2018 BOA San Antonio?

[CTJBandPops]

I'm home and very tired.

 

I ask you all to please not burn this place down while I sleep

looks like the walls are still standing - for now. thanks to the TXBands team for your efforts these past 2 days in the dome

[littlejaw]

- It would be interesting to those amateur musicians among us to have a voice over of a typical show pointing out all the little flaws that result in deductions. This is kind of like when a layperson watches Olympic gymnastics and the broadcaster explains why this gymnast gets a 9.875 and the other only got 9.750, causing the former to get the medal.

This is not how judging works. What you are talking about it the tick system where mistakes recieve a deduction from a perfect score.

 

What we have is a build up system, where scores start at 0 and the groups are rewarded for what they do. This means that someone could make a mistake but the group could still get a perfect subcaption score.

 

The main thing is the first group sets a standard that the judge (who is trained) says is worth a certain amount of points and then everyone is evaluated relative to them and others.

 

Perfect subcaption scores are nearly impossible unless the last group of the day is the best group, because judges tend to leave room for higher scores.

 

I guess if you want to know why a specific group is ranked somewhere some of us could help understand that.

[BandWatcher]

Eh, looking at the order of bands in panel 1 and panel 2, there may have been a /slight/ increase of scores for panel 1, but they really weren't that significant. There were still several bands from panel 2 in the top 7 and one of the last four was from panel 2 as well as the next out.

I dont think that the finalists we got were in any way unqualified to be there and MFA doesnt "owe anyone an apology".

If you watch the shows and not just look at numbers, then yes... MFA did a disservice to some programs and needs to take action for next year.

[BandWatcher]

The level of competition here in TX is insane. Is there any other state with a contest with this depth? So proud of all these kids and how hard they all worked. Every one of them.

 

Also, do we know which TX bands are making the trip to Grand Nats next year? 

There isn’t another state with this level of depth and talent. Which is another reason why BOA needs to get the judging issue fixed; what works for the rest of the country doesn’t cover eventualities you’ll see play out here.

[BandWatcher]

So proud of our Leander kiddos!!  Also so happy to be part of LISD (south) and to see Vista and Vandy in finals with us and let's not forget the 2A champion Rouse.  It was sad not to have Cedar Park in finals with us but overall it was a very good night to be in Leander ISD with all our sister schools.

 

What a great finals!!  Congrats to FloMo, Reagan, Hebron, CTJ and all the other bands.  What a great competition!!

 

My wife and I just love coming to this event every year and walking around the Alamodome, Riverwalk and Mall and seeing all the parents in theme shirts representing their schools.  What a great weekend.  Can't wait until next year!!

Leander was very good! Great season for themselves

[Hard Core Band Fan]

I think this result, more than ever, tells Round Rock that they need figure out how all these new bands surpassed them and learn from that. I know this might sound harsh, but if they desire to climb back up they simply cannot rely on the same techniques they have been using.  It's true that they have changed some things design wise, but something is still missing and I hope they can figure out what it is. Regardless of this result, I am still very proud that they advanced to State and I hope this fires them up to do well there. I apologize if this offends anyone, but simply put, this result is a testament that they are still very similar to 2011-2017 RR, and they need to  change even more if they hope to make finals at the SA's and GN's of the future. Some tough love but I'm saying this because I know they have it in them to improve. Good Luck! 

 

I hope that rather lash out at you, that people in this program will understand that you are very concerned and want the best for your former band. Despite what others may say, as a former participant, you do have the right to express your opinion here. Also, sometimes being honest is the only way to bring on real change. No one wants to see any program struggle to stay in the mix and you are obviously really concerned for them. I hope it will be taken that way. It should be.

[Dband2018]

I hope that rather lash out at you, that people in this program will understand that you are very concerned and want the best for your former band. Despite what others may say, as a former participant, you do have the right to express your opinion here. Also, sometimes being honest is the only way to bring on real change. No one wants to see any program struggle to stay in the mix and you are obviously really concerned for them. I hope it will be taken that way. It should be.

Of course, after all he is was a RR dragon band member himself

[Bandwoww]

Ya know, I thought last nights finals was almost just as competitive as 2017. Obviously Avon wasn’t there but getting into finals was just as cut-throat. Recent medalists, Leander and The Woodlands, found themselves back in the top 10, Vista Ridge made a huge statement and jumped to top 5. Ronald Reagan, Flower Mound, Hebron, and Keller found ways to improve after last year’s successes. CTJ and Vandegrift remain as two prominent Texas powerhouses. Westlake was such a nice surprise and completely deserved that finalist spot. Bell returned to finals after missing for a long time, and Cedar Ridge and Hendrickson proved they belonged with the best. Marcus is still Marcus and what they have achieved this year is spectacular.

