BOA Austin - September 24th

[takigan]

New director at Rouse this year.  We'll likely see them rise the ranks over the next few years to join the fold with the other LISD schools.  I went to SHSU with Jason Robb, and he....well, let's just say he's one of those guys who, when you listen to him talk, you know he's destined for much bigger things than most of the people you're bumping elbows with in college.  He was easily the most promising teacher of anyone I knew in the 4 years I was at Sam.

[LKendrick]

I wanna give a shoutout to two bands I personally had in finals and really enjoyed quite a bit yesterday.  

 

I thought Westwood was fantastic, they sounded pretty dang good in prelims.  I really enjoyed their show quite a bit, thought that the way they wove Chandelier through the show was really well done, loved the whole visual aesthetic as well.  And that ballad, so good.  Loved the arrangement of that song, Sax soloist was fantastic, and the climax of it was so impactful to me.  Excited to see how they do over the rest of the year!  

 

And Dripping Springs.  So clever.  SO clever.  When did their color guard get so good?  That costuming is some of the most creative I have seen in a good while, especially the scissor hand contraption things they had in the ballad.  So cool!  Musically it's music I should be sick of hearing but the way they splice and cut the Rachmaninoff and the Elfman music together made it so fresh and fun.  This is a show I'm excited to see in the latter parts of the season for sure.  Placement might not have shown it but I think this was one of the more creative shows yesterday.  

[Firetail]

What a great competition for some of the best bands in the state to show off what they've got. Leander ISD sure has some phenomenal programs. CTJ, as per usual, incredible. Congrats to Vandy for coming out on top. Howard and the staff there are doing a great job advancing the program.

 

It's still early in the season, though, and as always, anything can happen in the coming weeks.

[bandperson1997]

The thing that I found very interesting is that the bands ranked 11 to about 16 all had a couple judges placing them in the top 10, and in some cases the top 7+. I think that the varied judging shows how great texas bands (and specifically central texas bands) are. It shows that even though some bands (Westwood, Dripping Springs, and others 11-16) didn't make finals, they still have top tier bands that can "hang in there with the big guys". 

[CTJBandPops]

should be an interesting year. with so many Texas bands going to GN this year (in addition to it being a 6A state year) I think a number of those Indy bound bands are taking their time in developing their shows with hopes of peaking in November for the 2 week gauntlet of BOA SA, UIL State and GN 

,

should be another great year - some amazing shows this weekend and a number of these shows were extremely difficult from both a music and marching perspective - looking forward to Conroe next week

[principalagent]

There's actually only a week between BOA SA and GN this year, with state in between. Leander, Reagan and Johnson will have virtually no extensive practice time except Monday and perhaps Thursday. I would assume they're going to be as ready as they could feasibly be for GN at San Antonio.

 

I am curious about how this will change the pacing calculus of these groups. They won't have the time to make extensive changes or incredible progress like Round Rock did in 2013, Flower Mound in 2014, or Keller last year. But I think the three aforementioned groups in particular won't have a problem scoring very well in Indianapolis this November

[Hard Core Band Fan]

There's actually only a week between BOA SA and GN this year, with state in between. Leander, Reagan and Johnson will have virtually no extensive practice time except Monday and perhaps Thursday. I would assume they're going to be as ready as they could feasibly be for GN at San Antonio.

 

I am curious about how this will change the pacing calculus of these groups. They won't have the time to make extensive changes or incredible progress like Round Rock did in 2013, Flower Mound in 2014, or Keller last year. But I think the three aforementioned groups in particular won't have a problem scoring very well in Indianapolis this November

 

Well, actually, our GN groups will have practice time once they get to Indy. Most of the top groups book rehearsal time indoors on Thursday, after arriving on Wednesday and most also have time booked on Friday as well. And some even on Saturday morning. There, they will have highly focused rehearsals and it is amazing how much is accomplished at those rehearsals. That 6-point jump that Round Rock made in 2013 was mainly achieved in Indy. I heard them the Tuesday of that week at a parent preview and I honestly was worried that they wouldn't make the finals at the end of that week. Four or five hours of highly focused and targeted rehearsals can make a tremendous difference at the end of the season. And no 8-hour rule to worry with at that point either.

 

I wouldn't worry too much about them having enough prep time before the GN finals. They will already be ready for the prelims and semis when they get there and will just need to fine tune for the finals. I have only seen Leander, CTJ, and Cedar Park at this point, but those 3 are definitely going to be ready for BOA San Antonio, 6A State (Leander & CTJ), and the Grand Nationals. I highly expect Reagan and Bowie to be in great shape as well as both have gone to the GN's before in recent years.