Area D Marching Contest

[just_a_texas_girl]

With Reagan placing 6th in the State during concert season, once their show is 1-finished and 2-musically and visually cleaned, I certainly would not count them out for finals (not everyone is) and as for me, It would not shock me at all to see them top 3.

[Nope]

It would not shock me to see Reagan win this contest.

[longhornsax]

Alright I'll put my take.

 

4 locks

Bowie

Round Rock

Reagan

Churchill

 

In my opinion the two best bands from the San Antonio and the two best bands from Austin. Don't see any of these 4 missing state, although stranger things have happened. I do think Bowie will win with ease. Round Rock does tend to top out early in my opinion, and although they look better than ever, I don't see them improving as much as I'm sure Bowie has since Westlake. Round Rock has also consistently been the beneficiary of the Westlake scoring system, so I hardly think results there will be useful in this format. Will they advance? Yes. Will they win? Don't think so. Can't even remember the last time Churchill didn't advance, so I don't see them missing. And from what I've heard, Reagan is on it's way back to the top. Pretty confident about these 4.

 

Then it gets fun.

 

6 Bubble bands

Westlake

McNeil

Anderson

Akins

Pflugerville

Johnson

 

What a mess. This section is honestly a toss up. It really is gonna come down to who has the better show tomorrow night. I waaaaant to say Anderson will take one of the final two spots, simply because I love their show this year. Akins did not impress me at all at Westlake, and neither did Westlake in their exhibition that night. It's always really hard to place Westlake simply because they don't compete until the end of the year. Based on what I saw in their exhibition, I don't see them advancing. Just way too messy at that point in the season, but I won't count them out. McNeil and Pflugerville have a lot of momentum this year, but I think P-ville also topped out early. Haven't seen Johnson, so I can't say much about them.

 

Leander and Westwood may also make finals appearances, but here's how i see it going down -

 

Advancing (rough order)

Bowie

Round Rock

Reagan

Churchill

Anderson

(Mcneil)

 

Rest of Finals

Westlake

Akins

Johnson

Pflugerville

 

That was insanely hard. Just way too many good bands. I will guarantee that a band that has never been to 5A state will advance. Should be an amazing contest.

[MaverickBand15]

Alright I'll put my take.

 

4 locks

Bowie

Round Rock

Reagan

Churchill

 

In my opinion the two best bands from the San Antonio and the two best bands from Austin. Don't see any of these 4 missing state, although stranger things have happened. I do think Bowie will win with ease. Round Rock does tend to top out early in my opinion, and although they look better than ever, I don't see them improving as much as I'm sure Bowie has since Westlake. Round Rock has also consistently been the beneficiary of the Westlake scoring system, so I hardly think results there will be useful in this format. Will they advance? Yes. Will they win? Don't think so. Can't even remember the last time Churchill didn't advance, so I don't see them missing. And from what I've heard, Reagan is on it's way back to the top. Pretty confident about these 4.

 

Then it gets fun.

 

6 Bubble bands

Westlake

McNeil

Anderson

Akins

Pflugerville

Johnson

 

What a mess. This section is honestly a toss up. It really is gonna come down to who has the better show tomorrow night. I waaaaant to say Anderson will take one of the final two spots, simply because I love their show this year. Akins did not impress me at all at Westlake, and neither did Westlake in their exhibition that night. It's always really hard to place Westlake simply because they don't compete until the end of the year. Based on what I saw in their exhibition, I don't see them advancing. Just way too messy at that point in the season, but I won't count them out. McNeil and Pflugerville have a lot of momentum this year, but I think P-ville also topped out early. Haven't seen Johnson, so I can't say much about them.

 

Leander and Westwood may also make finals appearances, but here's how i see it going down -

 

Advancing (rough order)

Bowie

Round Rock

Reagan

Churchill

Anderson

(Mcneil)

 

Rest of Finals

Westlake

Akins

Johnson

Pflugerville

 

That was insanely hard. Just way too many good bands. I will guarantee that a band that has never been to 5A state will advance. Should be an amazing contest.

 

thank you for spelling McNeil right

[bchorn]

I think it's funny that Region 12 puts the most bands in the competition yet only 2 are expected to make the finals whereas regions 18/26 put in only half as much bands yet both are expected to have more bands in the finals than region 12. Way to go Austin area bands!

