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Top Texas Bands of the 2010s


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I wanted to start this thread now that the decade has turned to discuss what we think the most influential bands/shows of the decade were. I'll go ahead and start off with the program that I think has cemented itself as maybe not the best marching band in the state, but probably the best overall program: Vandegrift.

 

What Vandegrift achieved this decade is what very few programs ever have even come close to achieving, with class championships AND finals appearances at least once for every BOA Class (A-AAAA), several regional champion titles and caption awards, and finally a Grand National Champion title, and that's just in BOA.

 

In UIL, they were crowned the 2013 4A (current 5A) State championships in just their 4th year in existence as a band program (only 2 years after their first state AND finals appearance in 2011, only their 2nd year). They have since consistently qualified, made finals, and usually medal in both 5A and 6A.

 

Following their Grand National Championship, they received the prestigious Sudler Shield award from the John Phillip Sousa Foundation. 

 

In TMEA Honor Band, they have entered three times. In 2014, they got 3rd in 4A 5A; in 2016, they got 2nd in 5A; and in 2019, they got 1st in 6A. I was privileged enough to have attended their 2019 spring concert and it was clear to me why they won. I do not remember exactly what the awards were, but they were given two separate awards from the same organization at said spring concert.

 

I would love to see this discussion continued!

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I would pick...In no particular order...

 

FlowerMound for most incredible shows overall.

 

CTJ for most creative and fun but with such astonishing talent.

 

Cedar Park for their dominance in the 5A SMC world.

 

Reagan and LD Bell for longevity of BOA amazing ness.

 

Leander and Round Rock for how long they’ve been around and how successful they have been overall.

 

Vandy and Vista Ridge for how good they became in their short existence.

 

Hebron and Marcus for their musicality.

 

Keller is always underrated and yet such a superb band. Cedar Ridge, Bowie and Hendrickson too.

 

Yeah, no, I can’t pick one.

 

I realize I am focusing strictly on marching band and y’all are talking overall greatness so I’ll excuse myself from the conversation now. :lol:

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Disclaimer, I did say "best overall program" very clearly in my post, so I don't know why that's being debated haha. It's just my opinion and you can disagree, in fact I welcome it. Discussion was the purpose of this post. There are several other programs that could also take that spot and I want to hear what others think.

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I had a similar conversation with some friends a few weeks ago. Back in the 90s into the middle of the 2000s, there was an understanding that there were Four Horsemen of Texas Bands: Tom Shine of Duncanville, Scott Mason of Coppell, Phil Geiger of Westfield, and Scott McAdow of Langham Creek. These four directors had a strong hold on marching band--especially for UIL, but also for BOA in the case of Westfield--and pretty much a complete lock on concert band until Bell, Reagan and Marcus started to really shake this up. In particular, Duncanville had an unrivaled consistency in both marching and concert band, Westfield had an unmatched two decades of dominance in marching band, Langham Creek had a reputation for legendary concert performances while also fielding a consistently strong band, and Coppell set numerous and continuous all-state records in multiple classes. Now that all of these directors are retired, or sadly deceased, we tried to put together the next four for now.

 

We came to more or less a consensus on:

 

Mike Howard, Vandegrift

Andy Sealy, Hebron

 

as the two most obvious choices. Even if they weren't your one and two (though there's plenty of reason both should be), there was no way they weren't in your top four. Brent Biskup at Flower Mound seemed to emerge as a third. The fourth spot got interesting as there were clear pros but some slight cons to move into the fourth (or third) slot. We ultimately had five names that kept getting thrown out.

 

George Trevino, Lopez (undeniably strong concert band, marching band very overshadowed by the others)

Dan Morrison, Reagan (no big wins yet outside SA just this year, but clear and consistent strength across categories)

Jarrett Lipman, CTJ (all state numbers only rivaled by FloMo, generally strong BOA performances but no medals yet at GN, weaker in UIL than others)

Joni Perez, The Woodlands (GN win, dominance in region of state, representation, but concert side behind the rest of the groups)

Steve Wessels, Cedar Park (dominance in class, but slight backsliding against the 6As recently)

 

At that point, it was just what did you prize most in a band. If you cared about concert band above all, Trevino would take a spot. Consistency? Reagan. Class representation? Wessels. Big wins? Perez or Lipman. Strong cases for all, as all are amazing directors in their own right. And of course, there's still Selaiden at Leander, Christian at Vista Ridge, McGahey at Keller, and the list goes on and on.

nicely put - thank you

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For the small schools I did stats based on success and continuation of attending State finals along with TMEA. For 2A-4A (1A-3A from 2010-2013):

 

1A/2A

1. Sundown

2. Clarksville

3. Shiner

4. New Deal

5. Forsan

6. Valley Mills

7. Shelbyville

8. Carlisle

9. Kerens

10. Somerville

 

2A/3A

1. Queen City

2. Mineola

3. Whitesboro

4. Cameron Yoe

5. White Oak

6. Clifton

7. Redwater

8. Holliday

9. Van Alstyne

10. Crane

 

3A/4A

1. Argyle

2. North Lamar

3. Princeton

4. Canton

5. Fredericksburg

6. Wills Point

7. Kennedale

8. Atlanta

9. Burnet

10. Springtown

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The main reason I would pull back from calling Vandegrift "band of the decade" is because their real dominating success has only come much more recently.  After the bronze medal they won at BOA Conroe in 2010, Vandegrift competed at 12 more BOA regionals and didn't win another medal until Austin in 2016 (gold).  They competed at San Antonio in '10, '11, '12 & '13 and didn't make finals at any of them (EDIT: actually, wait...they got 12th in prelims in '13, then 7th in finals). Anyone remember the days wondering when LD Bell or Marcus would break the streak and get something lower than bronze at a regional? 

