UIL 5A Area F 2025

[iloveandrewmoon]

42 minutes ago, hooray15 said:

grapevine is mega aura 

ik. Especially their drum major and oboe soloist 😆

[PercDad4Life]

37 minutes ago, BugWub24 said:

And Aledo is up to 2,400 this year in enrollment, so they will be moving up to 6A next year.

We have heard that before.

[WanderingTraveler]

I have been stuck on this one all week, but ultimately, heres what I have come up with.

Predictions:

1. Burleson Centennial

2. Aledo

3. Midlothian

4. Grapevine

5. Birdville

6. Richland

7. Azle

8. Granbury

9. Saginaw

10. Joshua

Bubble: Chisholm Trail/Colleyville Heritage/Brewer

 

Quick Thoughts: I think BC can take gold this year, they look and sound good. Really liking Grapevine this year, I think they make state. The bubble here IMO is theoretically like 8 bands, but I think I am comfortable with these. Joshua is having a strong year, placing above some bands I would've put in finals at-a-glance, and just overall looking pretty good. I think the judging format shifting will shake this area the most out of any of the 5A areas. CT and CH are kind of a question mark for me, some good placements that would have me put them in finals, and some not so favorable.

[o1iv]

6 hours ago, brewerslut said:

1. Brewer

2. Brewer

3. Andrew Williams director of the Brewer Band

4. Mandarins 2026

5. Brewer

6. Brewer

7. South Hills

8. 2022 Brewer

9. DQ

10. Owen Clark Boston Crusaders Horn Solo

who are you omggg 😭😭

[hooray15]

colleyville is underrated. they are most definitely getting at least 2nd place, behind their superiors (grapevine). ok bye

[Bandlife]

12 hours ago, BugWub24 said:

And Aledo is up to 2,400 this year in enrollment, so they will be moving up to 6A next year.

This occurs every year. And every year they seem to get out of moving up. Moving up to 6A will hurt their football winning streak. They should have been 6A years ago. 

[goat_trumpet]

Happy area day everyone! I wish everyone the best of luck on this chilly day!

[Anthony V]

Good morning, Area F band fans! It's a nice and crisp morning, accompanied by cloud cover -- "actual marching band weather," as my IL-born wife and co-commentator today remarks. Naturally, she hails from the IL marching band scene and she has a natural proclivity for things which are not Indiana (in this case Texas).

Here we go with North Side. "Games." Reminiscing on "the games we've played as children." We've got some differently colored covers on our plumes, some green, some yellow, and some red. Nice controlled opening statement. We're definitely playing within our ensemble listening capability. A few individual errors with visual/body movement here and there. WW feature nice and audible from up here. Onto the next section, we start with a trombone solo, the melody from which is passed back and forth between WW and brass. (We're being somewhat accosted by grackles up here in the stands.) And then this section closes with a reprisal of that trombone solo. The next section begins with a statement from the full ensemble, followed by a saxophone duet. Finally off come the plume covers and a cute little plume *ding* at the end. This group has pulled off the task of a show with no guard, so props to them for that. The show theme felt a bit opaque to those of us who couldn't catch the musical references. Thanks for starting us off today, North Side! It was a lovely opening performance. 

[TrebleMaker2]

Is this being streamed? Can’t seem to get it to come up on NFHS.

 

[Anthony V]

Next up, Juan Seguin! There's blueprint skrims and backfield props and what seems to be a cube frame prop on the 50 up here in the front. (Is someone in the control deck using the stadium buzzer to scare away the grackles?) 

"The Architect: Who is the Architect?" Starting off with a WW feature and flute solo around the cube frame. Add a soprano saxophone accompaniment. Good job. The guard has skirts which are being used for body movement. First full ensemble statement plus guard on flags. Some brass and WW solis/section statements. Alright brass, that's the best you've sounded all show in that feature. We're opening the next section with a trumpet and trombone duet. Add pink-orange ombre swing flags, which are a nice contrast. Next some brass small section features, the melody of which is being passed around. A few full ensemble moments. Next section open with a snare solo and some brass jabs. Guard now on weapons, with a staggered toss. Great! Everyone catches. Flag change to a pink/blue/yellow-green gradient. So that cube that started off the show? It's being placed on top of two other cubes in the back as we get into our final statement. Thanks, Seguin!

