The 2024 season might be interesting

[BandNerd07]

So we got the 2024 BOA schedule a few days ago and I definitely noticed something. The BOA season has been pushed a week forward with McAllen happening on 9/21, Midland and Shenandoah on 9/28, Bedford on 10/5, and Prosper on 10/12. Austin, West Houston, and Waco don't have confirmed dates but Austin will likely happen on 9/21, West Houston on 10/5, and Waco on 10/26. Also, the UIL season has been pushed back a week with 3/5A area on 10/26, 2/4/6A on 11/2, as well as 1/3/5A state on 11/4-6 and 2/4/6A state on 11/11-13. I definitely wonder what USBands and independent contests plan on doing. We already have a confirmed date for the Wylie Marching Invitational which is on 10/5 (the same day as Bedford. Last year it was the same day as Shenandoah.) And depending on when the football season starts, the regular season may end before the 2/4/6A bands even have their area contest. I know it's complicated, but I wanted to make sure I'm not the only one that's concerned about the 2024 season.

[TrenBS]

Im less concerned about the next season and more excited, I felt like these past 2 seasons have had incredible shows and displays of skill, but the timelines were so restrictive and short that most bands in Texas couldnt really breathe at any point or do many competitions unless they could afford to do super regional or nats every year, as state is only guaranteed for so many groups, which ended up making these past 2 seasons feel very fast in comparison to previous years when school started later which allowed more practice time.

With the extra 5 visual hours and the longer season it not only incentivizes earlier competitions as now most bands can add more competitions in October for their full show which makes early comps for slow burn schools much more appealing, but it seems like there are many more opportunities for groups that cant break into the upper bubbles more chances for feedback and to display their skill.

 

My biggest issue with it is budgetary, as more comps result in a need for a higher budget, but it seems like bands are finding ways to cut costs and fundraise without being intrusive, otherwise Im glad we got back a lot of the season we lost when summer band got cut pretty heavily with new schedules having school start early August, so I believe 2024 will be probably the best season we will have so far, or at least we will have to see

[utee94]

On 12/28/2023 at 2:59 PM, TrenBS said:

My biggest issue with it is budgetary, as more comps result in a need for a higher budget, but it seems like bands are finding ways to cut costs and fundraise without being intrusive, otherwise Im glad we got back a lot of the season we lost when summer band got cut pretty heavily with new schedules having school start early August, so I believe 2024 will be probably the best season we will have so far, or at least we will have to see

I'm not sure it's any "less intrusive" but I do think people are just gutting it out and pushing through.  Right now I'm looking at sending my two kids to Grand Nationals, plus my wife and I do pit-pack and chaperoning duties so the entire family will be going.  It'll be something like $6,000 minimum just for my own family, which is pretty daunting.

I'd honestly prefer to see the band skip BOA-SA to preserve more resources for the trip to Indianapolis, not just financially but in days the kids are out of school and in days I'm forced to take off from work.  It'll be one day for BOA-SA, 2 days for UIL State, and then at least 3 days for Indianapolis including flights/travel.

Maybe there's some way to ask for preferential treatment in SA and do prelims on Saturday instead of Friday?  But so far, my kids' band always ends up going on Friday.

[lost]

On 1/6/2024 at 2:09 PM, utee94 said:

I'm not sure it's any "less intrusive" but I do think people are just gutting it out and pushing through.  Right now I'm looking at sending my two kids to Grand Nationals, plus my wife and I do pit-pack and chaperoning duties so the entire family will be going.  It'll be something like $6,000 minimum just for my own family, which is pretty daunting.

I'd honestly prefer to see the band skip BOA-SA to preserve more resources for the trip to Indianapolis, not just financially but in days the kids are out of school and in days I'm forced to take off from work.  It'll be one day for BOA-SA, 2 days for UIL State, and then at least 3 days for Indianapolis including flights/travel.

Maybe there's some way to ask for preferential treatment in SA and do prelims on Saturday instead of Friday?  But so far, my kids' band always ends up going on Friday.

I think the idea of having bands attending nats being given Saturday performance times is really interesting and nobody’s brought it up.

