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2022 BOA San Antonio (Nov. 4 & 5)


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Keller was really good. Musically they're sounding just as good as they always have and I thought they weren't too bad visually. Definitely some dirt here and there but I won't be surprised if they're a finalist tomorrow, they haven't missed finals here in a very long time. Flower Mound has the most creative show I've seen this year, and I have to commend how well they've executed the Superband theme. They are just SO clean both musically and visually. I have to admit the drill can be rather plain at times, which I think will hold them back a bit, but I'm sure they'll be in the top half tomorrow night.

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Flower Mound was absolutely stellar. suuuuch projection of style right away when they come out of the box, fun PCEP 01 reference btw. suuuper clear performance. nobody does that folding full band symmetric drill as well. hahaha. middle a little slow, but they close out STRONG. i'd maybe have them hanging w/ Vandy. then the NEISD bands. then Vista/Cedar Ridge. then line up the other contenders and throw some darts, but aim the first one at Westlake. hahaha. it's just soooo competitive.

edit: i forgot Cedar Park. put them in the Ridge cluster. hahaha.

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2 minutes ago, LostChoirGuy said:

My opinion from day 1 (in tiers and not in any order because I can't decide who was better in a lot of these)

Confident finalists:

Vandegrift, Reagan

Flower Mound, CTJ, Vista Ridge

Round Rock, Cedar Ridge, Cedar Park

Could be in finals:

Rouse, Keller, Westlake, Bowie

Hendrickson, Leander, Keller Central, Timber Creek

 

Yeah my thoughts exactly 

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Good morning everyone!!! Back on the live stream for Bell..... what an amazing performance!!! They play with such great sounds, however, I did notice that at their first big hit, some members were sticking out just a little, and then would breath and leave a little hole in the sound. Also, it seemed a couple of times that their oboe soloist, how was just fantastic, missed a couple high notes, but I think it was his reed or something. Visually, the looked amazing! Definingly finalist potential. 

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25 minutes ago, cjm715 said:

I won’t be surprised if we see bell again tonight or we don’t see bell again tonight. I didn’t see their run but I heard it was solid.

They did well, but something seemed a bit off (maybe it was the early time slot)…. 

really hoping they make finals, but that bubble is going to be very hard to beat.    

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Overall thoughts on day one:

So many programs had their absolute best run of the season! Even more exciting than that, I felt that many programs fielded their best version of themselves to date (or at least in a very long time). Westlake, Lake Travis, Cedar Ridge, Keller Central, Glenn, Round Rock, Sandra Day O'connor, Brandeis, and many more! It's truly heartwarming to see so many programs flourishing just a short 2 years after the covid lockdown. 

Some more specific takeaways from the first day.

Vandegrift, Reagan, and FloMo were in a league of their own in my opinion. I could honestly see the three of them in any order. Vandegirft is so incredibly clean both musically and visually. Getting an ensemble that size to march THAT well is a herculean task. Reagan is the Texas master of Visual GE. The drill and guard integration is simply sublime and the finale is a visual feast. They are MUCH cleaner musically than they were in Katy and I can see(and hear) why they won Area. FloMo's show is so incredibly unique in a meta way. They have also cleaned up quite nicely, especially in regards to tuning and ensemble balance. Fantastic shows by all.

CTJ, Cedar Ridge, Vista Ridge, and Cedar Park make up the next block of bands in terms of score in my opinion. I'm not sure how close any of these four will be to my previously mentioned top 3, but they will all be very close to each other. No order of these four bands would be incorrect in my eyes. I know some would lump CTJ into the same realm as Vandy, Reagan, and FLoMo and if we are talking about performance quality I would agree. The CTJ show just isn't speaking to me on the same level as the other three but that's more subjective opinion. I think Cedar Ridge is still fantastic, but I could see CTJ and Reagan overtaking them now that they have all cleaned since Katy. Vista blew my socks off. It's unfortunate that they lost so many to illness, especially the soloist, but you wouldn't know it from their performance quality. Cedar Park is just pristine. highly emotional show that is SQUEAKY clean. Side note: Anyone else get major bluecoats 2010 vibes from CP this year? Maybe it's something to do with the specific chords, I love it.

I'll keep the last bit brief because this already feels like a novel:

Rouse, Keller, Round Rock, Hendrickson, Leander, Timber Creek, Westlake, and Keller Central all had fantastic showings. Any of them could be in finals with Round Rock being the most likely out of this particular group. As an alumni I am positively floored by the perseverance and grit of the Leander band. Their Austin performance was but a shadow (pun intended) of what they put out on the field last night. Finals or not the staff and students should be incredibly proud of what they have been able to accomplish this season. 

Edit: completely forgot Bowie, I do not envy these judges one bit. Hats off to all involved.

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6 minutes ago, Tubalord11 said:

okay so thats what it was! I knew I heard a couple of wrong notes but when it happened the soloist looked confused because he clearly had the right posture and all to hit the right note. 

Yeah, every performance before he has nailed it beautifully! Pretty upsetting it happened today, but hopefully it won’t ding them too much! 

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Quote

Side note: Anyone else get major bluecoats 2010 vibes from CP this year? Maybe it's something to do with the specific chords, I love it

Yes! I can't believe someone else noticed.

I think it's many things, their arrangement of the Christopher Tin piece is extremely similar to the Bluecoats arrangement 160 BPM by Hans Zimmer. It also really helps that both of these shows spend most of their time in 2 flats land. For me however, the most specific connection is like you said, the chords. The Ebmaj7 and Ebmaj7b5 are classic "Doug Thrower" chords, and they're great in Cedar Park's show.

 

Also just to mention, I've seen a lot of people mention potential finalists today and yesterday, and the number of names thrown out their has definitely been way more than 14. It is sad to know that many of these finalist caliber bands won't make it into the show tonight, I wish this contest had semifinals. 

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28 minutes ago, thecircusbee said:

Also just to mention, I've seen a lot of people mention potential finalists today and yesterday, and the number of names thrown out their has definitely been way more than 14. It is sad to know that many of these finalist caliber bands won't make it into the show tonight, I wish this contest had semifinals. 

It happens every year, and understandably so. The show is so loaded.

People get very excited about the band they JUST saw and swear they will be in Finals. Recency bias is a thing.  There just aren't enough slots to go around. 

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