BOA Arlington Regional Schedule - Oct. 10

[knoxisawesome348]

Looking at the recaps:

 

- Hebron in 3rd for Music GE but 1st in Visual GE

- Individual music scores drop off massively after 4th place (13.80-18.40 range total?)

- Marcus scored surprisingly low in visual

- Round Rock might not be as visually sound as I first thought

 

San Antonio is going to be horrendous. There are maybe 11 bands I would say should make finals, and maybe 10 more to take the last 3 spots. 

[Rubisco]

Ah, looking at the recaps, both of the performance captions in finals were won on the strength of the individual performances. That would explain my confusion. That and not actually having seen the shows in weeks

[principalagent]

Also looking at the recaps, Wakeland almost broke the top 5 but lost on a GE tie. They're on fire. For sure finalist at SA.

 

I am starting to be concerned about the Kellers and Grand Nationals. This year is looking to be tough for finals already, but bands have missed finals in Texas BOAs and still made finals at RCA, so it's not over yet if they can grow.

[LKendrick]

Also looking at the recaps, Wakeland almost broke the top 5 but lost on a GE tie. They're on fire. For sure finalist at SA.

 

I am starting to be concerned about the Kellers and Grand Nationals. This year is looking to be tough for finals already, but bands have missed finals in Texas BOAs and still made finals at RCA, so it's not over yet if they can grow.

 

I think Keller is starting to make a case to be a finalist contender.  I was a little worried about this regional after their 14th place finish last year, up to 7th this year.  Seems like the improved quite a bit from last week to this week.  I think they might have a shot, interested to see their show finished.  

[Rubisco]

Putting these results together with the (probably unreliable) TOC results, it would seem as though the top groups from Arlington and Conroe are ahead of the top groups from Austin at the moment, but I have my doubts it will still be that way at SA. There really is no clear front-runner for the SA championship at this point. Everything has been shaken up.

 

Edit: Correction, the TMC results.

[Rubisco]

Also looking at the recaps, Wakeland almost broke the top 5 but lost on a GE tie. They're on fire. For sure finalist at SA.

 

I am starting to be concerned about the Kellers and Grand Nationals. This year is looking to be tough for finals already, but bands have missed finals in Texas BOAs and still made finals at RCA, so it's not over yet if they can grow.

 

Yeah, Wakeland got a generous (and in my view, accurate) visual GE score in prelims that helped with that.

[Band2013]

This year is really tough in TX and keller may just miss finals at SA. However they may have a shot at GN if they push hard.Hebron may have a huge shot at the eagle even with a 2nd place finish tonight, Bell took it home in 07 after 2nd to Marcus at SA. Truly anything can happen at this point in the game.

[~ME~]

I couldn't be happier for Flower Mound! It's always great to see a new regional champion crowned! That show is and will continue to be a GE monster for the rest of the season, it's just incredible. Easily one of my favorite shows of the year so far. And them winning a performance caption in both prelims and finals is very interesting I must say, I don't know what to think of that. Even though it's impossible to tell exactly how well they'll place at San Antonio, I would absolutely love to see FloMo walk out of the Alamodome with medals. It's at least pretty clear that they're in for their best season yet, and I can't wait to see how the rest of it goes! Congrats to them once again on their first regional championship!

 

I have to say I chuckled a bit when Hebron won visual, because it's a shining example of how impossible things are to predict now. I mean the only caption they won was the one caption nobody (myself included) thought they could win. We'll see what other visual judges think of them as the season goes on, but if they can at least continue to keep the visual caption from being a liability to them throughout the season then they will be in a very, VERY good position around San Antonio and especially Grand Nats when that show is fully developed.

 

Marcus was just as fantastic as always. Every time they perform they show why they're 5 time state champions and put on a clinic for how a marching band should look and sound.

 

Round Rock is on track to be awesome once again come Grand Nationals. This show is going to be really cool when it's finished and polished up, I can't wait to see it.

 

I'm REALLY liking what I'm seeing from LD Bell. This mini resurgence they seem to be having is awesome! They are just so dang good visually, in fact to me personally they looked like the strongest band of the night in that area. Bell has still been great these past few years but this year in particular they really stand out to me. I can't wait to see more from them!