[VRPopPop]

8 minutes ago, TrebleMaker2 said:

Is this being streamed? Can’t seem to get it to come up on NFHS.

 

Wondering the same thing.

[Anthony V]

Next up, Newman Smith. "Unhinged." The backfield skrims are giving us twilight zone vibes. Starting off in body movement duos. "Mad World" Trump solo opening the show, next passed to the WWs and back to trumpet. Now to full ensemble.  Cool visual effect with the flags. Generally controlled ensemble sound. We're doing a good job to fight the morning chill. Nice job with this rotating box drill. Did I mention they are marching contras? Rifle line is out. Some cover down issues here and there. WW quartet developing the them, then handing it off to the brass for an articulation feature. Great job! And then more rotation drill, setting up for a pass-through move. More rotating boxes, I love it. Now onto the ballad with a flute solo. A few guard timing issues here after the swing flags change, but not too bad. Those flags have blue on them as well. Thanks flute soloist! Now we're into the full ensemble moment. Great effect with the rotating drill and rippled contrast effect in the flag design creating that "unhinged" vibe effect. At the impact, that's the best you've sounded all show! Oh boy, more rotating drill here in the closer. I'm a sucker for geometrical drill. Good job maintaining energy throughout the show, by the way, alongside these marching responsibilities. We're back to the WW quartet/flute soloist, accompanied by backfield brass jabs and dynamic contrast. Then to full band  company front, followed by more rotating drill, which we're doing a pretty good job with. It's definitely making that "spiral" effect up here. Great visual program! Interesting design and content choices. The beginning felt very delicate and over time it grew more and more unhinged and chaotic.  

[5abands]

Good luck to all the bands performing today! I will be there for finals.

[Anthony V]

Colleyville Heritage is our next band in prelims performance. They were one of two TX bands that made a foray earlier this season out to BOA St. Louis. The uniforms are a red-orange ombre coat with a black tie underneath, almost reminiscent of a circus ringmaster's outfit. The props in the background are a geometrical shape of some kind, accompanied by an ethereal vibe from the pit. Opening with a flute/clarinet soli of the theme from Symphonic Metamorphosis. Full bent leg marching. Controlled opening statement, technical note movement from the brass. Great sound there at the end of that statement. The shape of the props is on the flags here in this section. The symphonic metamorphosis theme is being passed back and forth between WW and brass, arranged into some noodling here in there. We're definitely committed to our body visuals. Again, great sound here at the hit. We're doing okay on the marching, best so far of the competing bands. In the ballad, we have an English horn/flute duet with call and response to full ensemble. Great job swing flags here at this hit. Not bad, full ensemble. Not bad on the visual execution, but the meaning of the visual content (especially the geometrical motif) isn't quite coming through. Okay, now the props in the back are turning around to reveal an inverse image. This is then followed by the march-y part of the symphonic metamorphosis theme. Good integration moment there at the end.

Overall, CH seems like a possible finalist based (probably one of many more to come) on this performance. Some solid ensemble maturity at times.   

[Tubalord11]

Thanks for the commentary @Anthony V !!! Good luck to everyone performing here today!!! 

[Anthony V]

Joshua. "Northern Lights." Front field skrims and backfield props are aurora borealis themed.  Some WW solo noodling to begin us. Guard has scarves that match the colors - violet, pink, blue. Strong energy here in the opening hit. There was a false hit before, followed by a backfield musical statement, which delayed the build up well. Here in the next section we have some follow the leader drill in brass, accompanied by great brass energy. Guard on weapons. Need a bit more full note value from full ensemble, and the chill is depressing our intonation a bit. But energy is very consistent. Drill has lots of appropriate swirls here in the ballad. The swing flags have more green here; great visual integration in terms of design. I wouldn't have thought to have a moment filled with pastel colors in a dark, rich aurora borealis themed show, but it works really well. Some wind effects from the pit as the swing flags do some last ballad work. Energetic opening statement from the brass in the closer. WW feature accompanying a euph solo, leading into a strong brass articulation feature. Beautiful integration of flag work with the music. Closing drill set is a ripple effect resembling the aurora. Beautiful visual content. What a treat!  

