2013 UIL State Marching Contest 1A/2A/4A

[Xenon]

http://www.uiltexas.org/music/marching-band/state

 

November 4th and 5th at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

 

Judges:

 

Cameron Crotts – Georgia Institute of Technology
Dennis Fisher – University of North Texas
Kathy Johnson – Argyle High School
Chris Knighten – University of Arkansas
Van Mathews – L.D. Bell High School
Mark McGahey – Keller High School
Gabe Musella – Spring High School
Ronnie Rios – Harlingen High School
Andy Sealy – Hebron High School
Kerry Taylor – Westlake High School

1A/2A Prelims and 4A Finals – Fisher, Johnson, Sealy, Rios, Knighten
1A/2A Finals and 4A Prelims – Musella, Taylor, Crotts, McGahey, Mathews

 

 

 

Tickets:

 

Student (single session on single day) (grades 7-12): $12.00

Adult (single session on single day): $17.00

Adult Day Pass (single day): $28.00

 

Parking at the Alamodome is classically $10 per day (no in/out).

 

 

Live Video Stream:

http://streaming.mrvideoonline.com

 

1-Day: $10

2-Day: $18

 

 

Schedules:

 

http://utdirect.utexas.edu/uilsmbc/lbw2_sched_results.WBX

 

Monday:

- 7:30AM - First 1A Band in Prelims

- 12:00ish - 1A Prelims Results

- 12:35PM - First 2A Band in Prelims

- 5:45ish - 2A Prelims Results

- 7:00pm - 1A/2A Finals Begins

 

Tuesday:

- 8:30AM - First 4A Band in Prelims

- 4:45PM - Exhibition by TCU

- 5:00ish - 4A Prelims Results

- 6:45PM - 4A Finals Begins

[Xenon]

Be sure to check out all of these awesome 1A and 2A bands today!

[Guardgirl27]

I think it will be interesting to see how it will turn out. Especially considering the crazy judge scores that were given in Area B.

[Xenon]

1A Results - http://utdirect.utexas.edu/uilsmbc/lbw2_sched_results.WBX?s_conference=1A&s_round=2&s_display_sw=R

 

2A Results - http://utdirect.utexas.edu/uilsmbc/lbw2_sched_results.WBX?s_conference=2A&s_round=2&s_display_sw=R

[KeyofBb]

Wow, the finals were simply glorious! Personal favorites were Vandegrift and Cedar Park, in that order. In my opinion, Vandegrift had more elegance and tasteful woodwind integration, while Cedar Park definitely brought the power. Sitting in the top row, we felt the roof explode from their first impact. Glad I don't have to choose between them! Not that Friendswood is out of the running, their music was incredible.

[TXMarchingMadness87654]

Wow! What an amazing two days of bands at their best! Congratulations to all of the bands that made it to State. What a wonderful, memory-making accomplishment. For those who made finals -- way to go!!!

 

Thanks to the Daniels for their VERY long weekend of live bloggin' & keeping all of us "in the know." Very sad to see this marching season coming to an end. It's been GREAT!!!

 

Good luck at GNats, Texas competitors! You make us proud!

[oagcplayer]

If the following comments sounds bitter, please note that I do not have a "dog in this hunt". I simply call it like I see it.

 

I congratulate all the finalists, especially the Top 3!

 

UIL judging again proves to be a joke, just like in some of the area contests. Major scoring differences for Wakeland cost them a medal. Glad my kids have graduated, as it is impossible to explain how the scores can be so inconsistent from judge to judge. It's getting to be like the Olympics. It may be time to add judges and throw out high and low scores before tabulating results or come up with another system completely. The disparities in scoring are unfair to the students and directors.

[Statebound]

UIL judging again proves to be a joke, just like in some of the area contests. Major scoring differences for Wakeland cost them a medal. Glad my kids have graduated, as it is impossible to explain how the scores can be so inconsistent from judge to judge. It's getting to be like the Olympics. It may be time to add judges and throw out high and low scores before tabulating results or come up with another system completely. The disparities in scoring are unfair to the students and directors.

I need to respectfully disagree with this one. Wakeland was 6th in prelims and moved up to 4th in finals. In fact, I think the argument could easily be made that the "1" was the outlier. If you dropped the high and low, as you suggested, they still would have gotten 4th. These kids have put in hundreds of hours into these programs, let's let them have their moment.

[oagcplayer]

I respect your rebuttal, but again, this is not a specific Wakeland thing. It is a UIL thing simply based on the disparity in scores. Area scores had differentials of 10 in a few cases, with one judge scoring a school first in marching and another judge scoring the same school eleventh. In this case I highlight Wakeland because they had the greatest differentials in both music and marching. The disparity and differentials in scoring is my issue.

