UIL 5A State Marching Contest 2025 (Nov. 10 & 11)

[jetliner]

Boston 2022 cone spotted? That's a pretty cool reuse if so.

[WanderingTraveler]

Hays: Opening hit with the flute duet soaring on top. Trombone feature was super fun! Some super exposed woodwind feature moments, followed by some articulation features from the brass. Huge sound from this group, pushes it a few times, but overall good! Beautiful ballad with an outstanding soloist. Transition period with battery and front ensemble, well done! Pretty good form management on hit sets, some transitions people fall out of the form. Super high energy show, great ending sax soloist, good job.

[WanderingTraveler]

PSJA North: Seeing the Parents walk around earlier with the little Remy from Ratatouilles was cracking me up. Love the spaghetti prop, full show theme commitment is great. Great full ensemble sounds are great, love  the bottom up balance from the group. Different colored chefs hats for different members is fun. Using the different parts of the spaghetti as guard props is creative. Great soloists, love the goofy theme, and great execution.

[WanderingTraveler]

Glenn: Great sounds and great style. Just a clean show, some good musical content, and backed by great execution. Duet in the opening sounded good so did the flugel! Some visual dirt in some forms, but individual visual seems defined. A bit flat from the effect perspective but shouldn’t matter here. Potential finalist!

[WanderingTraveler]

Richland: Rocking show! Love this props. They pop very well on the field, even over the stream. Drill is very complimentary to the show theme commitment. SO MANY FLAGS in the ballad. One of the coolest visual statements of the day. A triangle section?! Overall great sounds, cool use of props, visually stunning, and another I could see making finals.

[txband27]

5 minutes ago, WanderingTraveler said:

Richland: Rocking show! Love this props. They pop very well on the field, even over the stream. Drill is very complimentary to the show theme commitment. SO MANY FLAGS in the ballad. One of the coolest visual statements of the day. A triangle section?! Overall great sounds, cool use of props, visually stunning, and another I could see making finals.

My darkhorse making it into the finals. 🤞🏾

 

Thanks, WT

[WanderingTraveler]

Brenham: Great showing from Brenham! Not much to say on my end. Good sounds, love the rep, soloists did an amazing job. 

[WanderingTraveler]

Back for the final block of prelims, and I’ll stick around to report finals advancing bands!

Horizon: Great opening here! Smaller band but great sounds here. Good cover downs in these blocks in the opener. Some great guard work surrounding an excellent trombone soloist! Super well defined marching technique from these members! Battery sounds good! Few of the curvy forms on side 2 had some form maintenance issues going into the ballad. Big sets however, seemed pretty good, and didn’t seem like they were folding in on themselves. Nice build up musically here in the ballad. Some nice runs in the front ensemble to transition into the closer. Powerful chords while entering these block forms, fee high brass out of the texture. Great way to end out! Nice showing band!!

[jetliner]

Horizon's percussion break had me checking Area results, and sure enough, 1st place from Music 3 all night. Strongly suspect percussion will be their best ordinal tonight as well.

[WanderingTraveler]

North Mesquite: Liking the guard uniforms to match the stage, front flats, etc. Great opening clarinet + flute. Well defined horn carriage. First impact, super bottom up band timbre. Right into some section work, pretty good technique here just some slight intonation things. Cool forms and accurate spacing in these blocks opener. Ballad started w some Bruno Mars on sax, into a flute and clarinet pairing. Well done, and great vibrato. Liking the swing flags in the ballad to match everything mentioned before.  Coming out of the ballad, quick WW moment into this nice brass fanfare w some tricky articulation…but done v well. Much more power than the opening, as we shift into Holst. Ended in a great pretty form resembling the uniform pattern. Great job Big Blue!

[WanderingTraveler]

9 minutes ago, jetliner said:

Horizon's percussion break had me checking Area results, and sure enough, 1st place from Music 3 all night. Strongly suspect percussion will be their best ordinal tonight as well.

I second this! Battery sounded good! Some good FE work as well.

[neverplayedaninstrumentmom]

22 minutes ago, WanderingTraveler said:

Past for the final block of prelims, and I’ll stick around to report finals advancing bands!

