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2021 BOA Grand Nationals (Nov. 11-13)


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On 11/6/2021 at 8:09 AM, Tubalord11 said:

Hey guys just wondering do y’all know if they will be doing a full retreat for this contest. Ik they didn’t at the regionals and I think the supers but they did at state so just wondering 

They haven't done them at the Super Regionals, so I'm not sure they'll be doing them this time around. I really wish they would, but I understand why they aren't. 

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The San Antonio results make me think Nationals could be a bit all over the place, especially since the competitiveness here will resemble San Antonio to a greater degree than usual. The top 6 I feel pretty strongly about, like how I felt about the top 5 going into San Antonio. ABC + Flower Mound, CTJ, and The Woodlands. Reagan was closer to that top 4 San Antonio group than I expected after watching finals, and I could see them crashing the party here. I would also have Marcus and Vista Ridge in finals, based on their performances at San Antonio. That said, Vista Ridge's score was a little lower than expected in finals. (No, I didn't think they would top Vandegrift like they did at UIL Area, but still.) Dobyns-Bennett, for example, was able to crack 90 last week. Overall, I feel pretty strongly there was some downward pressure on the scores at San Antonio, likely caused by the sheer quantity of high quality groups.

I'm still leaning toward a Broken Arrow win, but I think both The Woodlands and CTJ made pretty big statements this weekend. Avon and Carmel, I wasn't jumping up and down about their shows at Indianapolis, but they tend to shape up by Nationals. I suspect that Flower Mound is also hanging around these bands, but they'll be a little bit of a wild card going into Nationals. It's important to note that even though there's only one week left, San Antonio results are not always the best predictors of National results. Blue Springs placing 6th at San Antonio and totally missing National finals in 2013 comes to mind, as does Flower Mound beating Marcus by over a point at San Antonio in 2017, only to be beaten by Marcus in National finals a week later. One week of cleaning/changes + different judging panels + a different venue. They all make a difference!

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Pending the UIL State results, I think Flower Mound is probably still the best chance for the Eagle to stay in Texas. The design of that show is unbelievably well done and really does create a world of Seuss. That said, CTJ and the Woodlands were very impressive this past weekend, and I can see either crashing the party in the top 3 spots. I'm leaning towards CTJ as the most likely to do so just based off their strong GE scores at San Antonio, though they'll have to clean up those music scores to really have a run at the Eagle. They sounded fantastic and I love them like I always do, but I do admit at times they sounded a little unfocused and blasting. If they can control their sound more and not have any stick outs individually then I don't see a reason why they can't medal or even win. The Woodlands blew me away in finals, I was not expecting them to come out with so much energy. The show is super fun and the performance levels of those students is incredible. I can't wait for next weekend!

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Yeah, I'm amazed how consistent the judging is given all the variability and subjectivity inherent to these contests.  That said, there is a lot of variability.  Judges and bands are all humans.  In most fields, experts, in spite of being experts, tend to vary all over the place - even courtroom judges have been proven to hand out different sentences depending on the day of the week.  So I give the BOA judges a lot of credit given the very difficult task.

The last point of Vista had me thinking (being one of my hometown bands that I follow).  They rated 8th in prelims with 91.94, 0.11 points from making the top 7 (which was 92.05).  I wonder had they positioned in the top 7, would their score have been a little higher.  Same could be said of many.  They were solidly in the finals (with 88.35 being first one out).  I don't have the close eyes and ears most of you have, but I couldn't see why technically it swung that much.  

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The last event of the season begins in two days! My final predictions:

1. Broken Arrow (M/V)

2. Flower Mound (GE)

3. Avon

4. Claudia Taylor Johnson

5. Carmel

6. The Woodlands

7. Marcus

8. Ronald Reagan

9. William Mason

10. Vista Ridge

11. Blue Springs

12. Dobyns-Bennett

 

Honestly I can see any bands in the top half winning the whole thing. The field this year is so incredibly competitive. What a time Thursday-Saturday will be!

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4 minutes ago, Minimaster said:

 

Eh, the ensemble tuning is rough.

The Woodlands, Marcus, CTJ, Reagan sound better.

Coppell that lost to them in St. Louis sounded better.

I'd even take Avon and Carmel(They will be the real tough out for the Texas bands) over them right now.

 

 

Broken Arrow sounded better in St. Louis than they have in any outdoor recording I've seen since. Probably just the cold!

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2 hours ago, Minimaster said:

 

Eh, the ensemble tuning is rough.

The Woodlands, Marcus, CTJ, Reagan sound better.

Coppell that lost to them in St. Louis sounded better.

I'd even take Avon and Carmel(They will be the real tough out for the Texas bands) over them right now.

 

 

Yeaaaaah, that was something I also noticed at the OBA performance, and it's there again in the send-off. That said, there are lots of other things Broken Arrow does very well, and I'll reserve judgment until I see them at Lucas Oil Stadium. Overall, the show is extremely effective, and that will carry them far, I think. Do I love everything about it? No. The opener goes on and on, for example, and the almost nonstop, full-field flagwork becomes distracting to the rest of the visual program. But the show has some really epic, rousing moments, and the kids really sell it.

Speaking of music performance, which band is the consensus pick for that caption in finals? Or consensus picks? I'm guessing ABC for the visual caption, because always. Broken Arrow and FloMo seem to be the consensus for general effect. But what about music?

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1 minute ago, Rubisco said:

Yeaaaaah, that was something I also noticed at the OBA performance, and it's there again in the send-off. That said, there are lots of other things Broken Arrow does very well, and I'll reserve judgment until I see them at Lucas Oil Stadium. Overall, the show is extremely effective, and that will carry them far, I think. Do I love everything about it? No. The opener goes on and on, for example, and the almost nonstop, full-field flagwork becomes distracting to the rest of the visual program. But the show has some really epic, rousing moments, and the kids really sell it.

Speaking of music performance, which band is the consensus pick for that caption in finals? Or consensus picks? I'm guessing ABC for the visual caption, because always. Broken Arrow and FloMo seem to be the consensus for general effect. But what about music?

Yeah, it wasn't the cold either. The lowest it got in Tulsa Tuesday night was 57, and besides the soloists were in tune.

 

 

 

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7 minutes ago, Minimaster said:

Yeah, it wasn't the cold either. The lowest it got in Tulsa Tuesday night was 57, and besides the soloists were in tune.

Yeaaaaah, I just looked that up myself, because that's the 2nd time we've heard the cold remark. It looks like it was probably around 60 degrees when the send-off performance was done. Yeaaaah.... But hey, there's more to music performance than intonation! And Lucas Oil Stadium is Broken Arrow's friend! Hahaha.

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personally found the timing issues more noticeable than the tuning in that performance. they’re still amazing and definitely still the favorite to win, and i love their production this year, but if they play like that in finals and win the music caption i may raise an eyebrow. their visual is impeccable and should contend with the indy bands for that caption. 

 

maybe we’re all just spoiled by having listened to hebron four times in the last week 😍😍

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7 minutes ago, vistaridgefan42069 said:

personally found the timing issues more noticeable than the tuning in that performance. they’re still amazing and definitely still the favorite to win, and i love their production this year, but if they play like that in finals and win the music caption i may raise an eyebrow. their visual is impeccable and should contend with the indy bands for that caption. 

 

maybe we’re all just spoiled by having listened to hebron four times in the last week 😍😍

Why is Carmel not the favorite?

 

They have a better show than BA and no tuning issues as of two weeks ago.

 

 

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