[TXMarchingMadness87654]

I respect your rebuttal, but again, this is not a specific Wakeland thing. It is a UIL thing simply based on the disparity in scores. Area scores had differentials of 10 in a few cases, with one judge scoring a school first in marching and another judge scoring the same school eleventh. In this case I highlight Wakeland because they had the greatest differentials in both music and marching. The disparity and differentials in scoring is my issue.

I have actually talked with other parents about adding judges and dropping the highest and lowest scores for each band. Not sure if it would work or not, but it might help with some of the wacky disparities. Who knows for sure, though? I don't think talking about it takes anything away from the bands who medaled tonight. It's an interesting thing to think about. I know lots of people who feel the same way about the big differences that occur. Certainly, it's something to consider for the future.

 

Anyway, for tonight, I think every band that made it to State should be proud. Every band that made the cut into finals should be elated, and each band that medaled should be ecstatic! Kudos to you all!

[LHSax]

I was personally pretty impressed and surprised by the consistency of the scores this go round, prelims and finals, especially considering how close all these bands are at the top. And a 1 and a 5 for Wakeland is really not much of a differential at all. I can go on a whole rant about why the UIL system is actually pretty clever and one of the better options out there (but I'll save that for another day), but in the end Statebound is right, nothing to really complain about for this one.

 

Congratz to Leander ISD! Well deserved sweep. The camaraderie between these groups is amazing.

 

And has there really not been a 5th of November/V for Vendetta/V for Vandegrift joke yet?

[TXMarchingMadness87654]

I was personally pretty impressed and surprised by the consistency of the scores this go round, prelims and finals, especially considering how close all these bands are at the top. And a 1 and a 5 for Wakeland is really not much of a differential at all. I can go on a whole rant about why the UIL system is actually pretty clever and one of the better options out there (but I'll save that for another day), but in the end Statebound is right, nothing to really complain about for this one.

 

Congratz to Leander ISD! Well deserved sweep. The camaraderie between these groups is amazing.

 

And has there really not been a 5th of November/V for Vendetta/V for Vandegrift joke yet?

To be honest, when I talk about having more judges and dropping the lowest and highest(Olympics style), I'm talking for all contests, not just UIL. I simply don't know how to make it happen in a fair way. The area competition was wacky, but that happens. I suppose in the end, it's just "the way it is" and we deal and move on.

[~ME~]

I was personally pretty impressed and surprised by the consistency of the scores this go round, prelims and finals, especially considering how close all these bands are at the top. And a 1 and a 5 for Wakeland is really not much of a differential at all. I can go on a whole rant about why the UIL system is actually pretty clever and one of the better options out there (but I'll save that for another day), but in the end Statebound is right, nothing to really complain about for this one.

 

Congratz to Leander ISD! Well deserved sweep. The camaraderie between these groups is amazing.

 

And has there really not been a 5th of November/V for Vendetta/V for Vandegrift joke yet?

Yeah, I agree. I'm pretty sure I'm part of a small minority when I say this, but I actually prefer the UIL judging system to the BOA judging system. In my opinion, the results are pretty accurate in determining the bands (accurately, in order) that executed their program in the most precise, cleanest, and skillful fashion. In prelims I don't think it generally works as well because of the much larger number of bands, but I think it's a great system for judging only ten bands in finals. Looking back at the 4A and 5A state marching contest finals that I have actually seen, I generally always agree with the results. Every once in a while I'll personally disagree with one placement, such as Bell winning the tiebreaker for 3rd over Bowie in 2012, but even those kinds of things are arguable and can't possibly be determined by anything else other than personal opinion. I think these results were much less wacky than the BOA San Antonio finals results this year. I really do believe UIL is a much better system than BOA at determining the truly better band, but that also just comes down to personal opinion and what each different person considers to make a band "good".

 

Congrats to Cedar Park and Vista Ridge on the medals, and congrats to Friendswood on the third place in prelims!

 

And a huge congrats to the 2013 UIL 4A State Marching Contest Gold Medalist, Vandergrift! Remember, Remember the 5th of November!

 

Finally, congrats to all the amazing finalists, and the all of the participants in general. This was an amazing 4A State Marching Contest, and a great way to end the marching season in Texas.

[Xenon]

And a huge congrats to the 2013 UIL 4A State Marching Contest Gold Medalist, Vandergrift! Remember, Remember the 5th of November!

 

Nonono, that was Westwood's show!