 

My top 4 favorite shows!

 

1. Vista Ridge - probably the most well produced and cohesive package I saw last night. Evokes an emotional response unlike no other, deserves every bit of praise and managed to EXCEED the crazy hype it had. Bravo.

2. Keller - It amazes me that a group can have such consistent success after being mostly unknown until a few years ago and it amazes me even more that they build off of it EVERY year. Truly inspirational performance last night, can’t wait to see what they do at state.

3. The Woodlands - The consistency in design by The Woodlands is unparalleled in my opinion. Every year their show seems to be one of my favorites. It’s crazy that bands like The Woodlands and Keller sit outside of the top half! These performances would’ve done NUMBERS before 2017, Texas band is crazy!!

4. Flower Mound - I reallllllly doubted this show until last night but oh man was I wrong! Everything about it was SO solid and each moment is perfect. Congrats on the win FloMo, well deserved!

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Your negative "opinion/attitude"  is neither wanted or necessary and not helpful in the least. .

As you grow up, you will find that not having a "filter" is not something to be proud of.

How you treat others will come back to you and let me tell you "Karma is a b**ch" 

Good luck to you in the future.

 

On a happy note!

Congratulations to all the other bands.  So proud of Westlake!  you guys deserved it, what a great show.  

 

Another result of growing up is to realize that others have opinions that you may not agree with, but that they do have a have a right to express them. People who care express it in different ways - some with tough love and others with encouragement. Just because you disagree with someone doesn't make you right and them wrong. You both have great concern for the same thing. Remember that.

[MadisonBandMan1]

You know I would like to take a moment to say just how proud I am of the Madison band. This year we scored 5.6 points better than we ever have, and we worked so hard for it. This was such an amazing show with amazing students and amazing directors. No matter where we placed, EVERYONE should be proud of this season and how far we have come. Go mavericks.

[Rudedog34]

You know I would like to take a moment to say just how proud I am of the Madison band. This year we scored 5.6 points better than we ever have, and we worked so hard for it. This was such an amazing show with amazing students and amazing directors. No matter where we placed, EVERYONE should be proud of this season and how far we have come. Go mavericks.

You are a testament to why Madison is moving in the right direction.

Class acts, both you and your program. Congrats on a great year Maverick Band!

[MadisonBandMan1]

Just think of this- an 82.6 in 2016 would have landed us at 19th place just below vista ridge. This year we placed 40th with that score. That’s another testament to just how insane this competition is.

[LHSbandDad]

You know I would like to take a moment to say just how proud I am of the Madison band. This year we scored 5.6 points better than we ever have, and we worked so hard for it. This was such an amazing show with amazing students and amazing directors. No matter where we placed, EVERYONE should be proud of this season and how far we have come. Go mavericks.

Great perspective and I agree!!  This another one of the many things I like about band.  It has been great for my kids and sounds like it has been for you too. There is so much to be proud of and so many small wins to be found if you look for them.  I am so glad you and your school are proud of your improvement, you should be!!

[BandKid4Lyfe]

BOA owes Cedar Park and Bowie an apology. Nothing against LD Bell and Westlake, but they were in finals because of lucking into panel 1. Finals scores back that up. Either BOA needs to get their judging panels to be more consistent (not sure how you do that since they’re people and prone to subjective differences) or you cap the contest at 60 bands and go back to one panel over two days. What’s been communicated today is that luck is every bit as important as show design and skill. Cedar Park not getting to perform at Waco might have factored but Bowie’s trajectory all season has been higher than Bell, Westlake, even Cedar Ridge and Hendrickson. Both CP’s and Bowie’s prelims runs were plenty good enough. Nobody probably cares tho. I’m sure Dan won’t spend 5 seconds talking about it on the pod.

 

In a perfect world, we'd have the exact same judges for all the bands, true. Saying that LD Bell and Westlake made it to finals on luck rather than earning those spots is incredibly disappointing to hear from someone in the band community. Every kid that performed over the past two days works hard. 

 

Congratulations to every single member of Westlake and LD Bell for making finals, they earned it! 

 

Sour grapes will only give you a sucky-face. Get over it please. Thanks. 

[GeekyBandMom]

You know I would like to take a moment to say just how proud I am of the Madison band. This year we scored 5.6 points better than we ever have, and we worked so hard for it. This was such an amazing show with amazing students and amazing directors. No matter where we placed, EVERYONE should be proud of this season and how far we have come. Go mavericks.

One of the best things I’ve read in a long time! You had a fantastic show. A great attitude will carry you farther in life than any accolades, I promise you that. This competition is extremely deep and we have fantastic bands in Texas. Period.

