UIL 6A Area J 2025

[Thanos]

Flower Mound really dominated here. I can seriously see them potentially going undefeated!

[Tubalord11]

Good morning everyone! 
 

so my connection was beyond bad and trying to post was impossible after prelims, so little recap time. As far as finalists, I don’t think they got it wrong. PESH’s run wasn’t imo their strongest, def not as far out as they were but Rockhill really gave it their all, and Wylie East…yeah they rocked it yesterday, that show was cleannnnnn. Waco was def terrible judging. 
 

As far as finals, it was insane. Braswell had some great moments, really love the drill in their show. McKinney Boyd, can’t get over their sound. People around me were jumping around in their seats during that opening hit. Happy to see RH back in, was def their strongest week. McKinney, again just huge sound, people will love this at the SR! Wylie, yeah they should have been 4th imo. I didn’t understand their scores at all, and this is not to hate on WE or prosper, but they felt like 4th to me. Again East was fantastic, should have been 1st out as they were, but thought they had a stronger chance. Prosper was really good, but to me at least weren’t as clean overall based on things I heard and saw, but what was strong blew me away. And then the big 3….not real. It was an amazing night, unfortunately already my last live comp of the season as I’m not able to go to San Antonio anymore, but congrats again to everyone! 

[criscubes]

Absolutely fell in love with Wylie's show. I think they should've been 4th imo. And don't get me started on FlowerMounds. ABSOLUTELY beautiful show. Honestly idk how kids go to area knowing these bands are also there. I'd personally crawl up in a ball give up. Props to any kid who goes and give it their all knowing the odds aren't exactly in their favor. Coming from 4a area B, I thought that area was brutal, but DARN all these bands are basically fighting for 1 spot every single year and every single band is astonishing.

[dfwhorn]

Looking at the recaps, I find it pretty sick that through the entire program, there isn't a school you could consider "bad" at all, which is the special part about this area, as there is not one band that you could say doesn't have a quality program or show in Area J.

[1234567]

3 hours ago, criscubes said:

Absolutely fell in love with Wylie's show. I think they should've been 4th imo. And don't get me started on FlowerMounds. ABSOLUTELY beautiful show. Honestly idk how kids go to area knowing these bands are also there. I'd personally crawl up in a ball give up. Props to any kid who goes and give it their all knowing the odds aren't exactly in their favor. Coming from 4a area B, I thought that area was brutal, but DARN all these bands are basically fighting for 1 spot every single year and every single band is astonishing.

As a kid from a finalist band in this area that didn't make state, it is VERY difficult. It really hard to not feel like a disappointment or a failure in this area when you don't make the top 4, but its also important to have perspective. its easy to feel hopeless, but there are bands in this country that dream of being half as funded or big or strong as the bands in this area.

I do also think that making area j was a mistake, its very unfair to the kids that are working so hard and deserve to have the opportunity to go to state, however in this area its just hopeless for anyone outside the top 4. 

[1234567]

12 hours ago, WanderingTraveler said:

Comments on tonight. What a evening. This contest is always brutal and I am still surprised. Within my predictions, I had Wylie East as first out, and tonight they showed up in a big way, and rightfully so, they deserved top 5. I think the top 4 here are completely correct. From watching these shows, from a strict run-to-run perspective, this was the correct ranking / state qualification. However, Hebron vs FM will sometimes confuse me since I believe Hebron from a UIL perspective should've won this, but inversely FM will dominate San Antonio and Indy for the rest of the BOA circuit. Wylie East, I was not familiar with your game! This might be an emerging band to watch out for, because this is the one band that is "outside of their projected range" from my perspective. Prosper had a good run, I think this is the correct band for spot number 4, although from a design perspective it is not my favorite show. As far as Mckinney goes, music is good, but there is something missing and I am not sure what it is yet, before tonight I was certain this was top 5.

 

Congratz to everyone in area J, the finalists, and the state qualifiers. Always a super entertaining one to watch, and see yall at state!

I totally agree with you about McKinney, i was thinking that their show didn't really make sense to me, as in theres no plot or real meaning behind the music. it doesn't really tell a story. thats just my opinion tho... 