[~ME~]

Nonono, that was Westwood's show!

I know! I just really liked the funny coincidence he brought up of a band whose name starts with a V winning on Nov. 5. You gotta admit "V for Vandergrift" has a nice ring to it! But now that you brought up Westwood's show, can you imagine how insane it would have been if Vandergrift actually had played a similar V for Vendetta show and still won with it??? A band whose name begins with a "V" winning the State Marching Contest with a V for Vendetta show on November 5th???  That would have been the coolest thing ever!

[jade1]

I am happy for all the bands who participated but it does get old seeing bands with props and all the "show" make it to the finals. I would like to actually see someone make it on their music and marching. Even though I have been told that the props don't make a difference but it sure does seem to be that way.

[stoli]

There were winning shows with lots of props and losing shows with lots of props.  I think this demonstrates that music and marching do count.  The top three bands had incredible performances and I think any one of them could have stood on their music and marching without any props on the field.  This was a tough competition, definitely the best I have ever seen.

 

I wish our band would have placed higher (I'm a mom and I am biased!), but I am so proud of how well they did in this incredible competition.  Of course judges personalities, backgrounds, likes and dislikes will cause differences in scores.  However, there are several judges for each category.  I felt our performance was much better in finals, but our position slipped.  So, could be a difference in judging or could have been that other bands stepped up their performance a notch!  

 

I know this sounds sappy, but each band in finals was amazing and deserved a medal!  I could not believe the level of competition this year.  So, congratulations to each band.  Can't wait to see you all again.

[principalagent]

I am happy for all the bands who participated but it does get old seeing bands with props and all the "show" make it to the finals. I would like to actually see someone make it on their music and marching. Even though I have been told that the props don't make a difference but it sure does seem to be that way.

 

I think the easiest way to think of it is correlation versus causation. The bands that have the means to have a ton of props and backdrops and such tend to be those who have most of their students on private lessons, strong booster organizations who will spend tons of hours doing whatever they can for the show, and the best teachers due to the affluence of the area that the school is located in.

 

Cedar Park year in and out should be the best example or "control" group for this. They tend to lack a "show" and use very few props, if any, but they still score as well as the groups with tons of backdrops and props. However, they still have the large parental support, great private lessons teachers that most of their students use, and strong and efficient staff that the groups that have more "involved" shows have. (Note that there is an argument against general affluence being a factor, with the best example given probably by Duncanville in the present day, but more often than not, these bands are in well-off suburbs).

[esmendez]

Did it seem like all of the bands in finals were similar to BOA? because I hardly any if at all core bands.

[bronsonphil]

You people worry so much about what style of marching band is better

[TXAg93]

I am happy for all the bands who participated but it does get old seeing bands with props and all the "show" make it to the finals. I would like to actually see someone make it on their music and marching. Even though I have been told that the props don't make a difference but it sure does seem to be that way.

Lots of bands marched with minimal props, the silver medalist Cedar Park is all brass and percussion sound and MARCH. They were back to defend the State title.

[TXAg93]

Did it seem like all of the bands in finals were similar to BOA? because I hardly any if at all core bands.

Did you see CP?

[josho]

I think the easiest way to think of it is correlation versus causation. The bands that have the means to have a ton of props and backdrops and such tend to be those who have most of their students on private lessons, strong booster organizations who will spend tons of hours doing whatever they can for the show, and the best teachers due to the affluence of the area that the school is located in.

 

Cedar Park year in and out should be the best example or "control" group for this. They tend to lack a "show" and use very few props, if any, but they still score as well as the groups with tons of backdrops and props. However, they still have the large parental support, great private lessons teachers that most of their students use, and strong and efficient staff that the groups that have more "involved" shows have. (Note that there is an argument against general affluence being a factor, with the best example given probably by Duncanville in the present day, but more often than not, these bands are in well-off suburbs).

Duncanville is not a fair example. They may not be in an affluent community but they are one of the largest high schools in America (almost 4000 students). What they lack in affluence they make up for in quantity.

[takigan]

Duncanville is not a fair example. They may not be in an affluent community but they are one of the largest high schools in America (almost 4000 students). What they lack in affluence they make up for in quantity.

 

Quantity has very little to do with Duncanville's success.  Duncanville's success is built off of a tradition of excellence that was allowed to flourish by a highly supportive school district and a handful of incredibly ambitious band directors who created a great thing a very long time ago and stuck around and never let it die. The leadership that created that has recently left, but that culture of success still exists in the program.

 

Even if they only had 2,000 kids, Duncanville would still have made the same number of State Marching Band appearances over the past 30 years.