2023 BOA Grand National Championships (Nov. 9-11)

[GeekBoy54]

It's definitely a bittersweet moment for Bowie. Not a lot of people believed in them after San Antonio, but they did everything they could in the week going into Indy, and it showed!

I feel great as an alumni because on one hand they did way better than they did in 2016 (which was my senior year with them) but on the other hand I'm devastated for them because they were 3 tenths of a point away from being in everyone's conversation again.

But you know what, this is an extremely good sign for Bowie's future! I hope the next time they go to nationals (which will hopefully be sooner rather than later) they'll have an even greater show, get those visuals taken care of, and make history!  

Edit: Bowie was 12th in prelims. Ugh they were so close...next time they go they're definitely going to be in finals. Please come back to Indy soon!

[jetliner]

1 minute ago, GeekBoy54 said:

It's definitely a bittersweet moment for Bowie. Not a lot of people believed in them after San Antonio, but they did everything they could in the week going into Indy, and it showed!

As someone who watched their show at Austin, Katy, and San Antonio: San Antonio was actually the first time I believed that they could make Nationals finals. It bites to see that they were so close.

[Bladezz]

7 minutes ago, Tubalord11 said:

Hebron won prelims you guys 🥳

Because of course they did lol

[BlastFromThePast]

[clarinetistkai05]

I’m so proud of every band, and I will definitely miss performing, but I’ll try to make as many comps as I can (and also my wallet). Thank you guys for making my last marching season so magical, thank you all for the kind words, and I wish everyone here the best. Until 2024! 
 

- ClarinetistKai05

 

(p.s: shout out to the kids who took pictures with me, it was a BLAST meeting everyone!)

[packwick]

ugh, the three other tx bands were RIGHT THERE in semis. that's a little frustrating for me as well bc musically there were maaaaybe a couple of bands i was very surprised were in finals after seeing them, or i guess technically after hearing them lol. those bands were so close!!

[jetliner]

Dripping Springs 8th in music is very good

[zoomer]

Shoutout to our honorary Texas band Avon! 13 Years of waiting, now come down to San Antonio again.

[Nny14]

Hebron tied for the highest music score ever. Ridiculous.

[DankBOA]

10 minutes ago, zoomer said:

Shoutout to our honorary Texas band Avon! 13 Years of waiting, now come down to San Antonio again.

Hey, I said that on my insta story lol

[Idle_Clasher]

Link to a google drive of multicam finals videos for all those who want it.

(DISCLAIMER: These are unedited. They also may still be processing at the time of posting this. However, the full shows are all there, you just might have to skip a few minutes at the beginning.)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Fuz6K88Dv_270JMBOKbnuZubsDU6Iny5?usp=drive_link

[HeBron James]

1 hour ago, DankBOA said:

#HebronOnTop

My legacy has been made. Everyone carry on my # for the rest of time

#hebronontop

[MikeKyu]

I just finished rewatching all of the finals. 

I am not criticizing any students or performers in my below post. I am not criticizing any school, any district, or any participant on the field tonight.

 

Avon was flawless. I can see why they won. 

Carmel: They are solid. This is what they do year after year. A show I'm not really affected by performed flawlessly. They run a medium hard book, a hard marching book, a great guard. It's all good but design-wise, not my flagon of bourbon.  

Hebron: It hurts, but they were rightly placed. If you put Avon's visuals next to Hebron's you can see the work Texas as a whole needs to do. Individually, and ensemble-wise just an incredible sound. They are probably the king of musical virtuosity in the BOA environment at this point. 

TWHS: Visually stunning immaculate guard work as usual but let down by the music's impact on GE. I have felt this all year hoping for an end of season renaissance. 

 

 

[Spirit]

I wanted to thank everyone for your commentary. I have really enjoyed following along. Special shout-out to @Tubalord11. I greatly appreciate your positivity, knowledge, and excitement in everything you have to say. You always make me smile with your enthusiasm. 
 

Congratulations to all the Texas bands - each of you represented well, and we are so proud of you! Way to go Hebron on winning a medal! I know it wasn’t the eagle, but this is a tremendous accomplishment nonetheless, and one you should be very proud of! Everyone gave it their all and left it all on the field, and that’s all you can do. After that it is up to the judges. Be very proud of yourselves today! 👏🏻

[MadisonBandMan1]

If you want me to be frank, although Hebron has by far the hardest book musically this year - and definitely deserved the music caption - by their standards the music execution wasn’t all that great. It felt as if there were continuous minor tears front to back musically. Their visual program wasn’t their strongest, which is a historical problem of theirs. 

I feel as if both from a design and execution standpoint both visually and musically, 2021 was a MUCH stronger show than this year. I wholeheartedly believe they would have brought home the eagle in 2021. Unfortunately both Avon and Carmel deserved placing ahead of them. 

Congrats to Matt Harloff on winning a national championship in his first year as head director at Avon. They shave such a blended, well rounded sound this year. Super consistent. They deserved the win.

Hopefully this means a Championship for Carolina Crown in 2024 😘

[whitewing09]

3 hours ago, Saxplayer6 said:

Can someone explain how Hebron almost had a perfect music score and lost by a point in music ge lol

This is why there are always conspiracy theories. 
 

I agree the sentiment that Hebron was far behind in visual performance and GE, which cost them, but Hebron really pushes the envelope with its music book—it has the wow factor x10–it’s hard to understand how they could get one-pointed in music ge. 

[11BandMan11]

6 hours ago, Saxplayer6 said:

Can someone explain how Hebron almost had a perfect music score and lost by a point in music ge lol

^ This. 