[bandamonium]

I got 9 out of 10 finalists right for this regional without ever having seen the shows, so I'm not sure the finalists were really that tough to predict. (Plus, the one I wasn't sure about was the one that didn't make finals.) I am, however, a little bit surprised to see Flower Mound on top. I would not have guessed that based on the video I saw. Then again, it has been a couple weeks. Plus, it was a video!

 

The thing I find most interesting is that Austin's top scorer, Round Rock, didn't crack the top 3 here. Seeing where they end up tonight could help a little bit with predictions for SA, although these are early regionals and so not always very reliable. And we still don't really have much of a way to compare these groups to the top groups at Conroe.

I don't think that using Round Rock's score to judge the Austin Bands for BOA San Antonio will be very accurate. The Texas Marching Classic tonight was killer. Leander, Bowie, Reagan, and Cedar Park absolutely KILLED IT tonight and they've all improved remarkably in just two weeks with Bowie being the most recognizable improvement. I definitely think if RR had attended that they might not have been the top scorer this time around. Story lines and uncertainty going into SA this year is CRAZY. There are at least 8 or 10 groups that come to mind this year when trying to pick a champion. It's going to be a BOA San Antonio for the record books!

[takigan]

- Round Rock might not be as visually sound as I first thought

 

Well keep in mind who they're up against....Hebron has always been a visual powerhouse....so has LD Bell (former GN Visual caption winner).  Getting 4th in visual behind those 2 bands isn't an unreasonable assumption despite the fact they won visual in Austin.  Also look at how high the Visual Ensemble judge ranked LD Bell (.7 lead over his #2 pick--HUGE lead....and that same judge ranked Round Rock 7th...roughly .7 behind Hebron and Flower Mound)....if another judge had been judging, Round Rock would probably have gotten at least 3rd in visual.

 

I honestly don't think Marcus is performing any worse than they usually....well maybe a little bit worse in visual.  The fact they grabbed the Music Caption in prelims is indicative of them being capable of the same unmatched sound they always have.  Hebron and Flower Mound are just freaks....they've been leapfrogging their way to the top over the past few years; their outclassing Marcus is due to their rise...it doesn't have anything to do with Marcus slipping up.

 

I think the same thing about The Woodlands getting 3rd at Houston actually.  Clearly Reagan stepped it up, because they've been hopping their way to the top as well.  And Claudia Taylor Johnson?....they've risen in the rankings year after year since they opened without ever falling.....their rise has tapered off this year and they're settling into their true capability....which happens to be just slightly ahead of where the Woodlands is at.

[Rubisco]

I'm hesitant to judge anything based on any of these results, especially when I haven't seen all of the top groups. I think the biggest thing to keep in mind is that each competition so far has been A.) An early one, and B.) Judged by one panel of judges, whose opinions likely won't be the same as those of the panels we'll see later in the season. Everything is way, way too close this year for me to think that Band A will definitely be ahead of Band B at San Antonio, at least among that top group, which is HUGE this year. I can't even break them up into groups like I could last year, some of which ended up being wrong anyway.

[Xenon]

Exactly. There are still quite a few incomplete shows and other than the two RRs there really hasn't been any area mixing at all. Bands that go to GN also tend to have a completely different growth curve due to how late in the season it is. Keller, Round Rock, and Hebron all have extremely short shows right now, do it is extremely hard to judge them on what they could be like in November.

 

Adding to everything else is just how extremely tight all the scoring has been at the top not only in overall scores but also in the captions.

[snares]

Keller, Round Rock, and Hebron all have extremely short shows right now, do it is extremely hard to judge them on what they could be like in November.

 

Adding to everything else is just how extremely tight all the scoring has been at the top not only in overall scores but also in the captions.

Wow that's true I never really thought about how short RR and Hebron's show were. Is that just what it is or do you think they still have more? And would having the whole show on the field affect any scores? I think round rock really should've placed higher in visual. To me they were cleaner than Hebron and Flomo but apparently Hebron killed it in individual? I don't know I'm confused

[scoobydoo]

Wow that's true I never really thought about how short RR and Hebron's show were. Is that just what it is or do you think they still have more? And would having the whole show on the field affect any scores? I think round rock really should've placed higher in visual. To me they were cleaner than Hebron and Flomo but apparently Hebron killed it in individual? I don't know I'm confused

Round Rock still has more to add to their show.

