2007 Sam Houston Marching Festival

[ClaireAnnette07]

Yay..my old band didn't get last place! They didnt make it to finals, but whatev. I'm still proud of them for actually going this year because they didnt last year when we were supposed to go; SAT dates suck

[Xenon]

I've had some misgivings about writing a full finals review of this contest ever since I decided to go to it since I have a close association and familiarity with one of the competing bands, so I really appreciate Takigan's review (very nice btw!) and would like to just tack on some of my additional thoughts. (Note: I am going to be a little hard on the top 3 since they are going to BOA SA next week and need more than just happy wishes.)

 

Northbrook: "Music from Carmen by Georges Bizet"

This is a really small band from Houston that really surprised me by how extremely well they played! With so few members, of course they can't put out any kind of power, but everything they did was exquisitely clean, full and balanced with nobody sticking out or holding over. Everyone in this band completely understood both their musical and marching roles and fit into them with exactness. The double flags spanning the colors of the pastel rainbow were really nice and complimented the band and music really well. Also, props to the one sousaphone!

 

Cypress Fair: "The Mystery of the Hidden City" by Satoshi Nagisawa

 

One thing I remember about this band, is that they were loud.....their drill was a tad shoddy and their upper body carriage could use quite a bit of work, but they had a good sound that carried. The stickler for this group was the Colorguard, I liked the color contrast in their outfits, their flag choice, their masks etc......this getup complimented their show very well in all of its chaos and elements of Asian mysticism.

To me, the stadium felt really dead (no play at all) most of the day until this band came on. I don't know what it is, but this was one of the few bands that was really able to make their sound cut through and actually show significant dynamic range. The biggest problem, though, was phasing caused by really odd staging throughout the drill. The trumpets were on the far right side of the field while the entire rest of the brass was on the far left, thus causing lots of timing issues that continually caused tears. I really liked the translucent blue double flag work from the colorguard.

 

Cypress Springs: "Sol a Zu"

 

Mad props to this band for their use of.....um.....props? This band gets the award for the most original look of the evening....I mean their uniforms are pretty much tribal garb....did their district purchase the uniforms exclusively for that show or are they going to be wearing those for awhile? I don't know, but this combined with their massive tribal "rigs" as I'll call them (basically; massive towers of scrap metal that had been reworked and fitted with animal skins/furs and strung up with world drums...which played an integral part in the show) made for a very unique look....did the judges agree? I don't know that either but nevertheless it was still a very entertaining show that I know must have been a lot of fun to put on.

The rifle work in this show was really well done, the bass trombone solo was really awesome, and the multiple flute solos from the drum major podium were really cool. I didn't like the cheesy '80s sounding synth fills, especially with the more historic feel of this show.

Tomball: "Square One"

 

I saw this band perform a few weeks ago at the Buccaneer Marching Festival (a contest which they won) and their show definitely improved since then. I hadn't heard much about Tomball before, but combining what I've heard from students who attend/attended that school, and the 2 performances I've seen this season, they're definitely having one of the best years they've had in awhile. Their show is centered around different mathematical concepts which utilize the term "square". Their drill uses lots of square and angular formations and their visuals highlight this concept (like "tutting" the arms to form a "square root" sign)....it took me a second viewing to understand how this all fit together but in the end I liked it.

I really like the unique uniforms which look kindof half military (with the gold laces going across) and half today's style by cutting a diagonal across the front where a baldric would be and everything from there down is all black. There were lots of strong sounds with open hits, but I was a little disappointed in the general lack of melody in the opener. The Phantom leg kick in the ballad was really nice! The staging of the guard towards the end was also really nice and displayed their open flag tosses.

