2021 BOA Grand Nationals (Nov. 11-13)

[Rubisco]

On 9/26/2021 at 10:21 AM, cjm715 said:

Hi, I’m an Ld bell alum and I’ll say that top gun was actually supposed to be our 2020 show before covid shut everything down and all. I can’t WAIT to see what they do with it, knowing mason it’ll be real good

I love how supportive you are. I'd be angry (!) if I were a teenager and my designer gave the Top Gun show to his other group. ? (I'm sure that's not really how it played out.)

OK, so now that we've seen a few of these top groups, we can maybe start discussing a little bit where we think things are heading. Right now, I'm not at all concerned about CTJ or TWHS. Finals for sure, but I'm not ready to say whether either of those two will contend for the top. Maybe I'd be more at ease saying that if it weren't so competitive and I had seen more groups. The other two Texas Nats bands that performed this past weekend, Vista Ridge and Round Rock, I'm a wee bit concerned about. Vista Ridge cracking 80 in September normally wouldn't have me concerned at all, but we seem to be getting, ahem, quite a few of those scores this season. I do think the judges are being a little generous, especially when you consider Carmel last week, but part of me would probably be more generous, too, after a pandemic.

Castle in particular. I had my eyes on that one earlier, and now with that 83+ score.... hmmmm. I didn't even have this group as part of the 16 potential finalists! Looks like I might have just forgotten to send out their invitation this season! Combine that group with Wando, who was the top 12 group I was most unsure about, and Dobyns-Bennett -- gosh what about Dobyns-Bennett?! This contest is so crazy. There's still over a month before the show, but I'm starting to think there's a possibility that we "only" get 5 Texas groups in finals this year. Getting into National Finals is always a gold star accomplishment; this year it's like a triple gold star accomplishment.

[principalagent]

I think we still get 6. I think four are very obvious at this point, and Marcus and Vista Ridge can still play and march considerably better fundamentally than the groups around and below them. Even where their designs might not *yet* gel like the other two or three groups going (haven’t seen FloMo yet), I have to believe that performance will lift all boats here.

[cjm715]

2 hours ago, Rubisco said:

I love how supportive you are. I'd be angry (!) if I were a teenager and my designer gave the Top Gun show to his other group. ? (I'm sure that's not really how it played out.)

OK, so now that we've seen a few of these top groups, we can maybe start discussing a little bit where we think things are heading. Right now, I'm not at all concerned about CTJ or TWHS. Finals for sure, but I'm not ready to say whether either of those two will contend for the top. Maybe I'd be more at ease saying that if it weren't so competitive and I had seen more groups. The other two Texas Nats bands that performed this past weekend, Vista Ridge and Round Rock, I'm a wee bit concerned about. Vista Ridge cracking 80 in September normally wouldn't have me concerned at all, but we seem to be getting, ahem, quite a few of those scores this season. I do think the judges are being a little generous, especially when you consider Carmel last week, but part of me would probably be more generous, too, after a pandemic.

Castle in particular. I had my eyes on that one earlier, and now with that 83+ score.... hmmmm. I didn't even have this group as part of the 16 potential finalists! Looks like I might have just forgotten to send out their invitation this season! Combine that group with Wando, who was the top 12 group I was most unsure about, and Dobyns-Bennett -- gosh what about Dobyns-Bennett?! This contest is so crazy. There's still over a month before the show, but I'm starting to think there's a possibility that we "only" get 5 Texas groups in finals this year. Getting into National Finals is always a gold star accomplishment; this year it's like a triple gold star accomplishment.

Well, I have a lot of friends that ARE angry about it. I admit I was pretty jealous when I found out but hey what can I do It is what It Is you know? Mason is a respectable ensemble so I have high hopes they’ll execute it well. Love the music Cartwright picked for it. Vista ridge’s score was primarily because of how messy it is. It’s a very very difficult show they’re trying to field and is gonna require tons of attention down to every last detail to get it in better shape than what we saw this past weekend. They usually don’t peak until the later season so if and when they get this program cleaned up my god it’s going to be incredible. Round rock didn’t make finals at austin in 2019 and then cranked out 9th at nats at the end of the season so if anything round rock making it here is a good sign to me. But we’ll just have to see!!!

[LHSax]

I think one of the key differences between the "locks" and the "work to do" groups from this past weekend (aside from scores and placement) is the concepts of the shows. CTJ and TWHS have themes that are relatively easy to dive into and are pretty self-explanatory, especially at this early stage of the year, While VR and RR have some pretty abstract thematic ideas that will likely take all year to flesh out and see what is working vs what is not. I don't think their shows are quite connecting yet and may not make sense with 2 movements (not to mention RR not having guard uniforms yet). 

Of course CTJ and TWHS are also on a whole other tier of performance at the moment as well, but VR and RR, as we've discussed here are historically late bloomers. We'll see if they still have the magic. 

