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Advantages: Fair v. Unfair


BanderThanYou

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I've noticed some 'extra'(not in a negative way) things bands are doing this year.

 

Ex: 

- Ryan Reynolds endorsing James Bowie's band. (which was actually super cool, how did they do that)

- CTJ's whataburger sponsorship on their front drop. #Whataband

- Vandegrift's amazing drumline being feat. on flomarching

- FloMo's flags this year has the bands of America logo

 

Thoughts? 

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I can kinda understand the CTJ one, but this post just reeks of sour grapes. It's pretty awesome a high school marching band can be acknowledged by a celebrity. Bands need as much sponsorship as they can get as long as schools refuse to fund the fine arts. Vandegrift's drumline is amazing, why wouldn't they be featured a lot? And Flower Mound loves to get meta with their shows, does anyone really think they'd get extra points for that?

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I've noticed some 'extra' things bands are doing this year.

 

Ex: 

- Ryan Reynolds endorsing James Bowie's band.

- CTJ's whataburger sponsorship on their front drop.

- Vandegrift's drumline being featured one too many times on flomarching

- FloMo's flags this year has the bands of America logo

 

Thoughts? I personally think some of it had gone a little too far, but just my opinions, yours?

my thoughts

  • Ryan Reynolds endorsement is from a star who will have many of his teen fans saying - "Who is Bowie OPE?, what is an OPE?  - what is marching arts? WOW - how do I do that" - this will only advance the marching arts.
  • CTJ and Whataburger - it is the front drop - it is not a logo on their uniforms. the stadiums have the same logo from their sponsors and BOA/MFA have their sponsors all over the stadium during events - that supports and advances the marching arts. #WHATABAND
  • Vandy Drumline rocks - I would like to see more drum lines being featured - I believe that Flo Marching is doing a follow this year on Vandy so if you look at their site, they are not just featuring the DL, but the whole program. just as they did with CTJ a few years ago and Avon's trip to Texas last year - (side note - the video of Avon kids at Whataburger is a commercial waiting to happen) #WHATABAND
  • Flomo with BOA Flags - I have only seen the show once - and do not fully understand their show concept. I have heard they have permission to do so and I doubt that it has any impact on the scoring - the judges are not part of BOA but a paid consultant to BOA - I think it is cheesy, but as stated, I do not fully understand their show concept.  Question - will they change the flags to the UIL logo at those events??? 

at the end of the day - the marching arts are "marching on" and some of it comes with risk - some may come - some may go. I say bring it on and see what it brings.

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As many people have said, the Flower Mound thing is not really shocking considering the identity that FloMo has developed, and I for one am a huge fan. I just hope they made a second set of flags with the UIL logo for those competitions and would be even more impressed if they had another set with a FloMo Football logo or something for football performances! Let's not forget: they were the band to unfurl a huge banner that said "This is not a marching band" just a few years ago.

"This is not a marching band" is one of my all time favorite endings. The BOA flags are just another example of FloMo applying the art to the marching show.

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FloMo's flags this year has the bands of America logo



This is nothing new.  Crazier "meta" stuff like that's been done in the past:

Broken Arrow 2008 using the "Joining Us" BOA
during their show as a sort of DJ hook.

Mansfield Legacy 2008 incorporating
of Dan Potter asking Scott McCormick "So Scott McCormick, which is better? UIL or BOA?" and other various subliminal messages into their show (and then TxB users trying to decode it and sharing their findings here on the site--and apparently it was Sanchez who ultimately took the audio from BOA Arlington and flipped it with Audacity or some similar app)
 
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my thoughts

  • Ryan Reynolds endorsement is from a star who will have many of his teen fans saying - "Who is Bowie OPE?, what is an OPE?  - what is marching arts? WOW - how do I do that" - this will only advance the marching arts.
  • CTJ and Whataburger - it is the front drop - it is not a logo on their uniforms. the stadiums have the same logo from their sponsors and BOA/MFA have their sponsors all over the stadium during events - that supports and advances the marching arts. #WHATABAND
  • Vandy Drumline rocks - I would like to see more drum lines being featured - I believe that Flo Marching is doing a follow this year on Vandy so if you look at their site, they are not just featuring the DL, but the whole program. just as they did with CTJ a few years ago and Avon's trip to Texas last year - (side note - the video of Avon kids at Whataburger is a commercial waiting to happen) #WHATABAND
  • Flomo with BOA Flags - I have only seen the show once - and do not fully understand their show concept. I have heard they have permission to do so and I doubt that it has any impact on the scoring - the judges are not part of BOA but a paid consultant to BOA - I think it is cheesy, but as stated, I do not fully understand their show concept.  Question - will they change the flags to the UIL logo at those events??? 

at the end of the day - the marching arts are "marching on" and some of it comes with risk - some may come - some may go. I say bring it on and see what it brings.

 

 

heh...."#WHATABAND".  That's awesome! 

 

Look...if I could find a large sponsor for our band, I would do it in a heartbeat and not apologize for it at all.  As a previous poster said, as long as school districts continue to focus on football and under-fund fine arts (even though many bands are more successful than their football teams), bands have to do what they can to pay the bills.

