2009: Bands of America Grand Nationals

[mbui]

 

FINALS RESULTS

1. 96.60 - Avon HS, IN

2. 95.25 - L.D. Bell HS, TX

3. 95.25 - Marian Catholic HS, IL

4. 94.50 - Marcus HS, TX

5. 94.45 - Carmel HS, IN

6. 92.75 - Broken Arrow HS, OK

7. 92.50 - The Woodlands HS, TX

8. 92.15 - Lawrence Central HS, IN

9. 90.40 - Center Grove HS, IN

10. 89.65 - James Bowie HS, TX

11. 89.15 - Wando HS, SC

12. 88.80 - Centerville HS, OH

 

Outstanding Music Performance: Marcus HS, TX

Outstanding Visual Performance: (tie) Avon HS, IN & Marian Catholic HS, IL

Outstanding General Effect: (tie) Avon HS, IN & L.D. Bell HS, TX

 

Text Message Fan Favorite: Broken Arrow HS, OK

Al Castranovo Esprit de Corps Award: American Fork HS, UT

[aaron067]

I'll mind my manners until I see the full score sheets, but I have an EXTREMELY difficult time believing that Carmel was that close to Marcus and that Marian Catholic actually placed ahead of them.

 

On a more positive notes, ALL of the bands performed well. Congrats to each of them!

Edited November 15, 2009 by aaron067

[the terminator]

congrats to Avon for back to back national championships, and great showing by Marcus for their first time. Also congrats to Bell, The Woodlands, and James Bowie great job representing TEXAS

[the terminator]

sidenote how did they break the tie between ld bell and marian catholic?

[Mellophone77]

I was surprised by the ties...when it comes to general effect portions of Avon's show weren't as interesting as some of the others...but their show was amazing regardless! Congrats to Avon for taking the repeat!

 

I'm surprised that LD Bell and Marian Catholic tied o.O Tbh I didn't find Marian Catholic to be all that interesting, but I can't say they didn't deserve it, every band was amazing out there tonight!

[mbui]

sidenote how did they break the tie between ld bell and marian catholic?

General Effect is the tiebreaker.

[jmj]

Major congratulations to all the Texas bands! Here's to Bell, Marcus, The Woodlands, and Bowie! Thank you all for representing our state so well! And, major props to Marcus for winning Music both times!! You are all amazing!

 

But really, BOA, Marcus only in 4th, really?!

[whitewing09]

I did not expect MC to beat Marcus, my face was in terror... not really, but I was still extremely surprised. I cannot believe they tied with Bell... I don't mean to be mean.. but it's like a travesty

[BassoonPadwan]

Eh, I know I'm supposed to be all pro-Texas here. But I don't really have that much of a problem with the placements.

 

I pretty much agree. And I know Marcus is a big name, so it's kind of shocking to see them in 4th. But just goes to show that all that matters is what happens on the field, no matter who you are.

 

 

And if you watched MC and really thought they shouldn't be that high, I'd have to disagree. I think they did outstanding.

 

 

 

Marcus obviously played extremely well, and they were rewarded for it! It's just that some aspect of their show was lacking...

 

 

All imo.

Edited November 15, 2009 by BassoonPadwan

[aaron067]

Was Marian Catholic outstanding? Yes.

 

Was Marcus outstanding? Yes.

 

Based on sheer execution and difficulty, who was stronger? Marcus. They aren't the 5A Texas State Champions for no reason.

 

Did Marcus communicate the intent of their musical design well? You better believe they did.

 

Did Marian Catholic communicate the intent of their musical design well? Maybe, but I personally found the show a tad uninteresting. That tells me they didn't sell the musical package.

 

So, that puts Marcus ahead in Music (which should have been by a substantial margin if the judges have any kind of trained ear; did you hear their chords!?), and Music GE. That's 60% of the score. That means Marcus had abysmally low visual scores to be .75 behind Marian Catholic. Clearly the two visual judges thought they marched well, but, to be perfectly honest, I don't think Marian Catholic executed their drill at the same level Avon was at. If I had to put it into words, I would say Avon has similar refinement in their movement just as Marcus does in their music. No one else, including Marian Catholic, had that.

 

I'll need to watch the high cam views when they become available, but, in my opinion at least, the judges made a mistake. I know we have a different way of doing things in Texas, but there are some things that should just be universal in music. If a band can execute music and marching at the level Marcus always achieves, it's going to take the very best performing at their peak to compete. Avon did that, but I don't think Marian Catholic did.

[Xenon]

aaron067, I agree in many ways.

 

However, Marian's music really was quite amazing, just in a completely different way from Marcus. So, I can see how the music scores may have been closer than we'd normally think and especially if the music judges are taking into account simultaneous responsibility. Marian had a show that I can really appreciate from a technical standpoint with how extremely hard it is (most exposed musical book in Finals). It had it's moments of absolute brilliance, but I just felt that they never really tied together.

 

I guess we won't really get to understand where the judges were coming from until full recaps are released.

 

Also remember that it is possible that Marian was ahead of Marcus after Semis too. We don't know right now because they were in different classes.

[whitewing09]

Maybe the marching judges were more arbitrary in their scoring than the music judges?

[Xenon]

Maybe the marching judges were more arbitrary in their scoring than the music judges?

 

That is certainly possible, and that is one of the potential problems with using a score based system. Any one judge can just decide to use a bigger range of scores than the other judges which gives that judge a larger influence on the end result.