I can’t say I see a downside. If the band is willingly making an investment to attend both contests, seems like the minimum they could do is provide preference for them to go on Saturday at SA even if they have to go first in the day.

I agree that sometimes bands need to know when to cut their losses and skip out on SA especially now that UIL is every year and their sheets and feedback are much more compatible to BOA scoring.

[TrenBS]

I really think the only band that could/should even attempt both SA and Nats is Broken Arrow, great funding, much more central location, and overall just a much easier time between the two rather than the SA bands who have to travel extremely far for nats which right off of SA is pretty grueling, LISD just simply doesnt have the funding to double up on it consistently, and otherwise its just super inconvenient for anyone else with smaller programs

 

Trying both just seems like your asking for trouble

[lost]

17 hours ago, TrenBS said:

I really think the only band that could/should even attempt both SA and Nats is Broken Arrow, great funding, much more central location, and overall just a much easier time between the two rather than the SA bands who have to travel extremely far for nats which right off of SA is pretty grueling, LISD just simply doesnt have the funding to double up on it consistently, and otherwise its just super inconvenient for anyone else with smaller programs

 

Trying both just seems like your asking for trouble

Very few bands and districts in Texas have the resources to double up, even the wealthier ones. It’s a huge financial undertaking.

[utee94]

On 1/8/2024 at 7:23 PM, lost said:

Very few bands and districts in Texas have the resources to double up, even the wealthier ones. It’s a huge financial undertaking.

Leander ISD bands have removed some of the cost of trips to SA by shuttling back and forth every day rather than staying overnight for ANY of it. So have many other Centex bands.  Obviously this is only possible due to proximity, and bands coming from further away don't have that luxury.*

(I use luxury with an asterisk  because it also ends up with some insane morning call times to load the buses and head to SA, this past year CP kids were called to the bandhall for the trip to BOA-SA at something like 3:00 AM on Friday morning I think, because we had one of the earliest AM performance slots).

But still, it saved some money...

 

 

[TrenBS]

3 hours ago, utee94 said:

Leander ISD bands have removed some of the cost of trips to SA by shuttling back and forth every day rather than staying overnight for ANY of it. So have many other Centex bands.  Obviously this is only possible due to proximity, and bands coming from further away don't have that luxury.*

(I use luxury with an asterisk  because it also ends up with some insane morning call times to load the buses and head to SA, this past year CP kids were called to the bandhall for the trip to BOA-SA at something like 3:00 AM on Friday morning I think, because we had one of the earliest AM performance slots).

But still, it saved some money...

 

 

I honestly wish Oklahoma had a place big and nice enough to hold a super regional, it would allow neighboring states to get a foothold in super regionals and give North Texas/Indiana bands a chance to conglomerate much easier along with being cheaper overall on travels, its more of a wish since we already are filled with Super regionals and I doubt St.Louis would alternate (and there's no way they would remove BOA SA), but its something I've thought about recently

[crunchycookie3]

31 minutes ago, TrenBS said:

I honestly wish Oklahoma had a place big and nice enough to hold a super regional, it would allow neighboring states to get a foothold in super regionals and give North Texas/Indiana bands a chance to conglomerate much easier along with being cheaper overall on travels, its more of a wish since we already are filled with Super regionals and I doubt St.Louis would alternate (and there's no way they would remove BOA SA), but its something I've thought about recently

This is great in theory but the Indiana bands still won't make the trip to St. Louis, which is closer than anywhere in Oklahoma. Too stubborn it seems

[TrenBS]

24 minutes ago, crunchycookie3 said:

This is great in theory but the Indiana bands still won't make the trip to St. Louis, which is closer than anywhere in Oklahoma. Too stubborn it seems

Yeah, I'd imagine with a big enough competitive pool of LISD and Broken Arrow yearly they would be more inclined to go, I also think it would connect the nations' marching groups outside of power states since it gives a big event for anyone to throw their hat in the ring and be exposed to different states, sadly it wont happen since I have no knowledge of any OK stadium/area that could sustain such a large pool of groups

[LeanderMomma]

6 hours ago, TrenBS said:

I honestly wish Oklahoma had a place big and nice enough to hold a super regional, it would allow neighboring states to get a foothold in super regionals

We’ve been pushing for this for years on HornRank!  Heck, just a freakin Regional would be amazing!  Between Oklahoma and Arkansas bands alone, it would make for an outstanding Regional!