Vandegrift also didn't make a single appearance in the largest size classification for honor band during the entire decade....until they won it this past cycle of course.

Flower Mound has had more kids make All-State in 1 year than Vandegrift has the entire decade.  CTJ also.....CTJ has also made finals at every single BOA regional they competed in this decade, medaled at several of them and won more than a few.


Don't misinterpret this as an anti-Vandegrift post.  Think of it more as trying to see everything in a broader perspective and not letting their thunderous success of the most recent seasons overhype them too much.

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 Anyone remember the days wondering when LD Bell or Marcus would break the streak and get something lower than bronze at a regional? 

 

 

Yes...In fact I think i made an entire topic dedicated to wondering if we'd ever see the end of their reign and dominance...  :D Very happy that a lot more parody parity has been added to the activity since those days.

 

I don't think there is 1 band of the decade, but The Woodlands, CTJ and Marcus have the strongest case and the most complete resumes over the course of the ENTIRE decade. Some recency bias would point to FM and Vandy, and they are likely the best bands of the last half decade, but the aforementioned 3 fit the initial premise of the post.

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I've been thinking about this a whole lot and have come up with a seemingly uncommon opinion. To me, this title should go to the band that did the most to advance music education during the decade. Yes, they should be a successful group, but to me the impact they made is more important. Every competition, by its nature, will have a winner. But being a winner doesn't automatically make you great, memorable, or influential.

 

With that preface- my choice would be Hebron for the rapid pace at which they are advancing musicality and music education. Their concert band is fabulous and their marching band has medaled in both GNats appearances this decade. But to me, they seem to be pushing music educators all across the state and country to expand what is possible on the field.

 

My second choice would probably be CTJ. They are challenging the Texas identity without compromising the Texas flair. They deserve recognition for the methods they have established to teach challenging shows quickly and effectively to the students in just mere weeks.

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Marcus has to be the answer to me. 2 BOA San Antonio Regional Championships, 3 UIL State Championships, 2 top six finishes at Grand Nationals, 8! top seven finishes at SA, 6A Honor Band, their worst finish at San Antonio after losing one of the best Band Directors ever was 11th! Didn't miss a single state finals either. You could argue they've slowed down in the latter half of the decade but they've been in the thick of things regardless. Oh yeah and they have one of the best colorguards in Texas. Blammo.

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So I made a little table of results from 2010 to 2019 for some top bands over the whole decade. I hope it posts OK....

 

Band                      SA Finals              SA Top Half         SA Wins     GN Finals        GN Top Half        GN Wins     UIL Finals      UIL Top Half               UIL Wins

 

 

Marcus                 10                           8                              2                   2                        2                  0                     5                  4                                3

 

The Woodlands   10                           7                              1                   5                        3                   1                     5                  0                                0

 

CTJ                      10                           9                              2                   3                        1                   0                     3                  1                                0

 

Ronald Reagan   10                           7                              1                    2                        0                  0                     4                   3                                0

 

Hebron                 9                             8                              0                   2                        2                  0                     5                    4                                0

 

Flower Mound      8                              4                              3                   2                        2                 0                     3                     2                                1

 

Vandegrift            7                              5                              0                   1                        1                  1       5 (2-4A, 1-5A, 2-6A)    4 (1-4A, 1-5A, 2-6A)   1 (4A)

 

 

Leander               6                              4                              0                   2                        2                  0              3(1-5A, 2-6A)         2 (5A, 6A)                  0

 

 

LD Bell                 7                              3                              1                   2                        1                  0                      3                     2                                0

 

 

Cedar Park          8                              4                              0                   2                         1                 0            5(2-4A, 3-5A)           5(2-4A, 3-5A)             4 (1-4A, 3-5A)

 

 

 

some how I knew that I could count on you to break down the data - Awesome

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  • 3 months later...
On 1/2/2020 at 9:36 AM, LeanderMomma said:

I would pick...In no particular order...

 

FlowerMound for most incredible shows overall.

 

CTJ for most creative and fun but with such astonishing talent.

 

Cedar Park for their dominance in the 5A SMC world.

 

Reagan and LD Bell for longevity of BOA amazing ness.

 

Leander and Round Rock for how long they’ve been around and how successful they have been overall.

 

Vandy and Vista Ridge for how good they became in their short existence.

 

Hebron and Marcus for their musicality.

 

Keller is always underrated and yet such a superb band. Cedar Ridge, Bowie and Hendrickson too.

 

Yeah, no, I can’t pick one.

 

I realize I am focusing strictly on marching band and y’all are talking overall greatness so I’ll excuse myself from the conversation now. :lol:

I definitely agree! I might add that LD Bell's hornline is pretty amazing.

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