Horizon: Great opening here! Smaller band but great sounds here. Good cover downs in these blocks in the opener. Some great guard work surrounding an excellent trombone soloist! Super well defined marching technique from these members! Battery sounds good! Few of the curvy forms on side 2 had some form maintenance issues going into the ballad. Big sets however, seemed pretty good, and didn’t seem like they were folding in on themselves. Nice build up musically here in the ballad. Some nice runs in the front ensemble to transition into the closer. Powerful chords while entering these block forms, fee high brass out of the texture. Great way to end out! Nice showing band!!

What time are finals announced?

[WanderingTraveler]

BV Lopez: Great backfield playing to start the production, beginning you can y’all understand use of dynamic really well. Straight into WW technique and brass articulation features. Very well executed. Very full bodied sounded here in the opener, with some good musical direction. Added visuals across non playing sections are a good effect. Forms in the ballad have some holes that are either spacing issues or actual holes. Great flute soloist. To bring us out of the ballad. WW feature at the beginning of the closer very well done, only s bit of fluff at the end, but very audible. Nice full articulate chords to end the production. Great showing tonight!

[WanderingTraveler]

4 minutes ago, neverplayedaninstrumentmom said:

What time are finals announced?

8:45 is marked as retreat time.

[Argyleauntie346]

6 hours ago, BearMom said:

I hope this posting is in jest because these two “youngsters” have proven their knowledge with exceptional accuracy for a while now. Specifically, Tubalord knows his stuff and I have trusted his insight and predictions for the last few years.  No one comes close to his opinions and predictions regardless of age. 

 

I’d like to clear some things up. I’m only trying to give some expert opinion on the matter. And after some review, I’ve started to appreciate the work of Tubalord and Wanderingtraveler. These youngsters have been doing a great job with their analyses, though some opinions need to be refined. 
 

[RouseMegaFan]

LT… what can I say 🤩 what a band I love the Mello’s… this is my 20th year with bands and I love those Mello’s 🤙🤙 I bet one is called David or something cuz all David’s are goated 🤙what a band…

[RouseMegaFan]

Current prelims predictions 

1: UNT marching band

2: rouse

3: Lebanon trail 

4: wakeland 

5: cedar park 

6: Leander 

7: Frisco HS 

8: the colony Highschool 

9: argyle 

10: lonestar 

[WanderingTraveler]

LT: Seen y’all a few time and I love the commitment to the theme. From flats, to on field props, to shakos and guard, very thoughtful across the board. Preshows visuals in the guard help set the stage, while the band in laying in the center doing some visual work. Starting musical moments from a small quartet up front w rite of spring into a super warm build up to an opening impact. Great drum line to pick the tempo up. Visually seems we got some great fundamentals. Woodwinds splitting into pods, as the brass have an articulation feature — semi unbalanced here. Great half time marching led by the trombones, in a follow the leader…great spacing here. Full field now in effect as an oboe solo begins, while guard take out some multi blade scythe looking things. Cool effect. Crunchy chords at the ballads climax, few shrill trumpets sticking out of the texture. Some great guard work overall, super locked in and counts seem well defined. Great conclusion and final chord, super powerful. Good show. Good execution. Great musicians. Good job.

[WanderingTraveler]

A&M Consolidated: We got a yin-and-yang stage un front w some stair step cube panel flats. Show about patterns perhaps?! Started w the band laying on the field, straight into some REALLY strong chords. Very impressed by sound quality of this group. Great depth of sound, remaining even on double tonguing. Nice bass feature in an exposed battery section. Good spacing across most forms, and good cover downs. Liking what I am seeing from an individual visual package, just some inconsistency in range of buy-in. Nice work from this flute player in her ballad solo. Pink swing flags brought out for the ballad, visual nice pallet here. Great use of dynamic control right before the start of the Danzon solos. WW are having some good phrasing, even in these more technical sections. Fun way to end the show. Impressive showing, hope to see yall in finals!

[jetliner]

That's what FOURTY-EIGHTH at BOA looks like by the way.

