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2022 BOA Grand Nationals (Nov. 10 - 12)


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is there a Buda Johnson video on YT? i'm doin' some catchin up.

i waaas going to come over here and confidently declare Carmel the winner after watching that BA video, but then i saw an outdoor performance by Carmel w/ some really rough music patches. indoor, please. go back inside 4 me.

too bad BS isn't going. i would have ranked them ahead of BA at St. Louis on the strength of music alone. gorgeous gorgeous goooorgeous music. that flute tone, ugh. flute is one of my many instruments, but i'm crap at it (pro brass player, though, so, ha!). looove the subversion of the music flow w/ ballad at end, I Can't Make You Love Me, what a wonderful arrangement of that song, wonderfully communicated. great sounds. visual program strong. cute field level critters, see that a lot these days. rotating block in circle to open very Bluecoats 2014.

BA's show by comparison sounds generically intense for me, not much memorable about it, and a very familiar look w/ the field blasted w/ flags and odd somewhat confining set pieces. performance great, but hard to follow up last year's highly emotional, mystical, colorful masterpiece, can't blame them.

Avon is.... Avon i guess. i thiiink they'll gather steam when they move indoors. the contrast of the blood-red fabrics and black uniforms makes some cool effects. kinda like watching Crown, maybe not the comparison they want besides brass playing.

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i forgot i also wanted to say i feeel like Blue Springs' guard will be a comfortable open class finalist at WGI this year. dooon't let me down! not allowed!

goin through the finals packets, seein' tons o' new judges this season, or ppl who judge for other orgs and are dipping their toes into BOA. new perspectives incoming, new perspectives incoming.

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I had similar thoughts regarding Carmel's music after seeing [what I'm assuming is] the outdoor video you're talking about. But then on HornRank everyone was gushing about how great it was, so I just chalked it up to my bias for Texas. But yeah, extremely rough-sounding.

Very exposed arrangement and very long phrases, so the demand is super high despite it sounding "simple," I know, but the actual sounds coming from the band were not what I would characterize as being from a band widely considered to be a medal contender. I'm sure by Nats and in an indoor facility they'll be better, but I was frankly a little shocked.

 

Edit: Just saw a video of Carmel from Indy prelims and they sound waaaaaaaay better than what I previously heard (or thought I heard).

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lol. into the lion's den. def some thin, uncharacteristic, and out of tune sounds, some mushy articulations as well. but they uuusually do sound a ton better by Nats.

drill is still amazing. and i'll never ever ever stop loving Barber's First. buuut there are soooo many other pieces to choose. i recommended twhs do Toccata Festiva, which is strange and beautiful and dramatic and very contrasty, perfect for the field except it's not in basic bi**h 4/4 meter and is extremely challenging. hahahaha. twhs went with On The Town. maybe Hebron instead?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6uLGrO3_WVY

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I'm usually not a fan of Carmel shows but I do like this one. I love this piece from Barber and Carmel does a really good job with it. Musically they have their dynamic changes mastered to a tee and do so with very balanced sounds. As for Avon, they've got a harder book so it's not quite as polished as Carmel, but I appreciate the difficulty. It's pretty close between these two, but I think Carmel will win the super regional. By Grand Nationals though it could be a different story.

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videos are on The YouTube from Indy. Carmel was amaaazing. much improved over the outdoor performance. this show is soooo opulent despite not having much of a set. masterclass drill writing. granted they could have done this show like 20 years ago during the classic Cavies run, but whooo cares if it's dated when it's this awesome.

Avon was also muuuuch better. very stripped down w/o any set pieces besides maybe the red lines that get pulled out, some red scarf props. verrry aggressive and in your face. loooove the Astor Piazzolla, sassy tango. def brings the fire and excitement, doesn't quite reach the intricate elegance of Carmel, tho. guard is great, not quite back to pre-covid form, but many very snappy catches. twhs does more body under their tosses, more difficult tosses, esp w/ sabre, but it's not quite as clean and snappy. twhs is also gonna need to clean up their movement, give it more energy, and connect the phrases more fluidly to catch the big AC. all 3 guards are doing much of the same stuff tho.

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36 minutes ago, packwick said:

videos are on The YouTube from Indy. Carmel was amaaazing. much improved over the outdoor performance. this show is soooo opulent despite not having much of a set. masterclass drill writing. granted they could have done this show like 20 years ago during the classic Cavies run, but whooo cares if it's dated when it's this awesome.