 

Deer Park: "Pastime"

 

Apologies to any of you from Deer Park but this was the one show in finals that I just couldn't get into. The drill was lackluster, a lot of unconfident marching/misteps/out of steps etc. ....the students didn't seem as into it as the other finalist bands. The GE was well used but seemed rather cliche'. The theme is basically a baseball game. The guard was decked out in baseball uniforms. The opening lick of the star spangled banner was very well played by the Trumpet, though the Horn/Euphonium duet not long after needed less Horn and more Euphonium (could barely hear the Euph). The music's redeeming quality was in the ballad, which was very well played and very moving. From a visual perspective; same-old, except for at the very end where a group of guard in the lower left corner of the field smacked a baseball over the band to the opposite right side corner...I wonder how often they had to practice that to make it 100% effective.

Overall, I agree that the kids didn't seem to put a lot of energy into it and that the drill was really slow, but I did think that it was a cute production. I really liked the ballad from the movie A League of Their Own, but I thought that it lasted a little too long in the beginning section before the build to the climax. Also, the guard member swung the bat, the pit hit wood blocks together to get the crack, and a band member threw the ball around 50 yards for a home run.

 

Pasadena Memorial: "Clocks"

 

Something about this band just screams drum corps....I can't figure out what it is or what corps they remind me of, though there's definitely some stabs at the Cavaliers in there....what with the feathered hats and that rotating box at the end that seems like it was ripped straight out of "Frameworks". Out of all the bands this evening this band was the quietest....they just weren't putting out the amount of sound that you'd expect from a band this size...which though not big, wasn't exactly small here. If I were to say, I'd say that this band hasn't spent a whole lot of time polishing their show as a whole as the drill, being as dirty and unconfident as it seemed, could be part of the explanation for the lack of sound. The lack of visuals in comparison to the other bands is also indicative of a more recently completed show. Oh and one more thing....the flags have pictures of clocks on them!.....lol, sorry I just thought this was funny.

This band reminded me of a teal colored SCV with their uniform design, fully black aussies, and the general type of drill that they tried to perfom. I completely agree that this show seemed very unpolished, but the visuals that were there were nicely done; the head turns were particularly effective since the feather in the aussies pointed straight back. It actually took me a little bit to register the clocks on the flags, but I thought that it was cool once I realized it.

Cypress Woods: "X"

 

What is it with bands and giant 7 foot rainsticks? There were 2 or 3 bands tonight in finals that had at least one giant rainstick in their pit. But that aside, I was EXTREMELY impressed with this band.....in your face with loud, intense hits and fast-paced energetic drill with uniform flashes, quick turns, waves....all that jazz! I don't know how they placed but I had them right behind the big 4 (CP, Langham, Falls and Duncanville), which if that turns out to be their placement, would be a great achievement for a band that's only a couple years old. Very nicely done!

This school doesn't even have seniors yet! After a percussion opening, they turned around and hit us with strong open hits and rhythms, but that and some repeating themes is really all that this show is (musically). I would have liked to hear some more musical variety. The contagion body moves were nicely done, but ensemble marching had some issues, especially with line rotations that kept bending. The ||| to >>> moves were really effective, and the cymbal X at the end was quite reminiscent of SCV.

 

Duncanville: "Highlights from 'Flight of the Bumblebee', 'Aria', 'Festive Overture'" (there's another one I think I missed....Xenon or somebody fill me in)

 

8 years in the marching activity and I had never seen Duncanville live....until today, and I must say all the rumors about them are true; They're huge as heck, they're loud as heck, they're clean as heck, and they're.....conservative as heck <_ is what killed their ge score . they look like a military band marching corps style. i really don understand why this didn win best foot placement gait everything seems it has been painstakingly broken down and worked from the ground up formations were simply flawless....their drill might not have as difficult cedar park but was obviously cleaner think should won out regardless of how or flashy was....but that just my opinion.>

You missed the opener which is Gavorkna Fanfare by Jack Stamp which is a hayday of trumpet double tonguing and layered complexity. The opening round of 4 sets of 16 double tongues was muddy, but they warmed back up to it by the second round. Duncanville always plays extremely hard music, and while their drill may not be as hard and fast as LD Bell, Churchill, Cedar Park (this year), etc. they always try to do it to perfection and spend a large amount of time on fundamentals; I'm really glad that it came across so postively to you. That being said, they did significantly step up the difficulty of their drill this year (5-to-5 diagonal triangle push and rotation while double tonguing at 165!). I think their biggest problem at this contest is that they don't do whole show concepts (redrum, baseball, happy, etc), they just play and march. That combined with a lack of commitment to the body visuals by the kids is what I believe tanked their GE scores.