[Xenon]

Here were my personal placements after watching all of Finals:

 

1) Avon

2) Marcus

3) LD Bell

4) Lawrence Central

5) Marian Catholic

6) Broken Arrow

7) Carmel

8) The Woodlands

9) Centerville

10) Wando

11) James Bowie

12) Center Grove

 

In general, other than Lawrence Central, I was pretty close but with some general movement. I am actually quite happy in general with how the ranks ended up, especially since it was such a tight competition.

[aaron067]

Full results have been posted on the MFA website.

 

Here.

[whitewing09]

I don't really agree with some of the really high scores, but owelll it's not like I'm a pro lol

[JustAddWat3r]

Anyone know why Marcus had a .2 penalty?

[IMcom-Josh]

In the end, you can't control what 7 BOA judges think. Could I see those results taking place? Sure. Did I expect them? Not really. Here were my personal predictions on finals:

 

1 - 97.10 Avon

2 - 96.50 Marcus

3 - 95.30 LD Bell

4 - 95.15 Carmel

5 - 94.80 Lawrence Central

6 - 94.55 Marian Catholic

7 - 94.20 Woodlands

8 - 91.35 Centerville

9 - 91.15 Broken Arrow

10 - 90.40 Center Grove

11 - 89.90 James Bowie

12 - 88.45 Wando

 

Congratulations to all of the bands though. They each did a superb and fantastic job this year! I can't wait until next year and hope to see some more great TX bands to challenge again.

[bandie002]

 

Hahaha, nice forms TW has going on there

[Indianamarchingfan]

Here were my personal placements after watching all of Finals:

 

1) Avon

2) Marcus

3) LD Bell

4) Lawrence Central

5) Marian Catholic

6) Broken Arrow

7) Carmel

8) The Woodlands

9) Centerville

10) Wando

11) James Bowie

12) Center Grove

 

In general, other than Lawrence Central, I was pretty close but with some general movement. I am actually quite happy in general with how the ranks ended up, especially since it was such a tight competition.

 

Was at the Grand Nat. finals last night and while I was very pleased my Marching Black and Gold took home the eagle, I must say that I agree very closely to your placings Xenon in fact I had the exact same top 7 that you did. I thought Center Grove should have placed higher but all in all I think the judging was fair as the top 5 all had great performances. I must say I was completely blown away by Marcus. The music was outstanding and I do now understand why they have earned so much praise on their music. LD Bell had a great GE and most of the Avon fans I was setting by were very impressed by all of the Texas bands. I thought Marian Catholic had a great show as well and demonstrate why they have been to Grand Nat. finals 27 times! I think both Indiana and Texas should be proud that each had 4 bands in the finals and speaks for the depth of band talent in both states.

[whitewing09]

Yeah I can pretty much agree with the placings because I know I would have placed TW and Bowie higher just on my personal bias, the only one I don't really agree with is Marcus, but owell they did extremely well for their GNATs debut! Congrats to all of the bands!!

[noangst]

Anyone know why Marcus had a .2 penalty?

 

I'm not 100% certain but the band following them got start about 2 minutes late ... so maybe Marcus was penalized for going over on time. Absolutely beautiful show, hope they come back to BOA next year

[longhornsax]

Just after a quick look through results, it looks like there wasn't to many discrepancies from prelims through finals, besides MC's jump. Avon seemed to have a pretty firm hold on first throughout. Also looks like Clear Brooke wasn't too far away from semi-finals. Congratz to all the Texas bands for strong showings!

[takigan]

Yup. Clear Brook had the 33rd overall best score. They took the top 30 scores so Clear Brook essentially missed Semis by 3.

 

Other impressions:

 

- Looks like Bowie was band #12 going into finals. They had a pretty solid lead over PCEP, who I'm surprised didn't make the cut based on all the hype I heard about their show.

 

- Bourbon County got 10th on their prelims day so they made the cut for semis legitimately (Top 11) without help from the rulebook. 3 more Class A bands were added to Semis since Bourbon was the only 'A' band to make it based on overall score. There were 5 AA bands in Semis so we know they met their 4 band quota without help. I'm still trying to figure out why there are 34 bands in semis if only 3 bands were added from Class A and the remaining classes all met their "class quotas". Any help?

[marchingartist]

Yup. Clear Brook had the 33rd overall best score. They took the top 30 scores so Clear Brook essentially missed Semis by 3.

 

Other impressions:

 

- Looks like Bowie was band #12 going into finals. They had a pretty solid lead over PCEP, who I'm surprised didn't make the cut based on all the hype I heard about their show.

 

- Bourbon County got 10th on their prelims day so they made the cut for semis legitimately (Top 11) without help from the rulebook. 3 more Class A bands were added to Semis since Bourbon was the only 'A' band to make it based on overall score. There were 5 AA bands in Semis so we know they met their 4 band quota without help. I'm still trying to figure out why there are 34 bands in semis if only 3 bands were added from Class A and the remaining classes all met their "class quotas". Any help?

 

3 of the 5 qualifying AA bands were from Friday and North Hardin was the only AA band that made semi-finals from Thursday. and since the rules dictate that 2 bands from each class of each day be represented, Reeths-Puffer became band number 31 (which is where they placed overall) by scoring second highest in class AA on Thursday. I hope that helps.