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I would assume one of those Cedar Parks to be Keller? Lol

 

Considering The Woodlands final score, Cedar Park, Keller, and Hendrickson could’ve possible knocked them out of finals... but then again this is a hypothetical situation

I still think that after all of the woodlands work this passed week that they would’ve made finals in this hypothetical situation.
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It's fun to speculate. I do think Carmel had pretty clearly the best show in the country this year. That said, I think Hebron will probably make it on to my all-time Texas best list. (That music!)

 

I'm hoping that one day in the near-future a Texas band will create that golden, Eagle-worthy program and actually take it to Nationals, but I think we'll be waiting at least a couple more years. Don't get me wrong. I think the groups Texas sent to Nationals this year were outstanding. Flower Mound and Marcus probably could have won last year with these 2017 productions. Considering TWHS lost rehearsal time, what they accomplished is pretty extraordinary as well, despite their weakest showing in ages -- something that will probably lead to a bit of soul-searching. (To be fair, that odd-ball individual visual score in Finals didn't help. 18.3 in prelims, 18.9 in semis, and then a 16.650 in finals. Yikes!) As for Round Rock, I'm so, so happy they were able to end their season on a high note. I can't imagine what it was like to miss finals at SA, how maybe they felt that they had dropped the ball on continuing that tradition of excellence. But they clawed their way back. Way to persevere!

 

As for that Eagle coming back to Texas, well, maybe next year!

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I think Flower Nound played it too safe. Last year’s show was stronger thematically and visually. Stand that up against 3 bands who live and breathe GE (Avon, Carmel, and BA—I mean, the purple wigs and pedal cars?) and a Marcus show that took huge visual risks for band who’s normally UIL textbook, and that it explains it. People discounted Marcus a lot this year, I think, because the show wasn’t so clean in Southlake. They just peaked at exactly the right moment in the Nats final and pulled ahead. And the three medalists are simply BOA royalty.

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I think Flower Nound played it too safe. Last year’s show was stronger thematically and visually. Stand that up against 3 bands who live and breathe GE (Avon, Carmel, and BA—I mean, the purple wigs and pedal cars?) and a Marcus show that took huge visual risks for band who’s normally UIL textbook, and that it explains it. People discounted Marcus a lot this year, I think, because the show wasn’t so clean in Southlake. They just peaked at exactly the right moment in the Nats final and pulled ahead. And the three medalists are simply BOA royalty.

I don’t think FloMo played it safe this year by any means. They were trying to sell a lot with both the music and the visual design. What they actually lacked was execution. At almost every major competition they had a tear in their fanfare and it was its worst last night (I say this having seen them live twice at San Antonio and twice). After that their finals performance felt flat, which is unfortunate because they really sold their semis performance.

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As with all band parents, we want the best for our kiddos and go through sense-making conversations once a competition is over.    We all look for trends and explanations as to what differentiates the top bands from the rest.   When comparing Round Rock to the top placers at 2017 Grand Nationals' Finals, what do y'all see that differentiates?   Here's what I noticed:
1. The top bands were all excellent.   Yep.  Please be clear - no disrespect.  None.

2. The top bands' color guards were easily 2x or more of that of Round Rock.

3. The top bands' all had an array of microphones along the sidelines to amplify the total band sound, with speakers perfectly aimed to the judge's level way up high.

4. The top bands hit a few more "traditional" forms (more straight lines, boxes, etc.) than RR.

5. The top bands marched slower than RR with a few more stand and wail moments than RR.

 

What else - what do you think?  You may disagree with some of the above.  That's cool, too.   

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As with all band parents, we want the best for our kiddos and go through sense-making conversations once a competition is over.    We all look for trends and explanations as to what differentiates the top bands from the rest.   When comparing Round Rock to the top placers at 2017 Grand Nationals' Finals, what do y'all see that differentiates?   Here's what I noticed:

1. The top bands were all excellent.   Yep.  Please be clear - no disrespect.  None.

2. The top bands' color guards were easily 2x or more of that of Round Rock.

3. The top bands' all had an array of microphones along the sidelines to amplify the total band sound, with speakers perfectly aimed to the judge's level way up high.

4. The top bands hit a few more "traditional" forms (more straight lines, boxes, etc.) than RR.

5. The top bands marched slower than RR with a few more stand and wail moments than RR.

 

What else - what do you think?  You may disagree with some of the above.  That's cool, too.   