 

Cedar Park: "The Pursuit of Happiness"

 

I had heard from various sources that this was another off-year for Cedar Park and they weren't putting out what they're known for, but considering my impressions of this performance in addition to their first place finish in both prelims and finals (with a clean sweep of 1st place lock-ins--which I might add, I would not agree with in the least bit on this part so much that it almost seems political how it turned out) I'd have to disagree with them. This was an awesome and...classy performance, typical of what you'd expect from CP. 8 snares!....a lot, but they were clean. Claire de Lune was very well executed via Clarinet ensemble and the music performance as a whole was very impressive, noticeably in the loud to soft contrasts. The smiley face form with the applause cue from the pit was a nice classy finish ....and the frolicky field exit had the audience giggling . Well done...

I really like this light and fun show from a conceptual point of view, and thought that the design pulled it of quite well. I do wish that the music was more aggresive in its difficulty and reached out of the staff more often, though, and I completely agree with you about the sweep. I was very happy to hear them not overblowing just for volume, especially compared to last year! The mellophones had very nice sounds, and the clarinet choir to enter the ballad was very nice. The thing that killed me with, though, was the marching. The visual design is a lot harder this year, which is something that Cedar Park has lacked in the past. Everybody hit their sets in time, the problem was how they got there; the lack of fundamentals was a bit disturbing and the follow the leader section towards the end just showed it all off. (please note that I want you to know this so that it can be fixed before BOA SA!) The winking smily face was an awesome touch, and the crowd really ate up the skipping and waving during the exit along with the applause signs.

 

Cypress Falls: "The Shining"

 

With Cedar Park's show; portraying the epitome of childhood bliss, Cy-Falls's show establishes a campaign to set out and suck all of those sugar and candy feelings straight from the holdings of your very soul! Reminiscent of LD Bell 2006, "The Shining" was definitely a show designed to make little children cry. It's scary! but definitely the crowd favorite for the night (and mine as well). With electronics out the @$ (microphones on all of their Marimba and Bell resonators....I mean what'll they think of next?!) as well as props (doors!.....it had to be doors!....darn you Cadets 2k5 ) and visuals galore--not to mention the voiceovers (which were prerecorded <_ though well executed and guard uniform changes....and it all worked fit so why didn this band win ge heck i had them winning the whole thing....even with sugarcoating they played marched very well. show disappointed got oh well.....they going to own san antonio>

The huge creepy low sounds coming from the box on the left front of the field during the preshow was really freaking creepy and disturbing. I agree that the show is done quite well, but it also takes another design cue from The Remaining that you didn't mention; The design is extremely good at hiding the band's deficiencies and displaying their strengths. There was hardly ever more than one musical line being played at any given time and there were a lot of single section standstills. That being said, it was the best Cy-Falls show that I have seen, and yes, very creepy. Oh, and on the bus ride back, somebody suggested putting The Shining in the dvd player. It is definitely a show that sticks in your mind.

 

Langham Creek: (didn't catch the show title)

 

In terms of look and feel, this band and Cedar Park seemed like twins (school colors aside). They're similar in size, style and ability.....I'm not going to bother elaborating further but that's just the impression I get. Clarity with this band! Straight up. This band plays beautifully and with emotion. Their ballad was incredible! definitely the most moving part of the evening....brings a tear to my eye. The visual aspect of their Asian theme worked nicely...Geisha costumes in the guard, and an assortment of wooden poles riveted to the ground, which I assume were supposed to represent a bamboo forest of some sort. Musically and really as a whole I enjoyed this show more than Cedar Park's but I can understand why Cedar Park beat them out. Awesome!

