I'm sorry...am I simply the only person in Texas (or rather out of Texas since I now live in Washington, DC) that thinks that Marcus is the most overrated band in the state? Do they have skill....yes. Are they great...no. There are three things that set a great band apart from the rest. Music, visual, and the level of difficulty of the two previously mentioned categories. In order to be a great band, you can't rely just on your music. Marcus has done this for years. They march extremely easy shows and pair it with excellent music. If I just wanted to hear music, I would go to their band concerts. I attend Texas marching competitions to be stimulated by the largest concentration of the best marching bands in the USA. I cherished my time in high school when I was competing against area bands like L.D. Bell, Duncanville, Haltom, Richland, Hebron, Berkner, Coppell, as well as the southern Texas bands, like Churchill, Reagan, Westfield, Spring, Westlake, The Woodlands, and James Bowie (wish their was a bigger distinction between the James Bowie and Bowie high schools). I hate that a simple band with great music has infiltrated to the top ranks of the Texas powerhouse bands.
I used to be in tune with what Marcus had to offer. I first became a fan of the Marcus band program several years back when they did their "Under the Sea" program. I thought it was a little too cutesy, but it was very clean and the music was phenomenal. But again, their drill was incredibly simple. You can only hide behind lobster claws, starfish, charging seahorses and giant clams for so long. And I didn't even mention a giant ladybug and the huge lilies from the following year's show, "Botanika."
Maybe DCI is to blame for all this hatred towards Marcus. DCI shows what truly is the gold standard of marching competitions. I would like to think that this somehow trickles down and directly affects the level of high school bands strive to achieve. I actually prefer high school band to DCI, but I feel the judging in DCI is very accurate. High school marching judges seem to be all over the place when you see the individual scores.
Now that I think of it, maybe it isn't DCI that is to blame. Maybe it is because I am a huge fan of the L.D. Bell program. As the years have gone by the Bell program has broken away from marching the same show over and over and over again. But it seems by chance that they passed all that repetition on over to the Marcus band. The year that Bell performed their first dark show "The Remaining," was the same year that Marcus did "Under the Sea." I looked at Bell and saw a band that was doing something very different. Of course, the next year they had one of their best programs to date "Transcendents."
Marcus's show this year was different, breaking away slightly from the same type of show they have been performing for the past 5 years. Very dark for them...bravo. But still nothing compared to other highly ranked bands, especially this years Bell show, "In Honor."
I realize I will be chastised for this from almost everyone that reads this. I just hope there is at least one other voice besides mine on this brilliant site that thinks that things should have turned out differently this year.
To end on a positive note, good luck to the 4 Texas bands competing in Indy. I remember being incredibly proud the year that 6 of the finalist bands at Nationals hailed from the Lone Star State. Here is to Texas band programs being the best in the country!