Another possible finalist for me! Thanks, Joshua. 

[Anthony V]

Richland. "The Third Dimension." We have some 3D prism-esque props on the sides and back of the field. The material appears to be a sort of reddish-pinkish iridescence. Starting with some eerie almost space-y music in the preshow. There's a pyramid prism prop being floated around from front to back field. Lovely opening ensemble sound. Great tone quality . Good commitment to body movement. Great job with this articulation feature, brass. There's a lot of visual vocabulary in this show, maybe the most so far. And it's really crisp. We're doing a generally good job listening across the ensemble and matching. Prisms are being moved together slowly over the course of the show. Flute solo and flugel solo here in the ballad. WWs on swing flags? Along with the guard. Great hit there at the end. A really sophisticated texture to the show design; high energy but delicate at times. Moving into the closer with a drum break. Really sophisticated music arrangement. It's hard to convey this in writing because there's so many changes so fast. I wish we had a little more volume at times to match the energy being poured into small details, but a really solid performance overall. 

I expect to see this in finals.  

[TrebleMaker2]

21 minutes ago, Tubalord11 said:

Thanks for the commentary @Anthony V !!! Good luck to everyone performing here today!!! 

Yes, Thank you! Can’t seem to find streaming for this and the commentary is much appreciated!

[PercDad4Life]

Disclaimer:  Anyone caring to read my comments should know that I am just a fan who is a sucker for face melting power, chop-busting drumlines, clean visuals, and maybe most of all, great music. So take whatever I say knowing that those are my influences for comments.   With that said....  here we go and good luck to everyone.

[Anthony V]

Cleburne. "Either/Or." Missing my initial notes because it started raining and I had to adjust my setup. The title may be a reference to Soren Kierkegaard's existentialist text Either/Or. Or not, I don't know. 

Okay, wow, very impressed with Cleburne so far. They are definitely a possible finalist for me. Maybe even probable finalist? Lots of contrasts here in the visual design matching the show theme. WWs in a more purple uniform, brass in a more blue. Lots of slick electronics in this show. There is some sort of electric wind instrument from which we have lots of solos, especially in this Journey segment. I'm really pleased with the constancy of energy from Cleburne. This is good. Like, this is the best Cleburne I've ever seen. Fantastic!! Lots of back-and-forth musical voices and visual textures/moments.                    

[PercDad4Life]

Joshua HS:  surprising power.  Great opener.   Solid improvement from earlier in the year. Loved the Interstellar music.  Definitely fighting for a place in finals. Great job.

[PercDad4Life]

Richland HS:  Projected finalist and they did not disappoint. Finally got to see the elusive closer.  Love the props, but they look even better under the lights.  See you in finals.

[PercDad4Life]

WE HAVE RAIN!!! 

Cleburne HS: Solid power from a smaller band.  Love it.  I also love me some Journey. Enjoyed your show and impressed that you didn't let the rain effect your performance.  Could be tough to make finals with such an early draw.  Good luck and great job.

[AreaFMaxxing]

is there any kind of rain delay going on? not near birdville yet, so have no clue how the weather is over there

[Anthony V]

Burleson Centennial. "The Golden Touch." Pretty almost marble pattern with teal and gold tones. Some gold stair props of the same style. There's also a gold multi-tiered stage up here next to the pit. Wonderful fanfare opening. Lovely articulation, tone quality, and balance. Our balance is really good even when we're stretched from 20 to 20. WW feature starting us off with Shostakovich #10. Noodling passed on to the brass. Really consistent  with tempo maintenance. Ends this movement with a guard member on the golden stage in a golden uniform. THe ballad begins with a soprano saxophone and flute duet (and flag duo) in said area. Passed now to the WWs. Guard is all in the gold now, and the swing flags are white/gold with a few touches of dark green. Another very delicate, sophisticated show. Here in the closer, all of the props are turning golden. Meanwhile, drumline and pit break. Good job passing the theme from section to section, and now with the full ensemble. And here comes the soprano sax solo. Some dirt here in the closer drill. There's one guard member who is non-golden, being approached by a Midas-type figure, who is now donning the guard member with a golden cloak.

Overall, a well-executed show. With only some exceptions, it's executed very consistently. Would be surprised to see it out of finals.