Langham's music was Gloriosa by Yasuhide Ito. This band sounded absolutely amazing with their tone quality and clarity! They seemed to take a cue from Marcus in that neither their music nor drill is very demanding, but their execution of it is extremely good. The problem is that, other than the ballad, the music didn't seem to move anywhere or have much technicality and seemed to stay in the staff the whole show. The drill was very solidly marched, but it was quite slow and had a lot of line rotation issues. The powerful chords right at the end were gorgeous!

[ClarinetGlissandoInBlue]

{Pasadena Memorial}

yeah...our drill designer marched with the Cavs through both Frameworks and Spincycle, so lots of his work has such influences.

 

our director wanted us to be a corp-style band and didn't want bucket hats, so the cavalier hats are pretty awesome and we go for a corp-type marching style. we never stop moving.

 

not sure what happened to the sound at Finals, when we were watching the Finals preview video, Langham was performing, so the volume was turned off. we had a major rub during the last movement...the pit was a full measure ahead somehow. afterward, we were feeling pretty down, especially when we got back to the stadium, all the other bands seemed to have so much support in comparison.

 

we only march 71 winds and 11 drumline, compared to the 3As that must have had around 300 people....haha

 

regarding the visuals comment: yes, there were a couple of spots where we could have had more visuals, but we just didn't have time. we did a lot of subtle things with hats, horns...etc, but we never have a huge hold to do anything spectacular. the longest hold without moving was 6 counts.

 

all-in-all, it was a successful season. the class of 08 is the first class at the school to wear the band uniform all four years, and we are also the first class to win our class at SHSU. no regrets.

 

**

 

I loved Duncanville's music. the clarinet bumblebee solo must have been a lot of fun to play. the Festive Overture could have been soo much better if the tempo was closer to that of a concert performance, and if it included the clarinet and flute runs that followed the trumpet runs.

 

would have been cool if Deer Park's colorguard tossed baseball bats instead of rifles...haha (noticed that the Astros did not have a flag)

 

tomball's show was pretty fun.

 

Falls' show was creepy but cool.

 

Cedar Park deserved the win, the show was ultra happy. the child-type theme was done well, since that theme always has the potential to look annoyingly so.

[oDesign]

wow. im surprised noone has commented on the massive collisions Langham (my school) had during finals! A tuba player fell down completley, and there were apparently five horns that ran into eachother and multiple flutes stepping on eachothers heels. But we're lucky alot more than that didnt go wrong, considering we finished our show last wednesday and have barely begun cleaning.

Our biggest issue is (like you said) that our music just doesnt go places. Our talent pool is just so much smaller then it usually is, so its been an uphill battle trying to get people to play out with confidence to create those impact points and to highlight those impressive technical places (which right now, arnt as obvious as we'd like).

 

But i have to say, that was the WORST crowd i have ever performed for. We were boo'ed in finals, and apparently the duncanville drum majors made some really rude comments about our piccolo players solo to her personally. Everyone kept walking by us and talking really loudly about how much they though we sucked, and didnt deserve our placements and whatnot. It was really stupid.

[BassClariGrl]

That stinks that ya'll were boo'ed. I face-planted in the middle of the field while skipping off(I'm from Cedar Park). It's funny that the Duncanville DMs were rude and ya'll ended up scoring higher than them.

[actualgirltrombone]

Im really surprised that people booed Langham!

 

I thought the show was really good, and if we had had to lose to someone, I wouldn't have minded it being yall. From the side at least, it looked really clean.

[whitewing09]

its messed up that anyone would boo

[Clarinot]

That stinks that ya'll were boo'ed. I face-planted in the middle of the field while skipping off(I'm from Cedar Park). It's funny that the Duncanville DMs were rude and ya'll ended up scoring higher than them.

It's always unfortunate when a few students can represent the whole band program negatively. It easily happens in uniform. I do remember some boos and negative comments from a few Duncanville kids at state in 2004. Too bad...