 

Rather than get upset about other bands having big sponsors, why don't we get upset about districts spending $60-$70 mil on stadiums.  Wouldn't a $40 mil stadium work just as well? 

 

How long fine arts in a district be funded with $10 mil?????? 

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"This is not a marching band" is one of my all time favorite endings. The BOA flags are just another example of FloMo applying the art to the marching show.

Now you got me going ... "Surreal" was my son's senior year show. Just thinking about it ... ah, there's the box of tissues on my desk at work.
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The only "unfair" (I don't like that word) aspect, in my opinion, is small schools having to compete with the larger schools with numbers to have actual tryouts to make their band.  I mean, good for them, but the fact that schools with an enrollment of 2200 has to compete with school with 4000, 5000 and 6000 kids seems off-kilter. 

 

Example...Allen HS has a JV drumline that goes to competitions and is as big as other schools only drumlines.  I know Allen is a bad example because they could split their band in to 3 separate competition bands but the fact still remains that the schools at the top of the enrollment have a distinct advantage because they can choose the best of the best for their competition bands.  Those at the bottom of the enrollment spectrum basically use the "foggy mirror" test to fill out their bands. 

 

Now, this is definitely not a criticism of the larger bands...they are working under the system provided to them by UIL.  It has led to Texas becoming the standard for marching bands across the nation.  It's the reason there's enough interest and competition to have TXBands.com! 

 

UIL is the problem....they set the cut-off numbers and the number of schools required to be in the different divisions. Maybe there are regulations or standards that require it but why 250 schools in each division?  Can that be reduced to create a new division (7A)

 

I don't care if they create 1A-10A, something needs to be done to level the marching field.  Condense the enrollment numbers....create 7A for schools 3000-infinity...make 5A 1800 to 3000 and 6A 3000 to infinity. 

 

/steps off of my soapbox/

 

Thanks for letting me vent.....

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my thoughts

  • Flomo with BOA Flags - I have only seen the show once - and do not fully understand their show concept. I have heard they have permission to do so and I doubt that it has any impact on the scoring - the judges are not part of BOA but a paid consultant to BOA - I think it is cheesy, but as stated, I do not fully understand their show concept.  Question - will they change the flags to the UIL logo at those events??? 

at the end of the day - the marching arts are "marching on" and some of it comes with risk - some may come - some may go. I say bring it on and see what it brings.

The concept of FMHS this year is Pop Art.  One of its aims is to use images of popular culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any culture, most often through the use of irony It is also associated with the artists' use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques. In pop art, material is sometimes visually removed from its known context, isolated, or combined with unrelated material.  As you watch the show different pop art themes appear, including Warhol, Haring, and others.  During the show the band "morphs" from a contemporary BOA style band to the classic Military Style marching band and back again. 

 

Part of the use of the BOA flags is a Pop Art take on the established and known logo.  It (and the possibility of other logos) are only used with permission from the respective organization(s).

 

Yes, FloMo relies heavily in the "arts" when defining their shows

 2013 - FloModern - modern art

 2014 - Harmonic Tapestries based off of the environmental artwork of Christo and Jeanne-Claude 

 2015 - Surreal - Surreal art with the signature ending banner of "this is not a marching band" as a take off from "The Treachery of Images" Ceci n'est pas une pipe (this is not a pipe) 

 2016 - Leonardo's Dream - Based on  Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Leicester scientific writings collection; and, da Vinvi’s desire to fly

 2017 - Fractured Moments - Based on the Mosiac art and architecture of Antoni Gaudi

 2018 - Pop! - Pop art

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heh...."#WHATABAND".  That's awesome! 

 

Look...if I could find a large sponsor for our band, I would do it in a heartbeat and not apologize for it at all.  As a previous poster said, as long as school districts continue to focus on football and under-fund fine arts (even though many bands are more successful than their football teams), bands have to do what they can to pay the bills.

 

Rather than get upset about other bands having big sponsors, why don't we get upset about districts spending $60-$70 mil on stadiums.  Wouldn't a $40 mil stadium work just as well? 

 

How long fine arts in a district be funded with $10 mil?????? 

 

Being from one of those districts that spent $60 million on a stadium, I'll comment.  Yes, Allen spent a huge amount for the stadium, but, with the same bond package, it first built a $30+ million performing arts center, including a $100K grand piano.  $60 million stadiums aren't the problem.  Priorities are the problem when districts fund athletics but not the arts.  Good districts do the best they can for all students with the resources they have.  

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Being from one of those districts that spent $60 million on a stadium, I'll comment.  Yes, Allen spent a huge amount for the stadium, but, with the same bond package, it first built a $30+ million performing arts center, including a $100K grand piano.  $60 million stadiums aren't the problem.  Priorities are the problem when districts fund athletics but not the arts.  Good districts do the best they can for all students with the resources they have.  