[northtexasbandfan]

I'm pretty certain that the last time Flower Mound outscored Marcus in a band competition (I won't say "beat" because to me any young man or woman in marching band is a winner) was never in the history of the universe. BTW, very, very classy of both Marcus and Hebron (and several other bands, including Jenks and Round Rock ... which had long trips back home) to stay and watch Flower Mound's encore, and cheer. We sometimes tend to forget that the way band competitions are set up, with pre-performance prep time, and putting equipment back post-perfomance, it's not often one band gets to see the performances of many other bands' performances.   

[Xenon]

Marcus, Hebron, Round Rock, LD Bell, and Jenks all stayed. It was awesome to see half of the finalists watching the encore.

[Tenzineo]

Marcus, Hebron, Round Rock, LD Bell, and Jenks all stayed. It was awesome to see half of the finalists watching the encore.

I really hope it becomes a thing for bands to do this. CTJ doing it for the Woodlands last year, and then Bowie doing it for Leander really shows a lot of class in these organizations. It must be super exciting for the performers to see so many fellow bands supporting them after their win.

[justabandkid94]

this lack of videos is so dang frustrating .... but hmu if you know where to look

[HerroWon]

I'm not trying to take anything from Flower Mound, I think they did an absolutely stunning job, but I think they've almost peaked with their show because it looked mostly complete last night, and I think both Hebron and Marcus have more show to add so by the time San Antonio comes I strongly believe that they will overtake FloMo. I also noticed that the point gap in finals between Hebron and FloMo was only .1 but the gap between Hebron and Marcus was over a whole point! Being there live I thought Marcus sounded beautiful and that I think that the top 3 should have been a lot closer. Hebron sounded absolutely gorgeous and had the whole audience on their feet at the end of the tenor sax solo and I think if they just had more show on the field or if they could have cleaned the part after the solo they would have definitely taken the top spot. I was also just as surprised as everyone else when Hebron took the visual caption (jumping a whole point from prelims) and I believe that may have been more important than winning because it shows that they realize their problem areas and are capable of fixing it. If they can keep improving like this I think they'll have a legitimate chance at the Eagle this year at Grand Nationals.

[snares]

It was definitely weird to see a band that took 14th or whatever in visual at BOASA last year to winning visual against two of the cleanest bands in the state, but when you think about it Hebron tied Marcus for visual (actually I think they won visual?). This is definitely a weird year. But I'm not so sure Flowermound has "peaked" so to say. I love their show. Absolutely love it. I would say it's my favorite but Hebron's ballad makes that very hard to say. They still have a lot of time to clean up absolutely everything in their show. I actually think this might be the year that Flowermound places higher than Hebron and Marcus. I would also agree that Marcus isn't dropping off the table. At all. I know it's Boa season, but I think if this was UIL it would be a very different outcome. UIL usually awards achievement and isn't a GE hackfest like BOA is.

[Nny14]

So much for visual being our strong point... Was Round Rock really that behind the other three? What do people think of our show, I've heard very little comments on the overall design of it. Not trying to diss Lewisville ISD, they are fantastic. Just wondering what people think.

[Jellyfishes]

I really think the Individual Music scores in Prelims was very poorly judged. Byron Nelson 23rd and 8th in Ensemble Music? Aledo 3rd and 17th? I don't understand.

[Band2013]

 

So much for visual being our strong point... Was Round Rock really that behind the other three? What do people think of our show, I've heard very little comments on the overall design of it. Not trying to diss Lewisville ISD, they are fantastic. Just wondering what people think.

[Band2013]

Round Rock has improved alot this year in terms of visual capability. By decreasing their size it has cleaned them up alot. The LISD bands are just as good but with stronger musicality. I have no doubt RR will make finals at GN but win visual there is way more difficult than in SA. Plus there GE i believe is what put RR high in earlier contest.

[principalagent]

For what it's worth, I'm not convinced any Texas band will win visual this year. If anyone came close, it would be the Woodlands (based on history - if someone has a video you know who to PM!). Past TWHS, I think Leander, CTJ and Flower Mound will be the closest the state will see in the coming years. Partially because of UIL and partially because of the constraints of the 8-hour rule and TEA restrictions on band practice time during class, Texas bands just don't have the visual packages required to really challenge Avon or Broken Arrow or Carmel year in and out. I think the last time someone came close was LD Bell about a decade ago or more.