UIL 4A State Marching Contest 2025 (Nov 5)

[rudy12]

11 hours ago, SwarmFan1 said:

Don't sleep on North Lamar....

I’ve learned my lesson. They beat up on people all season with half of there show on the field but whatever. It doesn’t seem to matter. Anybody got videos of Area C?

[mellophoney]

59 minutes ago, Instrument said:

has anyone seen a run of Davenports show? i havent seen much about them and im curious if they will medal again. 

Their football broadcast does a good job of showing the band, but the most recent one is from before even region, those are the only videos I'm aware of.

[sigmaboi]

give me top 5 being from area c with a sprinkle of area b

[frostt]

I go to Davenport we have a game against canyon lake for football it’s a home game as well the only thing is we have a and b shadows and I think our b shadows are performing so it still might not be as accurate like it is at state 

[frostt]

Also area for us was really weird in prelims cause we were the first to go cal Allen was like right in the middle and Floresville was the last band to go in prelims

[waynet2010]

It will be a good year to just enjoy this group of bands at 4A state because from what it sounds could be huge changes at the top of 4A next year.  

[wtxbd02]

Haven't seen everyone but have to say Fredericksburg has one of my favorite shows this year in 4A.  Super fun, would love to see them in finals!  

[frostt]

5 hours ago, wtxbd02 said:

Haven't seen everyone but have to say Fredericksburg has one of my favorite shows this year in 4A.  Super fun, would love to see them in finals!  

I saw there show there homecoming game was against us it was pretty cool 

[CSharpeRun]

We bumped La Grange’s content up this year. And rehearsals have been going really well. They should look and sound more like they belong at State this year. 😉

But I appreciate whoever said it was their favorite show. This year’s show is also a lot of fun. It will definitely be a great contest all around. Happy State week and best of luck to everyone!

[criscubes]

after seeing krums show, I honestly don't think they make finals

[wtxbd02]

Make sure we aren't sharing unlisted videos not meant for public viewing.  Thanks!  

[SETXgal]

19 hours ago, criscubes said:

after seeing krums show, I honestly don't think they make finals

In person?

I know nothing about their program or history...

[criscubes]

10 minutes ago, SETXgal said:

In person?

I know nothing about their program or history...

yup, saw them i  person and I was underwhelmed to say the least. Idk if it's because state is around the corner and they want to conserve themselves, but their sounds wasn't amazing or anything mindblowing. They're marching was pretty decent I'll give them that, but I don't think they're at the same caliber as state finalist bands. I do still wish them the best luck and I'll be rooting for them to get as far as possible.

[wgitxluv]

My final prediction:

State Champ: Celina 

Silver Medal: Panther Creek

Bronze Medal: Davenport 

4th: Sulphur Springs

5th: China Spring

6th: Canyon/Fredericksburg

7th: Fredericksburg/Canyon

8th: Calallen

9th: North Lamar

10th: West Plains

[bandisfun2000]

Final Prediction:

1st: Sulphur Springs (hot take but I stand by it. I really have enjoyed their show this season. Especially their brass section!)

2nd: Celina (could they 4-Peat? 1000% I just hope to see SS on top. Although SS hasn’t officially beat them yet. It has been close, you can’t fight me on that)

3rd: Panther Creek (they’re solid, just underwhelming compared to last year imo. They do have some beautiful visuals in their show this year!)

4th: Davenport (Amazing program, I just think they’ll be here since I haven’t seen much on them other than crappy live streams. Guard seems to be bringing that visual effect once again! Love to see it! )

5th: Calallen (Haven’t seen anything on them but if they bring the same quality they brought last year especially with perc I see them here.)

6th: China Spring (Not my favorite show concept from them but they still have that powerful sound they’ve always had.)

7th: North Lamar (they could place higher, I just think they lack a lot of cleanliness in their music. Their execution in visual could help them score higher than most.)

8th: Canyon (Another solid program, can’t say much on them but cannot wait to see them in person.)

9th: Fredericksburg (With this program being pretty solid and having a good prelims spot I see them here.)

10th: Bridge City (powerful sound, I enjoyed their guard, uniforms and props. Visual could use work but isn’t horrible. Hope to finally see them in finals!)