[TrenBS]

14 hours ago, LeanderMomma said:

We’ve been pushing for this for years on HornRank!  Heck, just a freakin Regional would be amazing!  Between Oklahoma and Arkansas bands alone, it would make for an outstanding Regional!

Thats ignoring the literal wave of all of North Texas clammering to be a finalist lock in a brand new regional, if they held a “regional” there, it would take probably 5 days of flooded emails before it gets bumped up to a super just due to how cost efficient it is.

 

And again, it gives OK and AK bands a chance to get a foot in the door on the next level, which you could argue could be Texas lites in terms of quality (similar top level bands, with not quite as much depth due to lower populations), it would make national competitions much more interesting with more states having a platform

 

I think I just want more states to have Texas level depth, OK, AR, and KY have such great potential

[Tubalord11]

5 minutes ago, TrenBS said:

Thats ignoring the literal wave of all of North Texas clammering to be a finalist lock in a brand new regional, if they held a “regional” there, it would take probably 5 days of flooded emails before it gets bumped up to a super just due to how cost efficient it is.

 

And again, it gives OK and AK bands a chance to get a foot in the door on the next level, which you could argue could be Texas lites in terms of quality (similar top level bands, with not quite as much depth due to lower populations), it would make national competitions much more interesting with more states having a platform

 

I think I just want more states to have Texas level depth, OK, AK, and KT have such great potential

Just don’t let Tx bands enroll in the OK regional 😂😂

[TrenBS]

1 minute ago, Tubalord11 said:

Just don’t let Tx bands enroll in the OK regional 😂😂

I mean honestly I think it would be for the better (if it was a super, regular should have OK bands take priority of course considering like 31s the limit), since lesser known OK bands would have similar level TX bands to scale to, and give a reason to be better, it has a lot of potential imo

[LeanderMomma]

12 hours ago, TrenBS said:

And again, it gives OK and AK bands a chance to get a foot in the door on the next level

 

12 hours ago, TrenBS said:

OK, AK, and KT have such great potential

You’re killin me smalls. Arkansas is abbreviated AR. (AK is Alaska 😉). 
 

[LeanderMomma]

12 hours ago, Tubalord11 said:

Just don’t let Tx bands enroll in the OK regional 😂😂

Actually I think it would be fantastic if they did!  Oklahoma has some heavy hitters and we already saw how good Bentonville (AR) was last season. And the Oklahoma and Arkansas kids I’ve spoken to would be absolutely thrilled to compete with some Texas bands somewhere besides Texas and Indiana!

[TrenBS]

2 hours ago, LeanderMomma said:

 

You’re killin me smalls. Arkansas is abbreviated AR. (AK is Alaska 😉). 
 

Thank you, sorry the last time I had to remember abbreviations was high school freshman year, def gotta brush up on the specifics😂

[LeanderMomma]

5 minutes ago, TrenBS said:

Thank you, sorry the last time I had to remember abbreviations was high school freshman year, def gotta brush up on the specifics😂

No worries!

[Tubalord11]

3 hours ago, LeanderMomma said:

Actually I think it would be fantastic if they did!  Oklahoma has some heavy hitters and we already saw how good Bentonville (AR) was last season. And the Oklahoma and Arkansas kids I’ve spoken to would be absolutely thrilled to compete with some Texas bands somewhere besides Texas and Indiana!

No I 100% agree, just a joke so some of the smaller programs from either state had a higher chance at making finals, but OK has plenty of bands that could compete very well with the Tx bands, and Bentonville can definitely fend for themselves, but I do think they need a regional or SR in the OK/ AR area 

 

[11BandMan11]

Question to throw out to the fun 2024 contest discussion.

How are all the school districts dealing with the new UIL heat indexes, specifically the WBGT (Wet Bulb Globe Temperature)? 