[whitewing09]

I think it's funny that Region 12 puts the most bands in the competition yet only 2 are expected to make the finals whereas regions 18/26 put in only half as much bands yet both are expected to have more bands in the finals than region 12. Way to go Austin area bands!

 

That's kinda like comparing area B to area G

[smoke_dawg_08]

does anyone remember when they were announcing Area D finalists in 2006 and they said Westwood, when it was really Westlake?!?!?

 

I felt so bad for all of the kids in the band, we were sitting right next to them and they were so excited and then bam, right out from underneath them.

[PercussionGirl]

Round Rock's show is... well, I was fairly unimpressed. It honestly looks like they're playing Ninja the entire time. An entire movement of their show is just percussion, and their band doesn't seem to play a lot. Also, the colorguard seems a little weak.

 

Leander has a good show this year, as does Reagan. I think Leander has the potential to be fairly good; since UIL last week, I'm sure they've cleaned it and made it all shiny and pretty for Area.

[bchorn]

Round Rock's show is... well, I was fairly unimpressed. It honestly looks like they're playing Ninja the entire time. An entire movement of their show is just percussion, and their band doesn't seem to play a lot. Also, the colorguard seems a little weak.

 

Leander has a good show this year, as does Reagan. I think Leander has the potential to be fairly good; since UIL last week, I'm sure they've cleaned it and made it all shiny and pretty for Area.

I'm actually a fan of their show. Yeah, it's a little more theatrical than most shows and maybe that will hurt them end but I like it because it's theatrical.

 

Also, when you have an all-state percussion section that's as good as they are, it's probably a good idea to feature them. Especially since they pretty much stand on the rear sideline for most of the first movement.

 

What a mess. This section is honestly a toss up. It really is gonna come down to who has the better show tomorrow night. I waaaaant to say Anderson will take one of the final two spots, simply because I love their show this year. Akins did not impress me at all at Westlake, and neither did Westlake in their exhibition that night. It's always really hard to place Westlake simply because they don't compete until the end of the year. Based on what I saw in their exhibition, I don't see them advancing. Just way too messy at that point in the season, but I won't count them out. McNeil and Pflugerville have a lot of momentum this year, but I think P-ville also topped out early. Haven't seen Johnson, so I can't say much about them.

 

I went to Westlake Marching Festival as well and I completely agree with your takes on Anderson, Akins, and Westlake. I really liked McNeil last week at regionals...their sound is just fantastic!

[shmeh]

Round Rock's show is... well, I was fairly unimpressed. It honestly looks like they're playing Ninja the entire time. An entire movement of their show is just percussion, and their band doesn't seem to play a lot. Also, the colorguard seems a little weak.

 

 

Hm. Well I'm sorry that you think we're playing ninja the whole time. It's actually referred to as 'visuals', which contribute to the general effect of the show, which is actually scored. Shocking, right? Round Rock has been crticised in the past for not being thematic with their shows. So I mean really, what do you want? And um... the percussion feature, well... Our drumline is insane, I'm not going to be humble about it. That whole movement is a marching feature, a drum feature, and an auxilary feature. Again, all of which are scored. And our guard seems weak? Well, I think after winning first place in auxilary, they'd beg to differ.

 

Also, aside from the drum break, the winds are playing literally nonstop through the first and second movements, and through the whole fourth movement. So I don't know where people are getting this idea that we 'hardley play'.

Edited October 23, 2010 by shmeh

[error51210]

Hm. Well I'm sorry that you think we're playing ninja the whole time. It's actually referred to as 'visuals', which contribute to the general effect of the show, which is actually scored. Shocking, right? Round Rock has been crticised in the past for not being thematic with their shows. So I mean really, what do you want? And um... the percussion feature, well... Our drumline is insane, I'm not going to be humble about it. That whole movement is a marching feature, a drum feature, and an auxilary feature. Again, all of which are scored. And our guard seems weak? Well, I think after winning first place in auxilary, they'd beg to differ.

 

Also, aside from the drum break, the winds are playing literally nonstop through the first and second movements, and through the whole fourth movement. So I don't know where people are getting this idea that we 'hardley play'.