[fireice426]

I'm from Cy-Springs. To be honest we weren't upset with getting 10th, but definitely shocked because we have been in the top 5 since my freshman year at this contest. I was proud of Duncanville, because they are used to winning, and win they were announced 4th place, they cheered like they had one. The one negative thing that did occur was as my fellow drum majors and I were reviewing the comment sheets with our director, the Tomball director said to some other people, "So we finally schooled Cy-Springs." Our director just said "Hey!" and we all turned around smiling already because we were in a good mood and didn't know he said that. He shut up and left immediately. I never lose respect for a program if a band member says something rude, but I lost respect for Tomball knowing their own director said that.

[ClaireAnnette07]

Sheesh, talk about rude bands/crowds...I was lucky enough to only have to experience that once with one school. I forgot who it was, but a couple of years ago, as we were walking towards the opposite side of the sideline to begin our halftime show, we got booed by people in the stands. Then, to make matters worse, the cheerleaders were complaining that we needed to 'get off the field' as we were waiting for their show to end (the front two lines stepped up to the outer field while the other band was performing because they were taking up room) and called us some very rude names and a couple of people from my band talked back and called them skanky or something. Then they barely talked to us at the officer visitations. Needless to say, it sucked, but at least their band got a 4 at UIL while we advanced to 4A area that year. Haha..mean, I know, but I found the humor in it

[George]

{Pasadena Memorial}

yeah...our drill designer marched with the Cavs through both Frameworks and Spincycle, so lots of his work has such influences.

 

our director wanted us to be a corp-style band and didn't want bucket hats, so the cavalier hats are pretty awesome and we go for a corp-type marching style. we never stop moving.

 

I'm not sure who this is but you should double check my resume. I did not march in the 2002 or 2003 Cavaliers shows.

 

I'd just like to clarify that nothing was "ripped" from the Frameworks show done by the Cavaliers and though many drill moves obviously fall into the "geometric" style of drill, only a couple of drill moves were influenced by The Cavaliers and the writings of those designers that have taught me.

 

I try very hard to be unique with my designs as well as musical. Many times I am asked by directors to put in specific drill moves (i.e. helix move from last year and the drum solo drill from this year). Sometimes I understand that it may look "ripped" but considering my background and those who have taught and influenced me in my drill designs, it would be a stretch to accuse me of "ripping" anything.

 

And you're right about the "corps style" in the design. The directors asked me to keep the drill moving a lot and make it very similar to what you'd see in a dci type group. I was very pleased with the way the show turned out and I hope everyone had a great time performing it.

[yayband07]

^ haha, okay...

langham actually had a great sound.

it doesn't really matter if it doesn't excite you or not, yeah?

 

and i just got back too, it was amazing :]

 

dude, what school are you from??

you're always saying something good about cypress falls, lol XD

 

Cypress Falls also got the best auxilary, percussion, and drum major award right?

Dang.

Too bad that didn't count in with their score.

 

i go to cy springs...i was supposed to go to falls since middle school then my parents moved therefor moving me to springs but hey its al right

[yayband07]

was cedar park really good?

cause i didnt see them bc i went to the restroom and then walked around

[SCV_Contra]

{Pasadena Memorial}

yeah...our drill designer marched with the Cavs through both Frameworks and Spincycle, so lots of his work has such influences.

 

our director wanted us to be a corp-style band and didn't want bucket hats, so the cavalier hats are pretty awesome and we go for a corp-type marching style. we never stop moving.

 

Not All corps Move a lot...

Ill give you a hint, they are blue.

[Xenon]

Not All corps Move a lot...

Ill give you a hint, they are blue.

 

You devil!

[ClarinetGlissandoInBlue]

I'm not sure who this is but you should double check my resume. I did not march in the 2002 or 2003 Cavaliers shows.

 

oh...haha, i'm sorry.

 

Mr. Burke always spoke like you did, so I guess we all just thought that.

