drummerjoe

Yea, but where are they gonna put all the buses and trucks? The venue can only host about half the amount of bands the super-regional hosted. I'm not sure if there is a cap on how many bands can compete in a regional contest, but I'm assuming a Regional contest is central Texas would attract a few more bands than the Area D contest did. And I guess it costs more to attend the contest than I anticipated.

There were a lot of good bands, so getting a ranking of 30/62 is actually a pretty good spot. BOA SA is a gathering of many of the best bands in (and out) of Texas. So Hendrickson, Anderson and all the other bands around their spot are still very good bands, but the judges must have thought a few other bands did just a bit better.

Hmm, I disagree. Round Rock HS hosts the Area D contest at this location often and the stadium barely fit that contest, which usually hosts under 35 bands. I'm assuming a regional in this location would attract most Area D bands, and many others from other Areas, and the venue simply isn't large enough. Although, I do like the idea of hosting another regional contest in central Texas. There are a lot of great bands in the area, and many good ones that could use the little push to become great. Bowie and Westlake are both in Austin, attending Westlake wouldn't cost much at all.

I had the pleasure of running the pit warm-up area at the 5A Area D contest, so I can give you a bit of input on 5A pits in Area D. CT Johnson's pit is playing some of the most complex music I have ever seen a high school pit play, and they are doing it VERY well. Keep an eye on their rock solid drumline, but don't forget to take a nice look at the work their pit is doing. Round Rock is, as always, doing great. I hesitate to comment about them though, my comments may be a bit biased. Round Rock is my alma mater. CTJ was undoubtedly a step above the other pits, but also keep an eye out for some of the work done by Pflugerville, Reagan, Anderson, and Bowie's pits. They were playing some complex music and playing it well. Pflugerville's pit had a very nice auxiliary section which was entertaining to watch, because they always perform more than just the music on the page. They are one of the most in-sync pits I've seen, and are really aware of everyone in their group. It's pretty cool to watch, I don't see anyone perform the music as much as I saw Pflugerville perform it on Saturday.

My roommate is the pit tech over at Vandegrift, and I'm only hearing good things about them. We'll see at BOA, though. Early performance time, let's hope it doesn't affect them as much as it did RR

Round Rock has seen some immense improvements from last year, and are going to be tough competition in standstill. I may be a bit biased (RR's my alma mater ) but compared to last year's show, this years has increased both in difficulty and excellence of execution.

I'd give Westlake that last spot. Their music this year is not only difficult, but INCREDIBLY well performed. Additionally, they always seem to make their way into finals.

Don't quote me on this, but I think the judges examine different aspects of marching. For example, one judge may look for excellence in group formations and another may look for excellence in individual marching technique. So Round Rock may make very clean formations, but individually the marchers have poor carriage or are lazy in their step-offs, stuff like that.

I was running the pit warm-up area at the contest, so I only got to see the last two bands (Bowie and Westlake). Bowie definitely deserve their score, their show was great and well performed. But everyone knows that, it's already been said For Westlake, it's absolutely insane that one judge could rank them 8th in music. Their music was insanely well performed, and insanely difficult. Honestly, I would have ranked them above Bowie in music.

I'm working at the Area D contest, and the schedule will come out Tuesday night. That's when the last region contest for our Area is. I've heard there will be as many as 39 bands going to Area D, so I'd say expect 7 finalists from Area D this year. My own personal finalist predictions: Bowie CTJ Round Rock Westlake (They ALWAYS get in. Dunno why.) Reagan Anderson? Cedar Ridge? ? = bubble bands, but the ones I hope make it

Round Rock's Season: Capital City Marching Festival - 1st place 5A - Best General Effect - Best Percussion - Best Visual Westlake Marching Festival - 2nd place 5A (No finals this year) - Best Percussion - 5A Vista Ridge Marching Festival - 1st in prelims, 5th in finals - Best Colorguard - 5A UIL Region - 1st division BOA San Antonio - 10th in prelims, 7th in finals This is definitely been Round Rock's best season

For programs like the competitive ones in Texas, it is too much of a job to both write the program and direct it. Writers are hired and the band directors perfect the performing.

http://portal.marcuspercussion.com/portal/...73/Default.aspx

http://box-six.com/showsWorld_Motivate.html

There's a cymbal tech who was on the line previously and techs them daily. They are by far the most intense section on our drumline during rehearsals.

Three

Leander was really great, I loved their show this year. Vandegrift and Haltom were the two placements I found the most odd.

I had to send them a note saying that the link didn't work :\

My bad

I know a bit off the top of my head. Marching: Colleyville - 1st Lewisville - 2nd (There was a tie for first that was determined by execution score.) Cant' remember the rest. Standstill Silver: Cedar Park - 1st Plano East - 2nd Round Rock - 3rd Richland - 4th Oak Ridge - 5th Standstill Red John Horn - 1st Wylie- 2nd McCallum - 3rd Pflugerville - 4th Mansfield - 5th I didn't get to stay to hear the results for Standstill 2, we had to warm up for finals.

NO WAY!! Get out, I had no idea.

Well it is possible for two players to have perfect posture and marching technique but be a beat off from one another. While this is unlikely, it is a situation in which a perfect individual score would occur but the ensemble score would be essentially 0.0 .

Okay, Round Rock band student.

Sorry to be so harsh, but I disagree entirely. Judges aren't gonna say "Hmm, that band stood still and played really loud, I like that!" I also don't think that they subconsciously favor these bands in any way. Standing still and playing loud is simply easier to do than moving and playing loud. Plus, when you stand still on an impact it adds more effect to the show, and the judges would definitely pick up on this. Because there is no judge specifically watching the difficulty of a show, this is not as big of a factor in the judging scheme. Of course, there is a point where it does become a factor. If your band does curves and rotations as opposed to marching square blocks across the field, then the judge will definitely place you higher. If your band plays technically difficult passages and difficult chords instead of an easy arrangement of a common song, then the judge will definitely place you higher. It's the minute differences that are hard to pick up on, such as how much a band stands still, that don't truly affect a judges view.

It's all about the style of judging at this contest. Coppell plays technically excellent shows that are lacking in general effect. Essentially, they do what they do well, but the contest puts more weight on what you do specifically.