- Color guard - yeah some bands have huge color guard.  Flower mound used to have a pretty small guard, but over the last few years, they've been specifically working with their feeder middle schools, to get kids interested sooner.  They even started having middle school guard camps, and hold an all ages (middle school & down) guard camp at some point.  Although guys participate in guard, let's face it, it's dominated by the ladies, and many of the young ladies are involved in dance, and usually aim for drill team instead of guard.  So they're being proactive in trying to grow the guard.  Now if you want to see a huge Guard, look no further than Reagan HS.  Sometimes I wonder if they have more guard than musicians.

- From my experience they don't use the mics to amplify the total sound.  I know Flower Mound only uses them to amplify the solos, the front ensemble, or the special ensembles like the flute ensemble at the beginning, and the sax ensemble.  There was an array of microphones, separate from the bands', that were used for the video recording

- You are correct in that they aim the speakers directly at the judges, which makes sense,

- Straight lines and boxes are good for visual scoring, especially if they aren't lined up on the hashmarks and yard lines.  They show that the kids can hit their marks, and keep the lines straight.  They also make it easier to show when a kid is early or late.  The curved patterns are easier to hide flaws.  Circles are also a challenge as well, because it's really hard to line up perfectly

- you'll see a mix of faster and slower movements, as well as marching styles.  I think This shows diversity of skill, rather than just going at the same pace the whole time, whether it's fast or slow.

- I do agree that you see a lot of standing and playing.  This has been a complaint of mine too.  This is how some bands get the really clean sound and really clean movement in the difficult sections.  For some reason, I thought the new scoring format was supposed to help encourage bands to move more while playing.  I guess the judges haven't caught up.

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Full Band Microphones - I may have "misspoken".    Not all of the top bands used them, but the bottom three finalists did not have them.   

 

Yes, the BOA team has their mics for recording.  BOA mics were on super high tripods and then they had about 5 or so short ones which got positioned in front of each band's speakers.  Those are completely different form the ones I am speaking of - which were brought onto the field by each band and positions along the edge of the sidelines on tall tripods and aimed toward the field.  These "band mics" were too high for use for soloist or small ensembles.   I saw those, too.   I am specifically noting that RR didn't do this and others did,   For those that did - at times, I could clearly hear sound from the speaker for sections on the opposite side of the field.   For example, I could hear the mello section coming from the left most speaker even though they were out on the field, away from the sidelines, on the right side.  

 

Given that the bottom 3 bands did not have them, it does appear to be somewhat of an advantage.   

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Full Band Microphones - I may have "misspoken".    Not all of the top bands used them, but the bottom three finalists did not have them.   

 

Yes, the BOA team has their mics for recording.  BOA mics were on super high tripods and then they had about 5 or so short ones which got positioned in front of each band's speakers.  Those are completely different form the ones I am speaking of - which were brought onto the field by each band and positions along the edge of the sidelines on tall tripods and aimed toward the field.  These "band mics" were too high for use for soloist or small ensembles.   I saw those, too.   I am specifically noting that RR didn't do this and others did,   For those that did - at times, I could clearly hear sound from the speaker for sections on the opposite side of the field.   For example, I could hear the mello section coming from the left most speaker even though they were out on the field, away from the sidelines, on the right side.  

 

Given that the bottom 3 bands did not have them, it does appear to be somewhat of an advantage.   

Can you provide a screen grab of these mics that were specifically pointed at the band?  The only ones I saw were the small ensemble mics, the BOA mics, and of course the ones that were attached to the soloists.

I'm trying to figure out what you're getting at with this one.  If it's legal and several bands use it, is it an advantage?  Wouldn't it be incumbent upon the other bands to use this technique as well?  All of the finalists have experience with BOA events, they know what works, and what is legal, why would they not use whatever would help them put the best sound out there?  I know the mics are also a risk, considering I heard sound issues, where some soloist mics went out during their moment, and some soloist mics came on when they weren't supposed to.

I used to complain that there are some directors who actually stand near the head drum major and conduct.  I read the rules, and they specifically say it's legal.  So I quit complaining.  If those directors and bands feel they need that, so be it.

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Can you provide a screen grab of these mics that were specifically pointed at the band?  The only ones I saw were the small ensemble mics, the BOA mics, and of course the ones that were attached to the soloists.

