective music can be..... Anyway, an Area F upset is quite possible. I'm really curious about Nederland. They kind of came out of nowhere this year in the Honor Band competition. Perhaps they have a similar marching breakthrough up their sleeves.

Basically. Nothing has happened this season, so idle speculation based on the past is all we can really do at this point.

Although the physical number of bands is small, there is a nice little block of 4A Area B bands (McKinney, McKinney North, Centennial, Aledo, The Colony.) TOC should be a nice marker of progress.....

I was reluctant to predict Waxahachie because of their low placing at Duncanville in '06. However, they just barely missed state finals two years ago and they advanced to the state level of the Honor Band competition this year. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt for an off day at D-ville. Pearce was weak in '04 and '05, but they were really good last year. They made a great showing at Duncanville against other strong 4A competitors like Sherman, Birdville, Centennial, and Southwest. Pearce also advanced to the state level of the Honor Band competition. Heath is a young program, and I am very interested to see where you guys go this year. My very early predictions were simply based on history. I'll probably do this again in mid-October and things will be very, very different.

Now that we know where everyone is, here are the 2005 results as a point of reference. http://www.uil.utexas.edu/music/smbc_results2005.html Please note that Lopez and Wylie have since moved up to 5A.

The show was called "Exaltations" and it featured David Holsinger's "Ballet Exaltaire" and some original music by a former student.

I agree about the Mahler show. I remember hearing them in the tunnel during state prelims and getting crazy scared. Tough act to follow.

Hmm....that's definitely hard to say. I've been around 4A for a long time (practically every member of my family has been involved in the Poteet band somehow), and 1999 and 2005 had the strongest sets of 4A state finalists that I can remember. Yay for when the UIL system gets it right! So if you can somehow acquire those, that would be a good start. I would also recommend Poteet 1997, Cedar Park 2001, and Richland 2003 (all state champion shows and all great.) Anything before 1997 is going to be impossible to find. Heck, most of this is going to be hard to find.

Do you mean in the past or this year?

Actually, the McKinney schools are in Region 25 and Area B. They marched at the Region 3 contest in 06 due to some kind of scheduling conflict. WTF happened to Area E?! 6 bands made a 1?! That's crazy. So just for fun..........what I think could happen in each area. Area A: Fossil Ridge Azle Plainview Alternate: Frenship Area B: Birdville Sherman The Colony Aledo Alternate: Centennial Area C: Poteet JJ Pearce Waxahachie Alternate: Midlothian Area D: Connally Hendrickson New Braunfels Alternate: Dripping Springs Area E: Brenham Foster Alternate: Waller Area F: Friendswood Dickinson Alternate: Nederland Area G: Roma King Alternate: Gregory Portland I think those are reasonable estimates for numbers of spots per area. If this is the case, that means 19 bands at state marching contest..........and only 7 finalists. Yikes. And also, special thanks to MisterMan for the helpful lists!

That's Kingwood's 2006 area finals performance. Not their best, but still pretty dang good.

Kingwood is actually a 5A band from Area F. They're basically the best military band in the state. They used to go to state marching contest pretty frequently, but they haven't made it the past few times.

I have seen Kingwood and they are awesome! They were robbed blind at area in 2004. borchnork, I think you're right about Pine Tree coming in 11th in 05. I didn't get to see them that day but I was really pulling for them to make finals. I believe they were the alternate to state in 2001 and many people were shocked, especially after Hebron and Sherman were not announced at all.

I would love to see Roma make finals. They just barely missed it 2005, but won the AA title. The field is pretty similar this year, so I think they have a pretty decent shot.

Area C is fairly open this time around. I predict Poteet, J.J. Pearce, and Waxahachie will advance, but Midlothian and North Lamar could upset. There are several good military bands in Area C like Pine Tree and Hallsville who never get their due. I would love to see one of them go to state.

I was talking about Canyon from New Braunfels that advanced to 4A state in 03. Did awesome 3A Canyon move up to 4A? If so, I'm excited to see how they do. EDIT: Ok, I did some research and 3A Canyon is still 3A.

LOL! Sometimes I wonder..... Just be glad Hebron and Wylie moved up to 5A. If not, I wouldn't even know where to begin figuring out Area B.

Really? New Braunfels made state finals in '05. Dang, that makes two areas that now contain three 05 finalists. That's pretty messed up.

Area D is another area heavily affected by the re-alignment. Connally, Hendrickson, and New Braunfels will probably wind up as the top three. If there is a 4th spot, it will probably come down to Midway, Canyon, Alamo Heights, Dripping Springs, LBJ, Hays and Vista Ridge. This is definitely another one to watch.

Well, after searching through the UIL website, it appears as though 20 of the 31 4A bands in Area B made a first divison rating at region marching contest in '06. If that happens again, then four will advance to state. I wouldn't worry too much about not having enough to advance three. I absolutely agree that Centennial has the potential to compete with the other 4A powerhouses. I was just making a "safe" prediction based on results from the past couple of years. A lot can and probably will change throughout this season. At the beginning of the 2005 season, I don't think anyone was seriously predicting Hendrickson and Aledo to make state finals. Perhaps Centennial (or Southwest, or someone we haven't even thought of) can make a similar breakthrough. If I had to pick a 5th band right now, then I would say Centennial.

Area B advanced 5 bands in 2005. Of those 5, three are still in Area B (Birdville, Aledo, Seguin), and Waxahachie and Springtown moved to Areas C and A respectively. I really don't think there will be enough bands at area to advance 5 this time around. My guess would be 4. If so, I'd probably predict Birdville, Sherman, The Colony, and Aledo at this point with Centennial and Southwest as alternates. Of course that doesn't mean much since no one has even performed yet. The picture should be much clearer by mid-October. All I know is that whoever advances from Area B has a really good shot at placing in the top 10 at the state level.