[musicaidnow]

wow. im surprised noone has commented on the massive collisions Langham (my school) had during finals! A tuba player fell down completley, and there were apparently five horns that ran into eachother and multiple flutes stepping on eachothers heels. But we're lucky alot more than that didnt go wrong, considering we finished our show last wednesday and have barely begun cleaning.

Our biggest issue is (like you said) that our music just doesnt go places. Our talent pool is just so much smaller then it usually is, so its been an uphill battle trying to get people to play out with confidence to create those impact points and to highlight those impressive technical places (which right now, arnt as obvious as we'd like).

 

But i have to say, that was the WORST crowd i have ever performed for. We were boo'ed in finals, and apparently the duncanville drum majors made some really rude comments about our piccolo players solo to her personally. Everyone kept walking by us and talking really loudly about how much they though we sucked, and didnt deserve our placements and whatnot. It was really stupid.

 

I have a lot of respect for Langham's playing abilities, especially since yall were the most recent Honor band. I go to CP and we were waiting to perform when we heard you, and what I heard sounded really good. No body should be booed especially yall.

[yayband07]

so who all liked cy falls and langhams show?

 

bc ive been hearing like negative comments all around!!!

its crazy they are great bands and its pretty sad when ppl bash like they do

its ok to give opinions but when ppll actuall riddicule its rediculous

bc i was watching youtube band and this dtown guy was bashing bands left and right but wat ever i still loved cool bands

[Xenon]

so who all liked cy falls and langhams show?

 

bc ive been hearing like negative comments all around!!!

its crazy they are great bands and its pretty sad when ppl bash like they do

its ok to give opinions but when ppll actuall riddicule its rediculous

bc i was watching youtube band and this dtown guy was bashing bands left and right but wat ever i still loved cool bands

 

I hope that none of my comments came across as bashing. I thought that all of the groups in Finals did really well, and the top 3 are all going on to attend the BOA San Antonio Super Regional so they especially need some constructive criticism to help them fix things before then.

 

Early on in the season I was focusing more on descriptions of shows since they were by no means complete or cleaned, but as the season goes on I try to bring more and more performance commentary both because performance is an integral part of what a show really is, and that another set of eyes is a crucial element in many band directors' arsenals for helping their bands get better.

[yayband07]

no no not u xenon ure wholle purpose was to review but others have bashed left and right on youtube

[Xenon]

Youtube is full of nothing but bashers. Just ignore that. They have picked apart every band from Reagan '03 and '05 to Bell '06.

[ClarinetGlissandoInBlue]

scores have been posted online (full recap)

 

Prelims = http://www.shsu.edu/music/files/events/mar...msAggregate.pdf

 

Finals = http://www.shsu.edu/music/files/events/mar...nalsScoring.pdf

[Fata1]

Youtube is full of nothing but bashers. Just ignore that. They have picked apart every band from Reagan '03 and '05 to Bell '06.

Yeah. It annoys me. Our school posted our Honor Band competition music and the one comment on Symphonic Movement was some idiot saying that we had basically no dynamic contrast. It's irritating to see a school give an amazing performance only to have it picked apart by kids who think they know what they're talking about.

[musicaidnow]

Yeah. It annoys me. Our school posted our Honor Band competition music and the one comment on Symphonic Movement was some idiot saying that we had basically no dynamic contrast. It's irritating to see a school give an amazing performance only to have it picked apart by kids who think they know what they're talking about.

 

 

I know some freshmen that think they know all this stuff about marching band, and it really gets on my nerves when they try to sound like they know something but it comes out sounding like they're complete morons. Especially when they talk about past shows when at the time they didn't know band existed.

[Dontforgettobreathe]

Yeah. It annoys me. Our school posted our Honor Band competition music and the one comment on Symphonic Movement was some idiot saying that we had basically no dynamic contrast. It's irritating to see a school give an amazing performance only to have it picked apart by kids who think they know what they're talking about.

 

I think the best one I've seen is Langham playing American Elegy a bit faster than normal, and a kid said it sucked and that his middle school is way better, and this IS when Langham was the honor band.