[jcbg]

Did FM set a record for highest score at SA? My goodness

[principalagent]

Did FM set a record for highest score at SA? My goodness

Quite literally the smallest possible margin under it. The honor belongs to CTJ.

 

Reagan and Hebron both set score records for 2nd and 3rd place. I believe Vista Ridge did as well for 4th. Reagan now has the 3rd best all time regional score.

 

It should be something like:

CTJ 2017 - 96.625

FloMo 2018 - 96.6

Reagan 2018 - 96.4

Marcus 2007 - 96.2

Marcus 2012 - 96.1

Hebron 2018 - 96.05

Churchill 1997 - 96.00

[jcbg]

Quite literally the smallest possible margin under it. The honor belongs to CTJ.

 

Reagan and Hebron both set score records for 2nd and 3rd place. I believe Vista Ridge did as well for 4th. Reagan now has the 3rd best all time regional score.

 

It should be something like:

CTJ 2017 - 96.625

FloMo 2018 - 96.6

Reagan 2018 - 96.4

Marcus 2007 - 96.2

Marcus 2012 - 96.1

Hebron 2018 - 96.05

Churchill 1997 - 96.00

Wow. SA this year... wow.

[Mikeythgsn]

While I do think Bowie should’ve been in finals and the current system with the different panels heavily affected that, they would’ve made finals if it weren’t for for those two captions. Individual music was 18th and individual marching 26th. Can’t have that happen if you want to be a finals band. I loved their show and think they should’ve made finals, but we can’t blame it all on BOA, Bowie is rising but still has work to do.

[Mash]

Vista Ridge & Cedar Ridge made the biggest gains from prelims to finals.

Maybe it is because the Ridge in the name...  :-)

 

For Vista it might have been the prelim time.  7:15am and they had a call time at 2:30am.  That is a really long day.  I don't know if they would have gotten better scores if they had a more favorable prelim time, my guess is yes given the difference in finals placement between them and Leander for example.  They also had the lower scoring prelim judges between the two.  

 

I am not sure (too tired to look it up) about Cedar Ridge to see if they had similar circumstances.

 

It worked out great for Vista in the long run, super proud.  I also don't think there is a way around the early prelim time, bad luck on the draw.  

[Rackmaster]

Could someone possibly try to help me understand why CP got 21st in GE? From a confused CP kid.

[PLC137]

This is not how judging works. What you are talking about it the tick system where mistakes recieve a deduction from a perfect score.

 

What we have is a build up system, where scores start at 0 and the groups are rewarded for what they do. This means that someone could make a mistake but the group could still get a perfect subcaption score.

 

The main thing is the first group sets a standard that the judge (who is trained) says is worth a certain amount of points and then everyone is evaluated relative to them and others.

 

Perfect subcaption scores are nearly impossible unless the last group of the day is the best group, because judges tend to leave room for higher scores.

 

I guess if you want to know why a specific group is ranked somewhere some of us could help understand that.

 

Thanks for the explanation.  I suppose we can read the rules on the MFA website, but it would also be educational if an expert published a video with a breakdown of how a given score for a representative show accumulates.  It might promote a little more understanding of the art.  

[Nny14]

Thanks for the explanation. I suppose we can read the rules on the MFA website, but it would also be educational if an expert published a video with a breakdown of how a given score for a representative show accumulates. It might promote a little more understanding of the art.

Ive always wanted judges tapes to be released. I think they would be super interesting and insightful to listen to. I know each group receives their own tapes but it's almost always kept among the staff. Even DCI ones are rare to come across.

[ctex1994]

BOA owes Cedar Park and Bowie an apology. Nothing against LD Bell and Westlake, but they were in finals because of lucking into panel 1. Finals scores back that up. Either BOA needs to get their judging panels to be more consistent (not sure how you do that since they’re people and prone to subjective differences) or you cap the contest at 60 bands and go back to one panel over two days. What’s been communicated today is that luck is every bit as important as show design and skill. Cedar Park not getting to perform at Waco might have factored but Bowie’s trajectory all season has been higher than Bell, Westlake, even Cedar Ridge and Hendrickson. Both CP’s and Bowie’s prelims runs were plenty good enough. Nobody probably cares tho. I’m sure Dan won’t spend 5 seconds talking about it on the pod.

 

Nope  - Cedar Park had the same panel as Westlake and Bell and was beaten by both. 

 

No only that - Westlake was also slated to perform at Waco - in fact BOA San Antonio prelims was their first BOA event all season - Cedar park performed at Austin and Dallas - so their goes that argument as well. 

 

I do agree that Bowie could have easily been included - just the way the numbers fall sometimes. 

[LostChoirGuy]

Also, Westlake wouldnt have even been one of the ones kicked out if two other bands were included. They (deservedly in my opinion) were 11th in prelims.