[AandMConsolidatedsuperfan3]

WOOOOW A&M CONSOLIDATED!!!! SUCH BEAUTIFUL BRASS SOUNDS!!! I love the visuals throughout the show I mean it’s just incredible. I’m speechless. If this show was a person I would marry them because omg. I expect you guys to be top 3 at the very least

[Argyleauntie346]

Cedar Park Prelims review:

Starting off, we seem to have a circular formation with woodwinds and a block of brass. The performer acts with great confidence. Some great ripple choreo upfront, well timed. Beautiful backfield performance by the battery. Battery presence is sensed even with their staging. Lots of ripple choreo going on. Some flute notes missed! big squeak! Timing is immaculate by both brass and woodwinds. Good spacing in brassland. Fun passoffs between woodwind and brass. Ok battery! Colorful brass duet. Some minor choreo mistiming. Exciting trombone solo, matched with great staging. Shifting focus to woodwinds. Forms cannot be interpreted well at times, blobs or form? Major spacing issues in brass, watch spacing. Color guard is fabulous in their effect. 

 

All in all, very clean show with an absolutely fantastic ballad. I sense lots of greatness in this band. I’d like to see more general effect be implemented into the show. Can’t tell what the show is supposed to invoke. No matter how beautiful they played, I felt removed. Still, wonderful performance all round. 

[AandMConsolidatedsuperfan3]

Just now, Argyleauntie346 said:

Cedar Park Prelims review:

Starting off, we seem to have a circular formation with woodwinds and a block of brass. The performer acts with great confidence. Some great ripple choreo upfront, well timed. Beautiful backfield performance by the battery. Battery presence is sensed even with their staging. Lots of ripple choreo going on. Some flute notes missed! big squeak! Timing is immaculate by both brass and woodwinds. Good spacing in brassland. Fun passoffs between woodwind and brass. Ok battery! Colorful brass duet. Some minor choreo mistiming. Exciting trombone solo, matched with great staging. Shifting focus to woodwinds. Forms cannot be interpreted well at times, blobs or form? Major spacing issues in brass, watch spacing. Color guard is fabulous in their effect. 

 

All in all, very clean show with an absolutely fantastic ballad. I sense lots of greatness in this band. I’d like to see more general effect be implemented into the show. Can’t tell what the show is supposed to invoke. No matter how beautiful they played, I felt removed. Still, wonderful performance all round. 

I know I loved them too….. but I don’t know A&M made a really big impact tonight

[OGFISD99]

2 minutes ago, Argyleauntie346 said:

Cedar Park Prelims review:

Starting off, we seem to have a circular formation with woodwinds and a block of brass. The performer acts with great confidence. Some great ripple choreo upfront, well timed. Beautiful backfield performance by the battery. Battery presence is sensed even with their staging. Lots of ripple choreo going on. Some flute notes missed! big squeak! Timing is immaculate by both brass and woodwinds. Good spacing in brassland. Fun passoffs between woodwind and brass. Ok battery! Colorful brass duet. Some minor choreo mistiming. Exciting trombone solo, matched with great staging. Shifting focus to woodwinds. Forms cannot be interpreted well at times, blobs or form? Major spacing issues in brass, watch spacing. Color guard is fabulous in their effect. 

 

All in all, very clean show with an absolutely fantastic ballad. I sense lots of greatness in this band. I’d like to see more general effect be implemented into the show. Can’t tell what the show is supposed to invoke. No matter how beautiful they played, I felt removed. Still, wonderful performance all round. 

Their show  is GE...lol... what did you miss? I don’t  know where you saw major  spacing  issues?????.... 

[WanderingTraveler]

Cedar Park: Starting staging has woodwinds and brass split with a majority of mid field vacant. Cool guard work as the woodwinds play ominous chords. Cool sounding chords as we add the brass in. The shost book when arranged like this is super difficult, great job. WWs are ripping through these notes. Nicely done battery in your feature! Some cool guard effects woth the flags, cross field, as we end the ballad with some powerful sting notes. Great visual contributions and backfield playing, as we have this trombone solo playing over top. Full ensemble in as the ballad concludes, with a beautiful crisp sound as the trombone soloist finishes soaring over the ensemble. Some guard ripples to shine over to the WWs as we transition to the closer. Few spacing inconsistencies, especially in the closer. But overall visual package is very solid. Great sounds to end the show. Excited to see yall once more tomorrow when Im not writing recaps. Good job! See ya tomorrow.