 

As a wise man once said, "I prefer clarity over agreement"....I appreciate the clarification.  That being said, a $60 mil stadium is the issue....it's the symbol of the issue.  As I stated above, why not build a $50 mil stadium and fund the fine arts (and basically every other school organization) for years with the other $10 mil.  The same issue was shown on Sunday Night Football...they had aerial shots of a couple of $50/$60 mil stadiums. 

 

You're exactly right...the issue is priorities.  I assume Allen Band has fees...building a stadium like that and then looking at the band and saying "yeah, you guys still need to pay those $$$$ fees to be in band", it gives the message to students and parents that football is more important than the fine arts. 

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As a wise man once said, "I prefer clarity over agreement"....I appreciate the clarification.  That being said, a $60 mil stadium is the issue....it's the symbol of the issue.  As I stated above, why not build a $50 mil stadium and fund the fine arts (and basically every other school organization) for years with the other $10 mil.  The same issue was shown on Sunday Night Football...they had aerial shots of a couple of $50/$60 mil stadiums. 

 

You're exactly right...the issue is priorities.  I assume Allen Band has fees...building a stadium like that and then looking at the band and saying "yeah, you guys still need to pay those $$$$ fees to be in band", it gives the message to students and parents that football is more important than the fine arts. 

 

A couple of things:

1) Bond money built the stadium and the fine arts hall.  Under Texas school finance law, bond money can't be used for operating expenses.  Plus, the tax rate for bond servicing and the tax rate for operations are separate rates.  So, there is no legal way to take $10 million from the bond money for the stadium and use it to fund the arts.  And there is no legal way to use funds from the tax rate for bond servicing to increase operating budgets.  I hear what you are saying, but it's not as simple as you make it.

2) Allen's band fees are for purchasing equipment/clothing/trips, etc.  There isn't a blanket "band participation fee", and the district does cover the vast majority of the expenses of running the program.  The band boosters do a lot of fund raising for extras, as do athletic boosters.  From talking to people from other schools, I know Allen band students/parents pay a lot less that others.

 

Trust me, with the level of support that fine arts has in Allen, no one thinks that the district feels football is more important to the district.  With the number of kids in band at all levels, band parents in the district can make or break a school board election.  In fact, the school board currently contains at least three (and maybe more) band parents.

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A couple of things:

1) Bond money built the stadium and the fine arts hall.  Under Texas school finance law, bond money can't be used for operating expenses.  Plus, the tax rate for bond servicing and the tax rate for operations are separate rates.  So, there is no legal way to take $10 million from the bond money for the stadium and use it to fund the arts.  And there is no legal way to use funds from the tax rate for bond servicing to increase operating budgets.  I hear what you are saying, but it's not as simple as you make it.

2) Allen's band fees are for purchasing equipment/clothing/trips, etc.  There isn't a blanket "band participation fee", and the district does cover the vast majority of the expenses of running the program.  The band boosters do a lot of fund raising for extras, as do athletic boosters.  From talking to people from other schools, I know Allen band students/parents pay a lot less that others.

 

Trust me, with the level of support that fine arts has in Allen, no one thinks that the district feels football is more important to the district.  With the number of kids in band at all levels, band parents in the district can make or break a school board election.  In fact, the school board currently contains at least three (and maybe more) band parents.

 

My apologies....I try to be educated about a subject before I speak on it and broke my own rule.  Instead, I spoke from a position of emotion rather than education.

 

I am much more educated on the subject now.

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:::warning somewhat political tangent but related to bands in general:::

Texas school funding and finance is a giant mess right now.  Too many politicians in Austin want to use districts like Allen as a strawman to make their case that property taxes are too high.  They fully ignore that the voters of that district approved the bond measures to finance those capital projects and ONLY the taxpayers of that district are responsible for paying for them. Additionally, recapture (what is commonly and incorrectly called Robin Hood) is dramatically impacting school district budgets.  Austin ISD alone has to pay over $650 million to the state in recapture funds.  Recapture funds do not automatically go to finance other property tax poor districts, they go into the General Fund. Legislators are relying on recapture to help balance the budget.  Those very same members of the TexLege who are calling for property tax reductions at the municipal level, have written in the budget that property taxes must increase 14% over the two-year term of the budget.

 

How does this impact the schools?  They must do more with less money.  The percentage of state funding has dropped to record lows while the number of children in schools continues to increase.  In Lewisville ISD, we will be paying $35 million in recapture to the state.

There are very few elected officials in Austin that are friends of public schools.  This isn't a partisan post.  There are members of both parties that are friendly to public schools and not friendly to public schools.

To keep this from getting too political, I would welcome private messages to discuss this.  Or you can look up Texans for Public Education (Texans4PublicEd @Texans4E)

Regardless, please vote.  Vote for individuals, not parties. 

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My apologies....I try to be educated about a subject before I speak on it and broke my own rule.  Instead, I spoke from a position of emotion rather than education.

 

I am much more educated on the subject now.

 

No problem.  School finance is an esoteric topic.  I think we agree, though, that any school district that extravagantly funds athletics while allowing fine arts to die on the vine are hurting the overall education experience of their students.

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