[Thanos]

Anyone by chance have a video of Flower Mound from the livestream? I unfortunately missed them😢

[dfwhorn]

Does anyone know any sort of reason why Northwest didn't show up to the area contest last night? Were they DQd or was it some sort of schedule conflict?

[Geekerho]

2 hours ago, Thanos said:

Anyone by chance have a video of Flower Mound from the livestream? I unfortunately missed them😢

They just uploaded their finals performance on the band’s YouTube channel

[JustAnOldBandMom]

1 hour ago, dfwhorn said:

Does anyone know any sort of reason why Northwest didn't show up to the area contest last night? Were they DQd or was it some sort of schedule conflict?

I don't know officially, but I think they are on the schedule for the US Bands competition this week.  Maybe they chose to do that over going to Area?

[Thanos]

2 hours ago, Geekerho said:

They just uploaded their finals performance on the band’s YouTube channel

Just saw!

[Vegas Band Fan]

As I posted before, FM is on another level this year. Hebron did beat them last night in two of the three music categories but FM has two weeks to continue cleaning and fine tuning. I still think the Eagle is FM’s to bring home. The show is spectacular. 

[DFWHornLord]

7 hours ago, 1234567 said:

As a kid from a finalist band in this area that didn't make state, it is VERY difficult. It really hard to not feel like a disappointment or a failure in this area when you don't make the top 4, but its also important to have perspective. its easy to feel hopeless, but there are bands in this country that dream of being half as funded or big or strong as the bands in this area.

I do also think that making area j was a mistake, its very unfair to the kids that are working so hard and deserve to have the opportunity to go to state, however in this area its just hopeless for anyone outside the top 4. 

absolutely 100% agree. area j is so unfair and so competitive. my band is a consistent finalist band and battle for 4th is so hard.

[criscubes]

My question for yall area J kids, do y'all just accept the fact y'all are fighting for 4th? that must be such a demoralizing environment. I can't imagine going a whole marching season with thay image in your heads. That truly is something worth praising. Props to every single one of y'all.

[BbMarching]

1 hour ago, criscubes said:

My question for yall area J kids, do y'all just accept the fact y'all are fighting for 4th? that must be such a demoralizing environment. I can't imagine going a whole marching season with thay image in your heads. That truly is something worth praising. Props to every single one of y'all.

Wylie East here, first of all thank all of you for your support, this has been such a great year and we have no intention of stopping here! Yes, it was honestly hard to come to terms with J as a program, but we’ve since accepted it and have decided it doesn’t matter, not really. We know our job, we do our job, and we’re getting so, so much better. We didn’t perform yesterday for a judge, a score, a placement, or a shot at the Dome. We performed for the crowd, and it was clear they loved us for it

[1234567]

11 hours ago, criscubes said:

My question for yall area J kids, do y'all just accept the fact y'all are fighting for 4th? that must be such a demoralizing environment. I can't imagine going a whole marching season with thay image in your heads. That truly is something worth praising. Props to every single one of y'all.

getting 4th in this comp feels like getting 1st, its our main goal. and its looking more and more every year like that 4th spot is guaranteed prosper spot. it kinda sucks tbh. but the people in band make this worth it!

[planohorn469]

12 hours ago, criscubes said:

My question for yall area J kids, do y'all just accept the fact y'all are fighting for 4th? that must be such a demoralizing environment. I can't imagine going a whole marching season with thay image in your heads. That truly is something worth praising. Props to every single one of y'all.

Kid from Plano ISD here. being in area J as a 2 year school gives us a huge disadvantage even though some schools like PESH that have an IB and adds a good 20+ kids into the it's still a huge disadvantage for west, senior, and east to go up against all the 4 year schools. But just like the Wylie East kid said  before " We know our job, we do our job, and we’re getting so, so much better. We didn’t perform yesterday for a judge, a score, a placement, or a shot at the Dome. We performed for the crowd, and it was clear they loved us for it" If the crowd loved it, that's all we care about at the end of the day.

[TrenBS]

My main concern with this area is the balancing of DFW as a whole, in which if every area was sending about an equal level of talent (or as close to what we can expect), I really wouldnt be too concerned about it.