Avon was also muuuuch better. very stripped down w/o any set pieces besides maybe the red lines that get pulled out, some red scarf props. verrry aggressive and in your face. loooove the Astor Piazzolla, sassy tango. def brings the fire and excitement, doesn't quite reach the intricate elegance of Carmel, tho. guard is great, not quite back to pre-covid form, but many very snappy catches. twhs does more body under their tosses, more difficult tosses, esp w/ sabre, but it's not quite as clean and snappy. twhs is also gonna need to clean up their movement, give it more energy, and connect the phrases more fluidly to catch the big AC. all 3 guards are doing much of the same stuff tho.

Agree with your overall take. I personally like what Avon is doing more than what Carmel is doing (but Carmel is currently performing slightly better). I get just a whiff of Texas influence in Avon's music choices. I think Avon has a chance at GN to overtake Carmel in GE (and maybe performance), but it will really depend on the judging panel and what they are looking for in a show. A more current design, or a "classic" design?

I really did not like TWHS's show the first several times I saw it, but as it has cleaned up and fleshed out I have completely flipped my take. I think it will surprise at San Antonio (both BOA and UIL).

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Alright, I am coming out of hibernation now that we're getting into Area contests.

1 hour ago, BandFan59 said:

Tarpon Springs certainly has...a lot going on.

Oh gosh, even more than usual? Do you remember that Alice show in 2011? That's probably the one time I really appreciated an over-the-top prop extravaganza. Set piece extravaganza, whatever you want to call them. "Props are things you hold in your hand. Blah blah blah."

1 hour ago, packwick said:

guard is great, not quite back to pre-covid form, but many very snappy catches. twhs does more body under their tosses, more difficult tosses, esp w/ sabre, but it's not quite as clean and snappy. twhs is also gonna need to clean up their movement, give it more energy, and connect the phrases more fluidly to catch the big AC. all 3 guards are doing much of the same stuff tho.

Avon and Carmel are both outstanding. I agree that Avon is the more fiery and exciting one; Carmel is more the intellectual and highly refined one. Of course, this is a bit of an oversimplification.

I'm trying to confirm your guard observations. I haven't seen TWHS since I saw them live at BOA Houston. There was definitely a lot of choreo under the tosses, I remember that much at least.

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1 hour ago, TWHSParent said:

I really did not like TWHS's show the first several times I saw it, but as it has cleaned up and fleshed out I have completely flipped my take. I think it will surprise at San Antonio (both BOA and UIL).

hooope you're right. they've finally got their closer on the field. my main concern is whether they have enough time to polish everything after taking longer to field the full show. fingers crossed.

didn't care for the show 1st time i saw it either. grown on me. but BOA judges unlike DCI don't typically get the liberty to have a show grow on them. more like one and done. and SA is going to be fiiilled w/ amazing sounding bands.

anywho, back to Nats bands...

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Just now, Origin said:

Mason and Blue Springs are much improved from last year (not that they weren’t very good last year). I think I preferred Blue Springs just now. They move like a DCI group, it’s so cool to see. 

I have been watching the super regional as well, and this would be my personal rankings of the big 4 

1st Avon: Wow, just wow. I'm thinking they sweep captions here but I wasn't able to pay to much attention to Blue Springs visually 

2nd/3rd: I could see BS or WM getting second or third. I think both did amazing and i'm excited to see what happends 

4th: Carmel: Idk this show just didn't do it for me. It was clean but I feel like the other 3 were more clean and complex, but I may be wrong. 

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1 minute ago, Origin said:

Brownsburg is tackling a full-size Cartwright production. Going after all the heavy hitters, their music issues are on full display. If they can clean that up, I think they’ll be a solid finalist here in a few weeks. 

YES! They sounded outstanding and it's such a cool show with tons of GE and they look and sound amazing! This could be a huge dark horse at nats this year 

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Avon with the victory and captions sweep (tie with Carmel in music) has put them in a good spot here. They were excellent and have a super demanding show that will be tough to beat in November! And with both Avon and Carmel being a 1.5+ points over Blue Springs, it could mean they are slightly further ahead than Broken Arrow right now who was less than half a point ahead of Blue Springs a week ago.

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