Area I 6A 2023

[Sideswiperr]

How we’re langham and cy ranch?

[bassfunction]

bridgeland (my band) got first !!! cy-fair second, and i don’t remember any others bc we were freaking out the whole time lol

[contrabassclarinet]

Results:

1. Bridgeland (State Advance)

2. Cy-Fair (State Advance)

3. Tompkins (State Advance)

4. Cypress Woods (State Advance)

5. Seven Lakes (State Advance)

6. Jordan

7. James E. Taylor

8. Cinco Ranch

9. Katy

10. Cypress Ranch

Congratulations to all participants on putting on great shows today!

[Sideswiperr]

Some of the shockers of his event: Bridgeland wins over Cy-Fair to become area I 6A champion, Tompkins placed third ahead of seven lakes and Cy woods, Seven lakes places 5th, a new finalist in cypress ranch appears booting jersey village out of finals.

[ChristopherRoden]

8 hours ago, contrabassclarinet said:

Results:

1. Bridgeland (State Advance)

2. Cy-Fair (State Advance)

3. Tompkins (State Advance)

4. Cypress Woods (State Advance)

5. Seven Lakes (State Advance)

6. Jordan

7. James E. Taylor

8. Cinco Ranch

9. Katy

10. Cypress Ranch

Congratulations to all participants on putting on great shows today!

Congrats to all the state advancers! 
I feel for the Jordan kids, 1st out of state in 2021, 10th last year, now first out again. Hopefully next year will be their year! 

[tubapop]

7 hours ago, Sideswiperr said:

Some of the shockers of his event: Bridgeland wins over Cy-Fair to become area I 6A champion, Tompkins placed third ahead of seven lakes and Cy woods, Seven lakes places 5th, a new finalist in cypress ranch appears booting jersey village out of finals.

I don't know that I'd consider Bridgeland's win a shocker. (Full disclosure, I'm a BHS parent.) I don't think they executed as well as in other recent contests, but in my biased view, it's a dazzling show and was well-executed relative to most of the other bands.

But I'll concede that I was a little surprised at the first place ranking. CyFair's show is incredible and really creative, with some deeper commentary on the human condition than what you typically see on the field. I've never heard the spectating band kids "ooh" and "ahh" as much as they did at CyFair's performance. I expected CyFair and Bridgeland to rank 1 and 2, but I didn't know which would be which.

If I had to venture a guess - and this is my own pet peeve - there seems to be a trend in recent years for some of the elite bands in the state to go light on the music and heavier on the choreography and props. You'll see many top bands' shows feature tradeoffs between brass and woodwinds--one marches while the other plays, and vice versa. There are a LOT of musical rests in modern shows, which disappoints me (I'm a 90s band kid whose school used to compete at the TX state finals level consistently--old timers would recognize the name). Marching band should primarily be about music, and not just quality of music, but quantity, also--each marcher should spend the majority of their time on the field playing music. Maybe that's an outdated view, I don't know.

I'll comment a bit on the other bands, too. Tompkins was very clean and engaging, and I'm a sucker for Stravinsky - I had them missing state by one, but they made it, and deservedly so. Cy Ranch continues to struggle a bit with cleaning up forms and music, but it's still a really solid show, and the fact that they placed last in the finals is a testament to the growing muscle of Area I. I was surprised at James E. Taylor's show - it seemed a step down from last year, and I know they are an excellent band and was fully expecting them to make state, so I was disappointed for those kids and I know they'll bounce back next year strong as ever.

I was really impressed with 7 Lakes' show - they cleaned it up a lot from prior performances, and the "thousand paper cranes" concept was unique and interesting. Musically, I think I liked them the best, but honestly it was probably the score I liked the most.

I found myself liking Jordan's show quite a bit, but then I started second-guessing myself--is it the glittering uniforms that are distracting me? Should I rank them lower? I really think they should tone down the uniforms - they're shiny to the point of being distracting from the performance, which was otherwise very strong.

Cy Woods had me nervous, probably because they were so incredibly clean, and I loved their choreo and props, and also because they historically have done well against us.

My own final ranking for the finals was:

1. Cy Fair

2. Bridgeland

3. Seven Lakes

4.-5. Tie-Jordan, Cy-Woods

6. Tompkins

7.-8. Tie - JET, Katy

9. Cinco Ranch

10. Cy-Ranch

I wasn't too far off, but I'm glad I was wrong about #1!

[ChristopherRoden]

14 minutes ago, tubapop said:

I don't know that I'd consider Bridgeland's win a shocker. (Full disclosure, I'm a BHS parent.) I don't think they executed as well as in other recent contests, but in my biased view, it's a dazzling show and was well-executed relative to most of the other bands.