Just outside finals: Aubrey, Floresville, Krum, Pine Tree. (All amazing programs with each having something they do better than others. Also all of them have good prelims spots.)

Don’t attack me in the comments, this is just my opinion! I know all bands will do amazing this Wednesday!! It has definitely been an exciting and nerve racking season. With a 3x state champ, multiple returns of finalists and medalists, some new and old faces joining the contest as well. All I know is that every one of these programs have worked their tails off! Cannot wait to see them in action this Wednesday! Good luck to all!

[Saxtastic45]

My final predictions

1st Celina.

Pros-They are somehow better than they have ever been in the winds dept. They are bigger, cleaner, more musical than everyone. 
Cons-Visually they are slightly less clean than normal and the guard isn’t as good. I also think the percussion isn’t as solid but it is still really good. 

2nd Panther Creek.

Pros-very uniform movement and fantastic solos. The woodwinds are incredible maybe the best woodwinds in 4A ever. Solid brass. Polished and refined.                                   Cons-kind of a boring show. And visually not as difficult as some other groups. Small less effective guard but all 4 do their job really well.

3rd North Lamar.

Pros-visually complex and dynamic. So much variety musically and visually. Sounds great looks great. Content out the wazoo. Kind of an assault on the senses and emotionally performed. Good guard and emergent percussion.                                                  Cons- The end of the show is unrefined. They can be inconsistent. They have a recent history of peaking before state finals. Smaller than a lot of other groups.

4th Davenport

Pros-the sound is so big and lush. The percussion is so consistent and has a hard book. They also probably have the best guard in 4A by a lot. Really cool brass moments.                                                    Cons-The show is not as compelling as last year. They move well but the drill is muddy at times from a design category. 
 

5th Sulphur Springs

Pros-Cleanest they have ever looked. Well thought out show design and fantastic soloists. The tenor brass is probably the best in this classification. Guard is also top notch. This is a band that knows how to deliver.
Cons-They don’t have an identity as far as how they want to sound. I think they have some very rough spots in their show that I’d be interested to see if they can get worked out. Woodwinds have projection and clarity issues.

6th Krum

Pros- Some of the cleanest technical moments in this classification as well as some of the best soloists.
Cons- It hasn’t gotten much better in a month. The ending of the show is unrefined and confusing. Visually, while well done, is uninspiring. 
 

7-10 is in any order but my guesses will be Canyon, Calallen, China Spring, Canton.

 

Feel free to disagree. 

[Gpk1968]

6 hours ago, bandisfun2000 said:

Although SS hasn’t officially beat them yet. It has been close, you can’t fight me on that

Don’t want to fight you, haha. Just curious as to which contests have been close? I thought Celina was leaps and bounds ahead of SS at every contest. Maybe the closest was area finals, and I don’t think I would call that close. 

 

6 hours ago, bandisfun2000 said:

6th: China Spring

Some of the area judges seemed to come after CS for their sound. 

 

6 hours ago, bandisfun2000 said:

10th: Bridge City (powerful sound, I enjoyed their guard, uniforms and props. Visual could use work but isn’t horrible. Hope to finally see them in finals!

Their show is so short. I think it’s going to hurt them. It’s at least a minute shorter than all the other top bands. It might hurt their content score. I think it takes them out of finals unfortunately. 

 

5 hours ago, Saxtastic45 said:

d. I also think the percussion isn’t as solid but it is still really good. 

Celinas percussion seems to be doing better. I was critical of them at the beginning. Something wasn’t giving between percussion and band. They seem to have fixed a lot of issues. 

 

just adding in a few comments! I have yet to see a decent video of Davenport and I haven’t had time to sit down and really watch Fredericksburg so I’m not certain what to say about those two. 

[bandisfun2000]

1 hour ago, GarbagePatchKid said:

Don’t want to fight you, haha. Just curious as to which contests have been close? I thought Celina was leaps and bounds ahead of SS at every contest. Maybe the closest was area finals, and I don’t think I would call that close. 

 

Some of the area judges seemed to come after CS for their sound. 