Rewatching the finals performances for the top 3, all the visual scores make sense, but Hebron being dogged in Music GE? Hebron's music book is so ridiculous it is talked about LONG before, during, and after each of their performances, is that not the definition of MUSIC General Effect?

Directly from BOA, "It is the position of Bands of America that music is the more important aspect of the performance, with marching as the presentation and visual enhancement of the program. Similarly, more emphasis has been placed on the effectiveness of the general effect judges than on fine-line perfection of the performance judges." 

If it were within a tenth, I guess it would be a different conversation since a tenth in judging is considered 'judges preference' and everyone has different preferences, but nearly a full point? That much of a point difference in judging terms means that there were clear deficiencies in performance and one performance was obviously better than another. 

It is very interesting how arguably the most challenging high school marching music book in history with the highest (or tied with the highest?) music score in BOA history is in the judges eyes, not generally effective. 
 

[LKendrick]

5 hours ago, MadisonBandMan1 said:

If you want me to be frank, although Hebron has by far the hardest book musically this year - and definitely deserved the music caption - by their standards the music execution wasn’t all that great. It felt as if there were continuous minor tears front to back musically. Their visual program wasn’t their strongest, which is a historical problem of theirs. 

I feel as if both from a design and execution standpoint both visually and musically, 2021 was a MUCH stronger show than this year. I wholeheartedly believe they would have brought home the eagle in 2021. Unfortunately both Avon and Carmel deserved placing ahead of them. 

Congrats to Matt Harloff on winning a national championship in his first year as head director at Avon. They shave such a blended, well rounded sound this year. Super consistent. They deserved the win.

Hopefully this means a Championship for Carolina Crown in 2024 😘

Not sure Pinstriped would have taken down IMO the most seamlessly designed high school show I have ever seen from Broken Arrow in 2021. But woulda been a good matchup.  

[itsstephenyo]

Thoughts from inside the stadium last night:

 

Avon: I was flabbergasted at this show. This show was incredible. The musicality, design, visual package, everything was an absolute treat. I don't think I blinked a single time cuz I didn't wanna miss anything. The sections when the band would travel through boxes absolutely blew my mind. Such a simple idea but holy heck, goes to show what design can provide. 

Carmel: alright I understand they're dynastic and are absolutely one of the best bands in the world... I just don't connect to their shows. I love Bernstein's Jeremiah Symphony and they played the snot outta it, but if you ask me to remember a moment in their show, I just can't. I was bored. 

Hebron: After their performance, I knew they didn't win it. I knew Avon was way way way too clean. Also felt like their semifinals run was just a bit tighter. What's amazing though, is how Hebron's music is just a cut above even the other bands. The raw technicality, musicianship, volume, everything. They're in a class of their own. 

Blue Springs: another show that didn't connect with me. I felt like it was an 8 min long soprano sax solo with random hits from the full band. Not my cup of tea. 

TWHS: Good lord what can you say about their guard that hasn't already been said? They're entrancing. Several times, I had to force myself to look away from the guard just to watch some of the band. I love how they allow the guard to enter the field first, a nice little homage. I wasn't surprised by them dropping either. A super fun show. 

What an absolutely incredible night! This was my first time on Grand Nats and it was such a treat to see the differences in style. Indiana bands definitely have a flair and style that isn't present in TX bands and vice versa. 

[Hard Core Band Fan]

1 hour ago, LKendrick said:

Not sure Pinstriped would have taken down IMO the most seamlessly designed high school show I have ever seen from Broken Arrow in 2021. But woulda been a good matchup.  

I agree. The first time I saw Broken Arrow that year I knew they were going to win. That show was a monster! So was Hebron's show, but BA was just a little bigger monster.

[Tubalord11]

9 hours ago, packwick said:

ugh, the three other tx bands were RIGHT THERE in semis. that's a little frustrating for me as well bc musically there were maaaaybe a couple of bands i was very surprised were in finals after seeing them, or i guess technically after hearing them lol. those bands were so close!!

Yeah I do agree. On my own personal list, I had Bowie and DS in and Fishers/Brownsburg out. Fishes getting in wad the big surprise to me, didn’t feel like a GN’s finals show to me but they did execute it very well, and idk Brownsburgs show i just didn’t understand but again they played/marched it very well, which is was matters in the end if they day. 

[DfwBandDad]

10 hours ago, Idle_Clasher said:

Link to a google drive of multicam finals videos for all those who want it.

(DISCLAIMER: These are unedited. They also may still be processing at the time of posting this. However, the full shows are all there, you just might have to skip a few minutes at the beginning.)

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Fuz6K88Dv_270JMBOKbnuZubsDU6Iny5?usp=drive_link

Awesome, thanks. Anyone have links to the high cam versions?

[BlastFromThePast]

I know, I know, different performances, different set of judges. Scores can't be compared directly between semis and finals. STILL, interesting to see the shifting.

 

[Hard Core Band Fan]

42 minutes ago, BlastFromThePast said:

I know, I know, different performances, different set of judges. Scores can't be compared directly between semis and finals. STILL, interesting to see the shifting.

 

I always wonder how different the prelim scores of the same finals bands played one after another in the same order would be. It's such a different thing to hear the best bands side by side than spaced out throughout the day with, many times, average or below average bands in-between. I think the judges mostly get it correct, but the actual scores can be very different when comparing prelims to semis or finals.

[slowbrass]

This is some truly idle speculation, but this season marks the 8th time that Hebron has worn their gray pinstriped unis. Since the school opened in 1999 they've changed their look about every 8 years or so. Wonder if they’ll keep to that schedule, although the current uniforms have become so closely associated with their identity I wouldn’t be surprised if they didn’t.