longhornsax Posted October 13, 2010 Report Share Posted October 13, 2010 Finally have some time to put a few of my thoughts on this contest- Would like to start by saying - Where did Anderson come from??! This is a band that consistently finishes just outside the top 10 of this contest, and yet they finished 4th here, 3rd in prelims? And rightfully so. They may have had my favorite show. Best ballad of the night in my opinion, and I'm curious as to what piece this was? The guard added soooo much to this show in expressing the water theme, and they rightfully took the guard caption. Pflugerville was supposed to be the darkhorse this year in Area D, after their BOA Arlington result, but I think Anderson really stole that spotlight. Really liking what's suddenly coming out of Anderson. Dripping Springs was unbelievably clean as always. The white uniforms only exaggerate this cleanliness. Such a reserved, yet polished sound. I didn't get to see them last year, but it now seems pretty obvious why they were the defending 4A state champ. Conally also sounded impressive as usual. They look a little smaller this year, but still have that amazing brass sound. For a small(er) band it is great to hear such a powerful brass line. As for Bowie and Round Rock, they were obviously a level above the rest of the bands. I think the results turned out as expected, with Bowie taking the visual/music captions, but being out muscled by what I'm sure was a through the roof Round Rock GE score. I would say that Round Rock would be a solid BOA finals contender, if they were actually going? They will definitely be a force to be reckoned with at Area and State. Bowie's show concept totally missed me, but the music was a few notches above all the bands at Westlake. Give this show a few more weeks of development and Bowie will once again be a top 5 State contender. Pretty much sums up my thoughts. A lot of reeeeally strong performances despite what I thought was a weaker Westlake lineup than usual. I was wrong Looking forward to the chaos of area D in a few weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaron067 Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Wait... So this is now the second contest where Bowie has finished behind Round Rock despite having higher music and visual scores? Call me old-fashioned, but the two most important elements in marching band don't seem to have been given enough weight. Granted, I haven't seen either band this year, so it's very possible Round Rock is just slightly behind in those captions. Still, I'd be upset if I was winning music and marching but finishing second. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRaider13 Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Wait... So this is now the second contest where Bowie has finished behind Round Rock despite having higher music and visual scores? Call me old-fashioned, but the two most important elements in marching band don't seem to have been given enough weight. Granted, I haven't seen either band this year, so it's very possible Round Rock is just slightly behind in those captions. Still, I'd be upset if I was winning music and marching but finishing second. That would make just about everyone upset, but I'm like you and haven't seen either band this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buzz Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 I was at the Westlake contest, so maybe I can provide some more info about the finals placements... 10th Vista Ridge~ I honestly don't know why they didn't place higher up (I had put them in the middle of the bunch). However, their visual (marching) was not really good, so that was a factor. Also, they had these two GIANT purple drape things, but they were constantly in the way... I think they had just added those, so the band just wasn't use to them. 9th Westwood~ Talk about Avon copiers! But besides that, it was an alright show. The concept wasn't really clear, and there were some issues with marching and music, so I don't disagree with their placement. 8th O'Connor~ I had placed this band last.... The music was played well, but the marching needed some work. Also, there was A TON of stuff on the field (ladders, spiders, scary stuff, etc.), which cluttered the band. I think if they had more room to move and march, it would be an awesome show. 7th Connally~ The concept was there-different music from around the world, all that jazz. However, the music wasn't up to the quality that the other bands had, which was dissapointing. I honestly think that they just need to do more run throughs since they seemed tired at the end of the show. 6th Pflugerville~ It was p-fantastic! I thought that they would place a little higher (around 4th or 5th). The music is really pretty, and the colorguard/percussion are amazing. If they spent an hour or two doing basics again, I think this show could be a state finalist. 5th Akins~ I want to find good stuff to say about this show, but its challenging. It was a rough musical run for them, but their marching is fantastic... each step is straight legged and every person is doing it, which is nice. The percussion could def. use one or two sectionals... An overall okay show, but they will have to work really hard if they want to got to state. 4th Anderson~ Talk about BEAUTIFUL! They were my favorite band of the night, and yet I had them third... The visual design of the show is absolutely fantastic (53 colorguard girls helps ). Musically, they have a really nice low brass sound. They need to clean up their marching just a tad, but I really think that they'll be a finalist at State. 3rd Dripping Springs~ If Anderson had the precision of Dripping, then they would have won. Dripping (the only band in white, btw) is basically telling everyone that they are ready for another state title, and I'd bet money that this show could win 4A state. Musically, it was a little rougher than 2 weeks previously, but I believe thats because they added another 30 seconds to the end and just didn't work the runs as much as they had. I was surprised that they got best colorguard.... Anderson was def. stronger person to person, but they didn't have the whole show learned yet. I can't wait to see them on Tuesday at UIL. And now comes the "upset" of the night. 2nd Bowie~ It had been 3 weeks since I had seen Bowie perform.... Not only did they learn the rest of the show, they added a GIANT circular screen that rolled across the field from the back of side 1 to the front of side 2. This added a literal point to the title (Revolutionary)... Musically, it was a fantastic performance. And now comes the problem~ by UIL standards, they were the better band. Their colorguard, however, lost them the gold at Westlake. All though they weren't "bad", they def. were not up to the level of performance that the rest of the band was at. I had them 1st. 1st Round Rock~ I'm going to give it to them, they had almost won me over. My only issue with them is that the marching isn't as technically difficult as Anderson's or Bowie's (or Vista Ridges, for that matter). However, their percussion is absolutely fantastic (I believe that they will win Lonestar this year) which was a def. boost in points. What was interesting is that the week before, they had the exact same show, which leads me to believe that they are not adding anything else, which means they have peaked and will have to work really hard to keep up the level of excellence that they've had. Another state finalist, though, if they can keep this up! What is interesting is that we can expect all of these 5A schools to be in the Area D Finals (except O'Connor, imo). I would predict that Bowie, Round Rock, Anderson, Pflugerville, and possibly Akins will all move on to state and that Bowie, Round Rock, and Anderson will make finals. It will take a lot from these guys to have a chance at the title. Just my two cents ! Thanks for reading! That would make just about everyone upset, but I'm like you and haven't seen either band this year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwood69 Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 (edited) . Edited October 21, 2010 by mrwood69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nope Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Wait... So this is now the second contest where Bowie has finished behind Round Rock despite having higher music and visual scores? Call me old-fashioned, but the two most important elements in marching band don't seem to have been given enough weight. Granted, I haven't seen either band this year, so it's very possible Round Rock is just slightly behind in those captions. Still, I'd be upset if I was winning music and marching but finishing second. Try winning both music and marching and taking fourth. Happened to CP at the Cap City Marching Festival. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
longhornsax Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 does the breakdown of scores for this contest exist somewhere? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwood69 Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 (edited) . Edited November 6, 2011 by mrwood69 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mad.Hatter Posted October 14, 2010 Report Share Posted October 14, 2010 Try winning both music and marching and taking fourth. Happened to CP at the Cap City Marching Festival. Ugh; that is irksome. This isn't WGI or a percussion contest;percussion and auxiliary shouldn't be as high as marching and music at a marching band contest (IMHO), but I'd hate to enter ANOTHER debate on scoring systems. Don't know the rubrics used at Westlake or Cap City - I didn't attend either - but I guess the controversy in scoring is half the fun on these boards... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bandbot4.0 Posted October 15, 2010 Report Share Posted October 15, 2010 (edited) . Edited October 17, 2010 by atxmusic56 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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