 

Their show is so short. I think it’s going to hurt them. It’s at least a minute shorter than all the other top bands. It might hurt their content score. I think it takes them out of finals unfortunately. 

 

Celinas percussion seems to be doing better. I was critical of them at the beginning. Something wasn’t giving between percussion and band. They seem to have fixed a lot of issues. 

 

just adding in a few comments! I have yet to see a decent video of Davenport and I haven’t had time to sit down and really watch Fredericksburg so I’m not certain what to say about those two. 

With overall placements SS has been just right behind Celina all season. In caption judging I’ve noticed that SS doesn’t particularly do well in prelims. In finals, SS usually has one or two caption they end up taking. It’ll really just come down to what their weakness is. It takes one judge to bring one down placements. And I'm going to be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for SS this year until I saw the placements at Melissa. If SS started the season that well not just against Celina but against some outstanding 4A,5A,6A schools then you honestly gotta expect something from them. It’s similar to Krum HS where we all definitely saw their success early on and now they are headed to state for the first time. Although you can’t determine the final moment for a band, we can at least say SS should most likely be taking a medal home this year! 

[Gpk1968]

22 minutes ago, bandisfun2000 said:

With overall placements SS has been just right behind Celina all season. In caption judging I’ve noticed that SS doesn’t particularly do well in prelims. In finals, SS usually has one or two caption they end up taking. It’ll really just come down to what their weakness is. It takes one judge to bring one down placements. And I'm going to be honest, I didn’t have high hopes for SS this year until I saw the placements at Melissa. If SS started the season that well not just against Celina but against some outstanding 4A,5A,6A schools then you honestly gotta expect something from them. It’s similar to Krum HS where we all definitely saw their success early on and now they are headed to state for the first time. Although you can’t determine the final moment for a band, we can at least say SS should most likely be taking a medal home this year! 

Ok. I see what you are saying. 
 

Yes, placement wise they’ve been right behind all year. I was thinking more along the lines of actual ordinal scoring, where there has been a significant gap, but I do see what you are saying. I think they were fairly tight at Melissa but there was a solid gap by the time they got to Princeton. Area was 5-21 in prelims (C-SS), and 6-14 in finals. I’m going to keep celina solidly ahead. 

[SETXgal]

3 hours ago, GarbagePatchKid said:

 Their show is so short. I think it’s going to hurt them. It’s at least a minute shorter than all the other top bands. It might hurt their content score. I think it takes them out of finals unfortunately. 

They were 2 points behind NL & SS in Area prelims. The judges seem fine with it. IMO, some bands could take something out of their show & have a more engaged audience for the duration.

[Gpk1968]

3 minutes ago, SETXgal said:

They were 2 points behind NL & SS in Area prelims. The judges seem fine with it. IMO, some bands could take something out of their show & have a more engaged audience for the duration.

Yes, but state has a seven judge panel and content is its own category. That’s why I think it will hurt at state, even if it didn’t at area. Different judging system. 

[SETXgal]

2 hours ago, GarbagePatchKid said:

Yes, but state has a seven judge panel and content is its own category. That’s why I think it will hurt at state, even if it didn’t at area. Different judging system. 

All area judges both music & visual have 3 categories to judge. The third is content. For state, there is content for each judge & then "Content & Design". From what I  interpret in reviewing the 7 Judge info, the things that it asks them to evaluate in content don't really have much to do with show length.

[Gpk1968]

1 hour ago, SETXgal said:

All area judges both music & visual have 3 categories to judge. The third is content. For state, there is content for each judge & then "Content & Design". From what I  interpret in reviewing the 7 Judge info, the things that it asks them to evaluate in content don't really have much to do with show length.

I do feel like content gets pushed aside a bit at area because judges are trying to keep their eyes on so many things, and provide constructive feedback. At state, with a dedicated content judge, areas like “suitability of music and visual content” (I.e. demand of drill) and “content with respect to challenge” will be given a more critical eye. While there isn’t a dedicated category for length of show, I think it could fall in these two places. 
 

as always, just my opinion. 

[Gpk1968]

Safe travels today everyone!

[wtxbd02]

Best of luck to all bands today!