But area J just sends WAY more talent to state than C, which is the bottom line. We will have to see if Waxahachie even makes area finals, but regardless its frustrating that C only sends a single finalist in a given year now while were probably going to see 2/3 medalists from J, and 2-3 finalists from Area B, 2 locked at least.

Im not sure what would be the best solution, I think if we ignore geographic location for region zoning, LewisvilleISD being in C with 5-6 state slots while Coppell goes to J with 4 would be my ideal scenario since now area wouldve looked like this:

J: Coppell, Prosper, WEast, Wylie

C; Hebron Marcus FloMo Waxahachie Forney and/or Rockwall

B: Keller TC SLC Bell

Now obviously if we JUST did what I said J would only have 3 slots, but even with 3 it would still be a net improvement for representation compared to last and this year, and if they did the medalist rule or decide to lower the amount of area qualifiers needed for state slots then it would be an easy fix (which would also be foundational for 7A).

I know people know my alignment with the McKinney schools and may think Im trying to give them a win, but Ill be honest when I say I dont think either of them shouldve made state. They were REALLY good this year but they werent the ones I wanted to represent Js bubble bands. I think in finals WEast and Wylie were PERFECT to represent the middle bubble in state qualifiers, with WEast potentially being in that 20-22 range if they cleaned up the closer and features, and Wylie being in the 22-26 range depending on content scores.

 

I dont want free wins, I want every area to be roughly equal in who we send to area and not have huge disparities from areas not even an hour away from each other.

[1234567]

10 minutes ago, TrenBS said:

My main concern with this area is the balancing of DFW as a whole, in which if every area was sending about an equal level of talent (or as close to what we can expect), I really wouldnt be too concerned about it.

But area J just sends WAY more talent to state than C, which is the bottom line. We will have to see if Waxahachie even makes area finals, but regardless its frustrating that C only sends a single finalist in a given year now while were probably going to see 2/3 medalists from J, and 2-3 finalists from Area B, 2 locked at least.

Im not sure what would be the best solution, I think if we ignore geographic location for region zoning, LewisvilleISD being in C with 5-6 state slots while Coppell goes to J with 4 would be my ideal scenario since now area wouldve looked like this:

J: Coppell, Prosper, WEast, Wylie

C; Hebron Marcus FloMo Waxahachie Forney and/or Rockwall

B: Keller TC SLC Bell

Now obviously if we JUST did what I said J would only have 3 slots, but even with 3 it would still be a net improvement for representation compared to last and this year, and if they did the medalist rule or decide to lower the amount of area qualifiers needed for state slots then it would be an easy fix (which would also be foundational for 7A).

I know people know my alignment with the McKinney schools and may think Im trying to give them a win, but Ill be honest when I say I dont think either of them shouldve made state. They were REALLY good this year but they werent the ones I wanted to represent Js bubble bands. I think in finals WEast and Wylie were PERFECT to represent the middle bubble in state qualifiers, with WEast potentially being in that 20-22 range if they cleaned up the closer and features, and Wylie being in the 22-26 range depending on content scores.

 

I dont want free wins, I want every area to be roughly equal in who we send to area and not have huge disparities from areas not even an hour away from each other.

you're so right about the whole balance thing... honestly it just needs to be redone completely, its very uneven in talent fssss 

[Eram97]

4 hours ago, TrenBS said:

My main concern with this area is the balancing of DFW as a whole, in which if every area was sending about an equal level of talent (or as close to what we can expect), I really wouldnt be too concerned about it.

But area J just sends WAY more talent to state than C, which is the bottom line. We will have to see if Waxahachie even makes area finals, but regardless its frustrating that C only sends a single finalist in a given year now while were probably going to see 2/3 medalists from J, and 2-3 finalists from Area B, 2 locked at least.

