justabandkid94

I mean, intended or not...but 3 Super Regional titles in your first 8 years of BOA competition yields some serious bragging rights. Haha

Now this is an upset!

The musical demand of that show is intimidating! 

I personally don’t know any actual scores, as I’m sure most posting don’t. Based on semifinal placements and caption winners,  I think it’s fair to deduce that the top 4 or 5 is quite competitive with each other.
For instance, Hebron wins Music for 4A but does not earn a class medal in semifinals (their music scores were better than all of 1-3).
Inversely, The Woodlands places 3rd in 4A without a single caption win - indicating The Woodlands’ scores were trending towards the top of each caption, without ever being the actual caption champion. 
Unless the Carmel show is just an unbeatable GE monster (which we don’t know yet), these kind of results point to the bands all being neck and neck in semis. Of course it’s always the case, but achieving consistency in the judging sheets is extremely key with a deep talent pool like tonight’s

Just got home from work and playing catch up. So refreshing to see the Top 3 in semis so so tight! Way to go Team Texas!!
Last few BOA seasons I have been craving for some 2001 Finals level drama*… it’s good for the activity 🙏🏻
*For the newcomers: Top 4 separated by less than 1 point Captions split. Champion wins without any caption wins 

....because this isn't the biggest conflict of interest in the marching arts. chief judge does no adjudicating and doesn't affect the score. 

Texas will have a strong showing - expect Hebron and Woodlands to be top 4. The Woodlands will compete for best effect and best visual, Hebron will compete for best music and best effect.
We’ll see Pearland top 8, with a tremendous possibility of top 5.
We’ll see Round Rock top 10, though I expect top 7.
We’ll see Keller and CTJ in finals, likely 7-11.
We’ll see Dripping and Bowie making a strong statement in semis, with an outstanding chance of making finals. 

Go Team Texas!!

 
 

I have been on this forum for 10+ years and that has to be one of the nastiest write ups to date. Had to stop reading, so embarrassing 
Any band kid reading these posts — imperative to realize that there is so much to be proud of about your season beyond a numeric placement. The grit, dedication and guts it takes to field these modern shows is unfathomable
I marched when it was just Marcus and Bell crushing everyone in Texas. Now I question if some of those legendary shows would even medal at competitions today! Irrespective of placement this talent and intensity of competition in the Top 14 is pushing the activity to heights I could never have predicted 10 years ago.
This activity shifts because kids rise to the occasion and choose to commit themselves excellence. That is how new standards evolve and transpire - and it happens no matter the hardware or recognition. GTFOH. 

is it obvious? i thought vandy had a more demanding visual book than anyone else -- "marching band" is, in theory, also about the marching. vandy was doing some pretty crazy sacktig drill while gunning above 160-170 for large chunks of the show. Moving at that tempo in and of itself is difficult. Doing that to Sacktig drill? I mean, just draft the kids for 2000's Cadets right now.

The Woodlands- Coordinator / Drill Writer:  Jon Vanderkolff; Arranger Wayne  Downey. Think it has been this exact team since 2006’s Hide & Seek!
Vista Ridge: Coordinator / Drill - Vanderkolff; Arr. Ryan George
Vandegrift: Coordinator(?)/Drill- Jeff Sacktig. not sure on rest 

This might be a myopic take, but I feel like TWHS has started moving and sounding more like a top Indy band than TX band, which includes having a killer visual package and brassy heavy show

imma say the fact that they prob had the cleanest show visually based on watching area vids?? cleanest intervals/spacing, good control of timing, cleanest transitions, clear logical and musical transitions, best control of the form in motion, most balanced forms, dynamic, varied, cleanest and most advanced guard, plenty of difficulty in the drill, layered, rich vertical and horizontal orchestration, great projection of style, feet looking clean from upstairs.
as to your guuuard question you need to look at the variety, range, and depth of the vocabulary. depth of talent too. does your guard have over 30 members literally running and spinning rifles at the same time before cleanly punctuating that phrase with a clean 30+ member rifle toss? are they blending the movement with the equipment or do they just park and do a basic short phrase? how long and dense are the spinning phrases? how much ambidexterity? are they working from all parts of the equipment? are they varying the height of the tosses, the release and catch points as well? are they doing body work under the toss? it's super easy to do the same basic toss over and over and ooover again. not impressive. how developed are the dynamic efforts of space, time, weight, and flow? is the guard's movement uniform and clean? is the equipment going up and down at the same time when you're looking at it from upstairs? is it pure chaos lol? those kinds of things.
def you're not alone on these forums on the vis side of things!! im constantly baffled by ppl's takes on vis performance here LOL. many directors don't understand it either!!

well deserved 10th place for B-land!! musically and esp visually they're hangin w/ the best of em this year. puuuure elegance, beautiful and clean vis program. 8th place ens vis, yep yep that checks out. can't wait to see their guard in WGI. large and in charge. gonna slay, can feel it.
twhs' 12th woodwind rank is yet another one of my early season predictions coming true, go figure. was raisin the alarms on that back in August. gotta have your ens woodwinds audible upstairs for more than 20 secs or whatever when you've got a ww judge up there! it's a band, not a drum corps! u could see they were nailed in ww content in prelims, guessin' same is true for finals. cost 'em 4th place.
other than that their ranks were fine. 5th ens music, 1st ens vis, 6th design, well that one's lower than id have it but im guessing it was a music person, either that or the UIL content caption is more focused on simultaneous demand and difficulty than variety/artistry/flow/creativity.

Tying out a meteoric decade by winning a back-to-back State championship on the 10th anniversary of your first. Cosmic stuff

when hebron when whenb when when the the hebron aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa so so so beautiful

What a day! Congratulations to the 14 Finalists-
Coppell
Round Rock
Keller
Bridgeland
Waxahachie
Cy-Fair
Pearland
Vandegrift
The Woodlands
Hebron
Flower Mound
Marcus
Vista Ridge 
Ronald Reagan
 
 
First, A HUGE congratulations to  Bridgeland! This will be their first State Finals! Congratulations to Waxahachie as well after the issues from earlier. Overall, a great day and I can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow!!!
 
Edit- Didn't realize this was Cy-Fairs first time as well. BIG CONGRATULATIONS to them as well!!!

this tea…. 

2nd - Hebron (NOOOOOOO)

Bitter, party of one!
There isn't a single band in Finals that isn't excellent. 
You will see many of the same bands in Finals on Tuesday and the UIL system is very different from BOA. These bands excel under both systems because they are among the best high school bands in the country.

Omg, that draw order. You can’t ask for a better direct comparison in the back half of finals. Going to be a thrill. Best of luck to all!

I am so incredibly proud of my friends over at Keller, after all of the difficulties finding their footing all season long, they finally proved why they are one of the best. So incredibly glad this show gets to be performed tonight 💙

veeeesta da beaaasta. just overcame a couple bands that beat em at Austin, kinda what i expected.

watchin' on hi cam. Cedar Ridge solid performance, a little bit o visual dirt here and there, but pretty locked in musically. still feel like the design is a bit simple, but that's prob just my tastes. Vista Ridge, super layered production, cool music, overall not as clean as i'd hoped. i also felt like the energy level dropped every time they weren't playing a long chord. given the challenges it makes sense. Westlake, that's gotta be some of the best clarinet playing ever on the field. great music. super enjoyable. love the voiceover, is that the guy from the Cadets? not super clean visually, but some cool stuff in there. finals worthy. actually i probably like Westlake's music more than both of the Ridges, which surprises me. more character.

Agreed!!! Cannot wait to see this one live as well