[Samuel Culper]

1 hour ago, cjm715 said:

Well, I have a lot of friends that ARE angry about it. I admit I was pretty jealous when I found out but hey what can I do It is what It Is you know? Mason is a respectable ensemble so I have high hopes they’ll execute it well. Love the music Cartwright picked for it. Vista ridge’s score was primarily because of how messy it is. It’s a very very difficult show they’re trying to field and is gonna require tons of attention down to every last detail to get it in better shape than what we saw this past weekend. They usually don’t peak until the later season so if and when they get this program cleaned up my god it’s going to be incredible. Round rock didn’t make finals at austin in 2019 and then cranked out 9th at nats at the end of the season so if anything round rock making it here is a good sign to me. But we’ll just have to see!!!

VR did not have a good run in Finals.  They knew that coming off the field.

[BandFan59]

I think Vista Ridge will be just fine. I don't really understand the E.T. elements of the show, but their musical performance was still strong. Probably not a Grand Nats winning show, but I think they'll be comfortably in finals.

The Woodlands and CTJ are a bit of a different story for me. I'm not the biggest fan of the Woodlands show this year, but they're executing at a very high level already and a near 4 point victory in September is a good sign for a potential championship season. I absolutely love CTJ's show and think they could win Grand Nats, but this is without seeing some of the other top dogs like Broken Arrow, Carmel, Avon, Flower Mound, etc. The pure difficulty of the show might be troubling for them to clean, but I love the design.

[cjm715]

3 hours ago, BandFan59 said:

I think Vista Ridge will be just fine. I don't really understand the E.T. elements of the show, but their musical performance was still strong. Probably not a Grand Nats winning show, but I think they'll be comfortably in finals.

The Woodlands and CTJ are a bit of a different story for me. I'm not the biggest fan of the Woodlands show this year, but they're executing at a very high level already and a near 4 point victory in September is a good sign for a potential championship season. I absolutely love CTJ's show and think they could win Grand Nats, but this is without seeing some of the other top dogs like Broken Arrow, Carmel, Avon, Flower Mound, etc. The pure difficulty of the show might be troubling for them to clean, but I love the design.

I must say i’m not the biggest fan of the katy perry in vista’s opener

[Origin]

I get what Vista Ridge is going for: A futuristic show (hence the guard costumes, made up words show title, etc.) with audience appeal, but the Katy Perry feels like a design choice I would’ve seen in like 2015. I think the show has a high ceiling and will really transform like their show did in 2019.

[Rubisco]

Just caught that Carmel video.

I think it's called Into the Void or The Void, something like that. They have nearly 30 narrow black double-decker boxes that they move around the field. The props look sort of like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey. The opening is reminiscent of both Plymouth Canton's 2001 production (and I guess their 2002 one as well), where the band members come out from behind the moving black props, and Carmel's own 2016 production, with the slow build to the upfront arc. This time the guard is in front of the band with some beautiful cascading blue flag work.

Some big potential moments in this show, but I'm not digging the performance at this point in time. I'm really missing the signature buttery smooth Carmel blended sound. (Saying that makes me want some sort of caramel latte.) The brass ensemble sound is actually rather unbalanced throughout a lot of the opener, and the tone quality of the stick-outs isn't great. It all sounds rather... chirpy? Such a challenging show though. I really like the technical passages in the woodwinds; very fun and impressive. The arrangement of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini is very... interesting! Doesn't sound super Saucedo-y yet, but that may just be from the performance. The music may have to grow on me a bit.

I worship at the altar of Michael Gaines, so I'm sure the drill is fine, but I'm not sure what having so many big imposing black props on the field adds to the show. Yeah, going back into the void, something like that. If there isn't already a plan to do so, I would maybe alter the props as the show progresses to kind of break up the monotonous look, but I understand that might not fit with the theme so great.

Where do I think this one will end up? Still not sure. Some major cleaning will absolutely elevate it. I do think that they've looked and sounded better at this point in the past (at least in more recent years), but again, pandemic. Can't be too hard on them.

[Rubisco]

And just to circle back to some previous conversations, I'm not worried about Marcus at all. They always present a very polished final production. Often a very polished early production, too!

[cjm715]

21 minutes ago, Rubisco said:

And just to circle back to some previous conversations, I'm not worried about Marcus at all. They always present a very polished final production. Often a very polished early production, too!

I haven’t seen them in a few weeks but when I did they were pretty clean already but definitely had work to do. As for Carmel their show is called “The expanse.” When they won their first regional this year they scored significantly lower than what they usually do so that’s a bit worrying, i’m sure they’ll be fine however. I didn’t know they were playing Rachmaninoff so that will be something I enjoy seeing

[Rubisco]

Ah, right, The Expanse. I knew it was something space-ish.

[WILKINSON]

Had seen this a few days ago. Here it is, before it gets taken down. 
 

 

[Rubisco]

Getting a very classic Reagan feel from their music this year! I just love Aaron Guidry. He takes such risks with the source material and really makes the music his own, what with all that twinkly sounding 80s stuff. (Of course, when you do something like that, you run the risk of a judge absolutely hating what you did to their favorite piece.) I think 2005's You Never Know is my favorite music arrangement ever.

