marchingband Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Did you see that there are six USSBA shows/regionals in Texas this year? One in North Texas (DFW area) One in Laredo Two in the Corpus area Two in the Valley This is too cool! We did USSBA last year and it was wonderful. The judges were awesome, and they don't have timing penalties or boundary lines. OH-- and you compete based on your band size instead of school size so that it's really fair. I can't wait for this fall! Marching Band Rocks!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 OH-- and you compete based on your band size instead of school size so that it's really fair. Why is that fair? Do you think that a band with only around 150-175 people can't fairly compete with a band that has over 300 people? If so, I direct you to Westfield 1998 with a really awesome Bernstein's Mass. And most people would also point you to look at Jackson Academy making BOA GN Finals with only 20-30 people. Size of school is a more fair way to classify bands because a school with 4000 people has a lot more people from which they can draw and pick and choose who will be in the band than a school with only 2500. Lets just say that on average .1% of the students at a school have the ability to be All-State. Then the school with 4000 people would have 4 All-State members in a 175 member marching band. The school with 2500 people, however, would only have 2 maybe 3 All-State members in a marching band with around 300 members. It is not the size of the band that matters, it is the size of the pool of students from which the band can draw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dynasty Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Cool, I'm interested. Is there like a website (like BOA) that contains information on all of these contests? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LordGiggles Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 it's basically the more people there are, the higher chance for people to be talented. So eventually in the course of events, higher classifications will have a greater edge over the lower ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 it's basically the more people there are, the higher chance for people to be talented. So eventually in the course of events, higher classifications will have a greater edge over the lower ones. That's exactly what I'm saying. The more people in the school the more likely that the band will have more players that are exceptional. This is not true of just a larger band size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Cool, I'm interested. Is there like a website (like BOA) that contains information on all of these contests? They are a YEA! organization just like The Cadets and the Crossmen. The website is http://www.yea.org. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arundo Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 wow, that sounds awesome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marchingband Posted August 2, 2005 Author Report Share Posted August 2, 2005 Here's the best way to goto their website- www.yea.org/ussba This takes you straight to the bands. Click on the word marching band to see the schedule for the whole year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Visualstrm Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 In regard to the School size classifiaction vs. Band size... this could be a totally differnt discussion thread...and has been brought up many times in several parts of the country. There are so many factors to consider and each state has different situations. But, some thigs to ponder....below is a copy of one of my postings regarding this matter from IndianaMarching.com from last fall. Obviously, it would be hard to make any system totally "fair" for everyone, but lets think about a few things. School size has been the most common classifiaction for marching band. The argument that larger schools have a larger "pool" of students to choose from as well as more resources really is an "old school" way of thinking and really doesn't work as a blanket situation. One example... there are so many more activities for students to choose from (more than in the past) that the "pool" is much smaller than it used to be. Students are also encouraged to be diverse...which may not allow for one to be totally dedicated to just one or two activities. As far as resources ($), here too, you will find a vast range from band to band....without even thinking of the size of the school. Regardless, the fact is, there are many small and large bands in every class as well as a wide variety of talent and performance levels. Is it "fair" to have a band of 200 compete in the same class as a band of 75?? I guess it depends on the angle we look at this. There are always many excpetions to every rule. For example, Jackson Academy from Mississippi only has 25 members in their marching band this year....yet, they are able to perform at such a high level that they outscore many bands that are MUCH larger. I believe it was 1994 when they made finals at BOA Grand Nationals (the smallest band ever to be in finals) and placed just above Duncanville, TX (the largest band ever to be in finals). We could even go the other direction, which is more common, where larger bands do place/score higher than smaller bands. But is it due to pure size? Honestly, no matter how well a small band performs....larger bands have an easier time producing "effect." More musically than visually, in my opinion. One may think that small bands have less options than a large band in regards to drill....I say that is false and you just need better design/creativity, becasue there a many things a small band can do that a large band could never do...but I digress... As a judge, one might expect a smaller band to execute visually and musically at a higher level than a larger band!! WHY? Because there are less students or work with...so the instructor/student ratio is different. It "should" be easier to get a smaller band to perform at the higher level . And it is true...on the band size classifiaction, there ARE [and could be more, possibly] bands that would limit the number of students in marching band to control the class they would be competing in. How do they do this?? Have auditions for positions....or only march upper classmen...while the under classmen are alternates/shadows...or the underclassmen do football game shows. I'm not sure I agree with that from an educational stand point, but it does happen. So, the band size idea may not be the best either. And with such a wide variety of performance levels of bands in any school size based classification...I can't be convinced that the school size system is the best either. I just wonder if an achievement/experience based system...similar to WGI...would be a benefit to the overall marching band system. Becasue school size and/or band size, in my opinion, isnt the best answer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xenon Posted August 22, 2005 Report Share Posted August 22, 2005 Visualstrm, I really like that post. It brings out both sides of the argument very well. And I agree, neither system is truly fair, I just believe that, of the two, School Size is more fair. I would not, however, be opposed to discussions of another system like the WGI one. I believe it was 1994 when they made finals at BOA Grand Nationals (the smallest band ever to be in finals) and placed just above Duncanville, TX (the largest band ever to be in finals). It was 1993. The same year as the famous GN Champion show from Spring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drumajorfernando Posted August 31, 2005 Report Share Posted August 31, 2005 sry wrong post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chsgpband06 Posted October 3, 2005 Report Share Posted October 3, 2005 We are going to the North Texas one at Burleson HS. Anyone else going to that one. I would love to know if you are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bandkat Posted October 9, 2005 Report Share Posted October 9, 2005 Gregory-Portland finishes in 2nd place at the Coastal Bend USSBA Marching Contest in Rockport! Go Wildcat Band!!! 1st Place - Edinburg North (5A) 85.75 2nd Place - Gregory-Portland (4A) 84.25 3rd Place - Kingsville (4A) 83.55 4th Place - Robstown (4A) 82.8 5th Place - Tuloso-Midway (4A) 82.4 6th Place - Moody (5A) 79.9 7th Place - Rockport-Fulton (4A) 78.65 8th Place - Ingleside (3A) 77.75 9th Place - CC King (5A) 75.95 10th Place - West Oso (3A) 74.05 11th Place - Odem (2A) 73.75 12th Skidmore-Tynan (1A) 68.55 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chsgpband06 Posted October 9, 2005 Report Share Posted October 9, 2005 We went to the one @ Burleson HS. We got 3rd in our Open Class 4. here were the the top 3: 1st: Canton HS 2nd: Juan Seguin HS 3rd: Cleburne HS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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