 

Well, the fact is that while round rock does alot of visuals, which help GE, there is no GE caption at UIL. Also Round Rock's auxilary was a complex as anderson's, not alot was done, which makes it clean and easy. Texas judges normally grade on cleanliness, not difficulty, if difficulty were truly factored I believe that some bands and shows wouldn't do half as well as they do. And whole notes don't count as extensive playing. Although there are great moments in Round Rock's music, I don't believe it's enough to say the ensemble plays some meaty stuff.

 

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

[mrwood69]

Hm. Well I'm sorry that you think we're playing ninja the whole time. It's actually referred to as 'visuals', which contribute to the general effect of the show, which is actually scored. Shocking, right? Round Rock has been crticised in the past for not being thematic with their shows. So I mean really, what do you want? And um... the percussion feature, well... Our drumline is insane, I'm not going to be humble about it. That whole movement is a marching feature, a drum feature, and an auxilary feature. Again, all of which are scored. And our guard seems weak? Well, I think after winning first place in auxilary, they'd beg to differ.

 

Also, aside from the drum break, the winds are playing literally nonstop through the first and second movements, and through the whole fourth movement. So I don't know where people are getting this idea that we 'hardley play'.

 

Let's be nice to each other

[shmeh]

Well, the fact is that while round rock does alot of visuals, which help GE, there is no GE caption at UIL. Also Round Rock's auxilary was a complex as anderson's, not alot was done, which makes it clean and easy. Texas judges normally grade on cleanliness, not difficulty, if difficulty were truly factored I believe that some bands and shows wouldn't do half as well as they do. And whole notes don't count as extensive playing. Although there are great moments in Round Rock's music, I don't believe it's enough to say the ensemble plays some meaty stuff.

 

Just thought I'd throw in my two cents.

 

... Does that matter? It's still important. In competitions like BOA, GE is a huge factor. And oh, trust me, I totally get you on the cleanliness vs difficulty thing... But hey, that's the way it goes. And okay, well you can say that, but I don't think bands like Mcneil, Akins, Anderson, etc have music that's too extremely more difficult than RR's.

 

And as a further extension on the difficulty of our guard, well, if you followed us at all in '09, you might have seen that our guard was very small and well... not very good. Completely terrible actually. The disappointment throughtout the season caused the majority of any of the guard we had to quit. We worked really hard to gather up girls and ask them to join guard for this season. We also got a new guard director. So he did not give them extremely difficult flag work, as 95% of our guard this year is either a freshman, or was not in it previously.

Edited October 23, 2010 by shmeh

[mrwood69]

How about, instead of arguing, we just leave it all on the field tomorrow... then we can see who is prepared to talk some trash.

[shmeh]

Fair enough.

Edited October 23, 2010 by shmeh

[clarinette]

I agree with mrwood69.

I guess that in the end, none of these arguments will matter if they don't perform well.

Good luck to all. There's some real talent that's gonna be out there.

[TXsax]

Round rock got 3rd at area D!!!! In prelims

Edited October 24, 2010 by TXsax

[longhorn2190]

Round rock got 3rd at area D!!!! In prelims

do you have the prelims placements for all of area D?

[TXsax]

Sorry I don't

[old sax player]

do you have the prelims placements for all of area D?

Did you happen to see the Bowie show? Wondering how they looked. They were amazing at Regionals.

[WolfgangsMouse]

Does anybody know what happened to the txblive blog of today's Area Contests? It's been on Standby Mode since 9:09 PM.

Xenon was posting from Area B and Just a Texas Girl from Area D, up to the 3rd performance in tonight's finals when it suddenly stopped.

[jmj]

Region 18 website has the prelim full results:

 

http://www.uilmusicregion18.com/pdfs/2010_...lim_Results.pdf

[WolfgangsMouse]

Region 18 website has the prelim full results:

 

http://www.uilmusicregion18.com/pdfs/2010_...lim_Results.pdf

 

 

 

 

Thanks, but i got that already from Just a Texas Girl live post from Heroes Stadium around 6:45 tonight. She was blogging live up to the 3rd performance in the finals when the live feed went in standy mode.

[whitewing09]

Did Anderson have a director change or good year?

[WolfgangsMouse]

Thanks, but i got that already from Just a Texas Girl live post from Heroes Stadium around 6:45 tonight. She was blogging live up to the 3rd performance in the finals when the live feed went in standy mode.

 

 

Ok, it's back on again. No new update yet from Area D