Lots to like in the mostly crappy field-level vid I just saw. It's a very engaging show and has an emotional swell for sure. I do think parts of it are a little bit busy, musically, although I very much appreciate the difficult music book. Also, the quality of the performance seems to have taken a little bit of a hit compared to 2019. Very big sound, but also a bit too hard-edged with stick-outs. A little rickety. Really try to bring that sound into focus. Guard seems a tad weaker as well. Are we getting a big full field moment again in the ballad? Seems like it might be. Exciting! I'm so impressed by the challenges that so many of these groups are taking on this year.

I'll need to see this one from higher up!

[Rubisco]

Ok wait, no there is a high cam version. Hold on!

[Rubisco]

Holy wind noise! Gosh, that was awful. I'm happy I watched the field-level video first, so that I could put the music better to the visual in my mind. Ha. Those poor flag girls!

I feel pretty much the same after watching the high cam. This is a great, classic Reagan production, but not quite at the level of performance I would have expected. But again, it's early. Give it time!

[LeanderMomma]

8 minutes ago, Rubisco said:

Holy wind noise! Gosh, that was awful.

?? 

[Rubisco]

Wando. Sweeet dreaaaams are made of thiis...

What a creepy show! The headless woman (?) with the umbrella just walking over to the cabinet of horrors and letting out a skeleton. Hahaha. I was kind of living for it. It's all very theatrical, very Tarpon Springs-esque. Woodwinds sound wonderful (beautiful flute tone in that solo!); brass sounded okay at first, but as the show progressed I feel like the show got away from them. They'll need to work on that to break into finals this year.

[WILKINSON]

 

[cjm715]

3 hours ago, Rubisco said:

Ok wait, no there is a high cam version. Hold on!

can you send the high cam?

[WILKINSON]

2 hours ago, cjm715 said:

can you send the high cam?

 

[cjm715]

53 minutes ago, WILKINSON said:

 

ahhh it’s been taken down hahaha unfortunate 

[BandFan59]

I managed to watch the high cam of Reagan before it was taken down. Unfortunately the wind noise ruined all the performances as it made it basically impossible to hear any of the bands without a huge buzzing noise blocking everything from coming through, so I'll wait until we get a clearer recording (hopefully that will be this weekend, weather gods be willing). From a first impression though they looked pretty good, and I was definitely getting Secret World vibes, which if they can pull off a similar production to that then they'll be just fine.

[Rubisco]

That opening Flower Mound hit. ?

Big smile on my face for that. They sounded and looked like the next national champion. Such power, but without overblowing! Then the Seussian quirkiness came in (along with some dirt), and I was less sure. Why am I already getting this Edward Scissorhands ballad so early? Ah, okay, they're subverting my expectations here by putting a little ballad in the middle of their opener. Quirky stuff like that. Boing boing, the spring goes, and then onto the next movement. I think the biggest issue for me right now is that the visual program doesn't read Seuss. I'm guessing they probably have other bells and whistles to add, so maybe the look will come later. Musically, I don't really know what a Seussian show should sound like. The music book is definitely taking some chances. I'm not sure I'm in love with this show yet, but I could see it becoming something really great.

Marcus just sounds excellent. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Is it supposed to be a Tetris theme? I feel like those white props on the field look like Tetris blocks. Both of these Flower Mound groups have significantly better than average guards, which is nice to see. They survived the pandemic! Visually, and just generally from a design standpoint, this is sort of a polite clap kind of show. Like, it's good, but maybe lacking that spark of life and originality. They seem smaller as well, which may again be a consequence of our times. I think it will be fine come late season; I just want to be moved or thrilled more. Like, a deeper emotional connection.

[cjm715]

10 minutes ago, Rubisco said:

That opening Flower Mound hit. ?

Big smile on my face for that. They sounded and looked like the next national champion. Such power, but without overblowing! Then the Seussian quirkiness came in (along with some dirt), and I was less sure. Why am I already getting this Edward Scissorhands ballad so early? Ah, okay, they're subverting my expectations here by putting a little ballad in the middle of their opener. Quirky stuff like that. Boing boing, the spring goes, and then onto the next movement. I think the biggest issue for me right now is that the visual program doesn't read Seuss. I'm guessing they probably have other bells and whistles to add, so maybe the look will come later. Musically, I don't really know what a Seussian show should sound like. The music book is definitely taking some chances. I'm not sure I'm in love with this show yet, but I could see it becoming something really great.

Marcus just sounds excellent. Excellent, excellent, excellent. Is it supposed to be a Tetris theme? I feel like those white props on the field look like Tetris blocks. Both of these Flower Mound groups have significantly better than average guards, which is nice to see. They survived the pandemic! Visually, and just generally from a design standpoint, this is sort of a polite clap kind of show. Like, it's good, but maybe lacking that spark of life and originality. They seem smaller as well, which may again be a consequence of our times. I think it will be fine come late season; I just want to be moved or thrilled more. Like, a deeper emotional connection.

Interesting that you thought of marcus as tetris lol, would be a really cool theme tho. It’s supposed to be about different pieces of a larger picture coming together I believe