I'm really wondering how schools across the state are going to be dealing with the new temperature guideline indexes that UIL is pushing out to school districts. The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature was especially BRUTAL on schools in the greater Houston area due to the wonderful humidity fun they all get to deal with. I know speaking with some friends over there, there were schools all across Houston that literally lost multiple full weeks of outdoor rehearsal time due to being told you can't go outside, it's over 92. So I'm very curious how districts and schools are going to be addressing and dealing with that interesting thing for the new upcoming year.  
 

[TrenBS]

20 minutes ago, 11BandMan11 said:

Question to throw out to the fun 2024 contest discussion.

How are all the school districts dealing with the new UIL heat indexes, specifically the WBGT (Wet Bulb Globe Temperature)? 

I'm really wondering how schools across the state are going to be dealing with the new temperature guideline indexes that UIL is pushing out to school districts. The Wet Bulb Globe Temperature was especially BRUTAL on schools in the greater Houston area due to the wonderful humidity fun they all get to deal with. I know speaking with some friends over there, there were schools all across Houston that literally lost multiple full weeks of outdoor rehearsal time due to being told you can't go outside, it's over 92. So I'm very curious how districts and schools are going to be addressing and dealing with that interesting thing for the new upcoming year.  
 

Im not sure how brutal it is on South Texas, but in North Texas the humidity while still higher than most of the surrounding states generally sits around 15-40%, so to my knowledge very little time is lost in the drier parts of North Texas, but I cant speak for Little Elm in that regard

If anything since it affects all school activities, most districts will likely realign to a later time (8:45-9:30) to allow for over an hour of before/after school practice for sports and marching, with Marching band splitting its time if possible with 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 later in the day, naturally, Texas is simply too competitive for us to just cut football or band time without at least an attempt to maintain our growth, so mornings will be the saving grace (also considering students get a nice 65-85 degree weather to stay mentally engaged and not completely fun 118 heat index

[lost]

On 1/10/2024 at 9:41 AM, utee94 said:

Leander ISD bands have removed some of the cost of trips to SA by shuttling back and forth every day rather than staying overnight for ANY of it. So have many other Centex bands.  Obviously this is only possible due to proximity, and bands coming from further away don't have that luxury.*

(I use luxury with an asterisk  because it also ends up with some insane morning call times to load the buses and head to SA, this past year CP kids were called to the bandhall for the trip to BOA-SA at something like 3:00 AM on Friday morning I think, because we had one of the earliest AM performance slots).

But still, it saved some money...

 

 

It saves money but is it worth the well-being of the students? Lots of variables at play

[utee94]

16 hours ago, lost said:

It saves money but is it worth the well-being of the students? Lots of variables at play

Yes, it's a fair debate. I've been pretty shocked at some of the early call times for travel.  But other than asking parents to pay even more than the ~$1,000 per student per year we're already paying (and that's in a NON-grand nationals year), I'm not sure what the solution is.  The district isn't going to pony up for the overnight expenditures, so it's either have the crazy call times, or don't go at all.

 

 

 

[BandNerd07]

So i definitely see a lot of yall's points about the SR and GN, but if we're taking about the SR side of things, I think it should be a rotating contest and be held at the major dome stadiums once every 3 years to give more bands that don't have the money or resources to travel to SA an opportunity to experience a SR. So here's an example:

2024 - Alamodome (SA/Austin Area)

2025 - AT&T Stadium (Dallas/Fort Worth Area)

2026 - NRG Stadium (Houston Area)

2027 - It repeats itself

Of course this isn't going to happen, and probably never will. If anything this was just a dream/idea.

[lost]

2 hours ago, BandNerd07 said:

So i definitely see a lot of yall's points about the SR and GN, but if we're taking about the SR side of things, I think it should be a rotating contest and be held at the major dome stadiums once every 3 years to give more bands that don't have the money or resources to travel to SA an opportunity to experience a SR. So here's an example:

2024 - Alamodome (SA/Austin Area)

2025 - AT&T Stadium (Dallas/Fort Worth Area)

2026 - NRG Stadium (Houston Area)

2027 - It repeats itself

Of course this isn't going to happen, and probably never will. If anything this was just a dream/idea.

Good concept but the acoustics in AT&T are famously horrible. USBands does host a show out there and it’s relatively popular.

Not sure about NRG actually, I’ve never heard of it be discussed that they could host a BOA. Probably cost or acoustics issues?