Im not sure what would be the best solution, I think if we ignore geographic location for region zoning, LewisvilleISD being in C with 5-6 state slots while Coppell goes to J with 4 would be my ideal scenario since now area wouldve looked like this:

J: Coppell, Prosper, WEast, Wylie

C; Hebron Marcus FloMo Waxahachie Forney and/or Rockwall

B: Keller TC SLC Bell

Now obviously if we JUST did what I said J would only have 3 slots, but even with 3 it would still be a net improvement for representation compared to last and this year, and if they did the medalist rule or decide to lower the amount of area qualifiers needed for state slots then it would be an easy fix (which would also be foundational for 7A).

I know people know my alignment with the McKinney schools and may think Im trying to give them a win, but Ill be honest when I say I dont think either of them shouldve made state. They were REALLY good this year but they werent the ones I wanted to represent Js bubble bands. I think in finals WEast and Wylie were PERFECT to represent the middle bubble in state qualifiers, with WEast potentially being in that 20-22 range if they cleaned up the closer and features, and Wylie being in the 22-26 range depending on content scores.

 

I dont want free wins, I want every area to be roughly equal in who we send to area and not have huge disparities from areas not even an hour away from each other.

Great take

[Thatonedoublereed14]

Does anyone know if there was a competition suite score breakdown posted, not just the one on the UIL website? I saw one for Area I prelims on the Area I thread and I was wondering if there was one for Area J.

 

I completely agree about the uneven talent takes in the DFW areas. Something definitely needs to be done, but who knows how it'll shake up with the potential for new schools in 6a or even schools dropping to 5a.

[Thanos]

2 hours ago, Thatonedoublereed14 said:

Does anyone know if there was a competition suite score breakdown posted, not just the one on the UIL website? I saw one for Area I prelims on the Area I thread and I was wondering if there was one for Area J.

I'm also looking for that!

[TrenBS]

11 hours ago, Thatonedoublereed14 said:

Does anyone know if there was a competition suite score breakdown posted, not just the one on the UIL website? I saw one for Area I prelims on the Area I thread and I was wondering if there was one for Area J.

 

I completely agree about the uneven talent takes in the DFW areas. Something definitely needs to be done, but who knows how it'll shake up with the potential for new schools in 6a or even schools dropping to 5a.

I have it but Im not sharing out of courtesy (plus unless a moderator here says otherwise I dont think Im allowed to send the competition suite sheet). If another areas get posted ping me and I may post, otherwise if anyone wants to know anything about a particular schools breakdown Im happy to discuss it in DMs so anyone can at least understand how their school did

[BassBone_2024]

I'd also be interested to see the budgets for these marching programs. There are very affluent schools mixed with Title 1 schools. That plays a factor as well. 

[TrenBS]

1 hour ago, BassBone_2024 said:

I'd also be interested to see the budgets for these marching programs. There are very affluent schools mixed with Title 1 schools. That plays a factor as well. 

It depends on the district, but to my understanding (EVERYTHING IS SPENT AMOUNT FROM WHAT THEY EARNED. BANDS ARE NONPROFITS SO THERE IS NO PROFIT TO BE MADE HERE.):

LewisvilleISD MAIN band schools spend about $700k-$1.1 million a year, this is usually do to travel fees, equipment, show design/props, and band maintenance generally in that order

Prosper HS ballparks $500k a year

Wylie HS last year and the year before had $1m going through the program year to year, which I admit is a little concerning since that money went seemingly nowhere (million dollar bands usually indicate a major travel expense, like Nationals or a summer trip from an invitation, anyone with some clarification please do say because idk how Wylie spent a million year to year excluding the $100k a year they keep as assets as a danger fund)

Wylie East on the other hand averages $150k, which again raises a question about Wylie, not accusing them of anything it just doesnt look right to me

McKinneyISD schools range from $100k-$300k, with their new economic mission to lower fees drastically and provide better equipment/resources for the students I expect this to go up due to corporate sponsors and tax initiatives

Plano is in the same boat as Little Elm and other middle class districts, $70k-$250k a year depending on fundraising and socioeconomic factors in the areas

That covers it for Area J. Money really doesnt play a major factor until you are a  low tier state finalist level band where production value and design start to become major factors over player ability and band structure

EDIT: I say OVER player ability since the skill level individually starts to become similar at the top, and becomes more important to present your ensemble in the most favorable way to the judges