I'm trying to figure out what you're getting at with this one.  If it's legal and several bands use it, is it an advantage?  Wouldn't it be incumbent upon the other bands to use this technique as well?  All of the finalists have experience with BOA events, they know what works, and what is legal, why would they not use whatever would help them put the best sound out there?  I know the mics are also a risk, considering I heard sound issues, where some soloist mics went out during their moment, and some soloist mics came on when they weren't supposed to.

I used to complain that there are some directors who actually stand near the head drum major and conduct.  I read the rules, and they specifically say it's legal.  So I quit complaining.  If those directors and bands feel they need that, so be it.

I never stated nor intended to suggest that mic'ing the whole band was illegal.    My original post was asking for help in understanding some key elements that the top bands did differently from the bottom bands.    I fully agree that any band program which wants to compete at this level, should be striving to employ the same techniques and strategies that the leading bands are doing and that yield results.

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As with all band parents, we want the best for our kiddos and go through sense-making conversations once a competition is over.    We all look for trends and explanations as to what differentiates the top bands from the rest.   When comparing Round Rock to the top placers at 2017 Grand Nationals' Finals, what do y'all see that differentiates?   Here's what I noticed:

1. The top bands were all excellent.   Yep.  Please be clear - no disrespect.  None.

2. The top bands' color guards were easily 2x or more of that of Round Rock.

3. The top bands' all had an array of microphones along the sidelines to amplify the total band sound, with speakers perfectly aimed to the judge's level way up high.

4. The top bands hit a few more "traditional" forms (more straight lines, boxes, etc.) than RR.

5. The top bands marched slower than RR with a few more stand and wail moments than RR.

 

What else - what do you think?  You may disagree with some of the above.  That's cool, too.   

 

I think a lot of the issues that sprouted up for Round Rock had to do more with their design. I say this because I thought they played tf out of their show in finals, but the show itself seemed to be lacking.  Here are some things that I noticed:

 

1) Their woodwinds didn't have that much opportunity to show their chops. Besides their ballad, which really showcased the soloists more than the woodwinds as a section, I can't really remember any major woodwind moments from their show. 

2) From a visual design I think they had some excellent still sets, but their transition sets were sometimes WAY too free-form. I think they also suffered this issue in 2014. With freer-form sets you run the risk of creating blob sets during your transitions that look sloppy. 

3) Musically, it is very difficult to have one source piece for a show. I think this may have also been an issue for Avon in the early season, but they were able to fix it with the use of narration and overall just styling. 

 

No offense to their designer, but this was a far cry from their last BOA oriented show, This is My Letter to the World. I think it showed up in their scoring where they fared a lot worse in visual and all three GE judges than with the musical performance judges.

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I never stated nor intended to suggest that mic'ing the whole band was illegal.    My original post was asking for help in understanding some key elements that the top bands did differently from the bottom bands.    I fully agree that any band program which wants to compete at this level, should be striving to employ the same techniques and strategies that the leading bands are doing and that yield results.

I understand....

I'd still like to see a screen grab of the mics you're saying were pointed to the whole band.  Honestly I don't think they used those for the whole ensemble, but for when they focused on smaller ensembles.  And the time when you heard a mellophone from the other side of the field could have been a sound board issue. Where they accidentally turned on a mic at the wrong time.

BTW, I took a look at a video from when RR had a festival of bands earlier this year.  Their speakers were pointed upward, like they would be to reach the judges, and they had some mics near the drum major podium that I didn't see get used (of course this was from early October, so they probably got used later in the season).  So it's possible they were doing the same thing everyone else is doing but you didn't realize it.

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The mic-ing of the entire band was something I️ noticed sitting in sec 441 for semis and 239 for finals. According to my recollection and verified by the jolesch photos used for the txband live blog (which was great btw), there were three finalist bands who utilized full band mics - Avon (already mentioned); Marian Catholic (7 between 22 1/2 yard lines with one the 50); and Marcus (6 between the 35s). These mics were in the range of 6 to 8 feet tall. Yes, completely within the rules, or more accurately, not against the rules. My strong preference is a solid NO for this practice. Does it make a difference; absolutely. Nothing brings out oooohs and aaahhs from the crowd (and music GE judges) than huge impact points.

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