But I'll concede that I was a little surprised at the first place ranking. CyFair's show is incredible and really creative, with some deeper commentary on the human condition than what you typically see on the field. I've never heard the spectating band kids "ooh" and "ahh" as much as they did at CyFair's performance. I expected CyFair and Bridgeland to rank 1 and 2, but I didn't know which would be which.

If I had to venture a guess - and this is my own pet peeve - there seems to be a trend in recent years for some of the elite bands in the state to go light on the music and heavier on the choreography and props. You'll see many top bands' shows feature tradeoffs between brass and woodwinds--one marches while the other plays, and vice versa. There are a LOT of musical rests in modern shows, which disappoints me (I'm a 90s band kid whose school used to compete at the TX state finals level consistently--old timers would recognize the name). Marching band should primarily be about music, and not just quality of music, but quantity, also--each marcher should spend the majority of their time on the field playing music. Maybe that's an outdated view, I don't know.

I'll comment a bit on the other bands, too. Tompkins was very clean and engaging, and I'm a sucker for Stravinsky - I had them missing state by one, but they made it, and deservedly so. Cy Ranch continues to struggle a bit with cleaning up forms and music, but it's still a really solid show, and the fact that they placed last in the finals is a testament to the growing muscle of Area I. I was surprised at James E. Taylor's show - it seemed a step down from last year, and I know they are an excellent band and was fully expecting them to make state, so I was disappointed for those kids and I know they'll bounce back next year strong as ever.

I was really impressed with 7 Lakes' show - they cleaned it up a lot from prior performances, and the "thousand paper cranes" concept was unique and interesting. Musically, I think I liked them the best, but honestly it was probably the score I liked the most.

I found myself liking Jordan's show quite a bit, but then I started second-guessing myself--is it the glittering uniforms that are distracting me? Should I rank them lower? I really think they should tone down the uniforms - they're shiny to the point of being distracting from the performance, which was otherwise very strong.

Cy Woods had me nervous, probably because they were so incredibly clean, and I loved their choreo and props, and also because they historically have done well against us.

My own final ranking for the finals was:

1. Cy Fair

2. Bridgeland

3. Seven Lakes

4.-5. Tie-Jordan, Cy-Woods

6. Tompkins

7.-8. Tie - JET, Katy

9. Cinco Ranch

10. Cy-Ranch

I wasn't too far off, but I'm glad I was wrong about #1!

I totally agree with your rankings 100%! I think some of the other judges were right there with ya. I think the activity will head back in the direction of marching/dancing while playing as the activity progresses as a whole. Double tonguing and jazz running were only part of the elite groups when I was in band 5 years ago, now, it’s part of just about every program in area finals! And some that didn’t make it. The activity will keep pushing forward and I strongly believe that demand will go up up up. 

[Sideswiperr]

27 minutes ago, tubapop said:

I don't know that I'd consider Bridgeland's win a shocker. (Full disclosure, I'm a BHS parent.) I don't think they executed as well as in other recent contests, but in my biased view, it's a dazzling show and was well-executed relative to most of the other bands.

But I'll concede that I was a little surprised at the first place ranking. CyFair's show is incredible and really creative, with some deeper commentary on the human condition than what you typically see on the field. I've never heard the spectating band kids "ooh" and "ahh" as much as they did at CyFair's performance. I expected CyFair and Bridgeland to rank 1 and 2, but I didn't know which would be which.

If I had to venture a guess - and this is my own pet peeve - there seems to be a trend in recent years for some of the elite bands in the state to go light on the music and heavier on the choreography and props. You'll see many top bands' shows feature tradeoffs between brass and woodwinds--one marches while the other plays, and vice versa. There are a LOT of musical rests in modern shows, which disappoints me (I'm a 90s band kid whose school used to compete at the TX state finals level consistently--old timers would recognize the name). Marching band should primarily be about music, and not just quality of music, but quantity, also--each marcher should spend the majority of their time on the field playing music. Maybe that's an outdated view, I don't know.

I'll comment a bit on the other bands, too. Tompkins was very clean and engaging, and I'm a sucker for Stravinsky - I had them missing state by one, but they made it, and deservedly so. Cy Ranch continues to struggle a bit with cleaning up forms and music, but it's still a really solid show, and the fact that they placed last in the finals is a testament to the growing muscle of Area I. I was surprised at James E. Taylor's show - it seemed a step down from last year, and I know they are an excellent band and was fully expecting them to make state, so I was disappointed for those kids and I know they'll bounce back next year strong as ever.

I was really impressed with 7 Lakes' show - they cleaned it up a lot from prior performances, and the "thousand paper cranes" concept was unique and interesting. Musically, I think I liked them the best, but honestly it was probably the score I liked the most.

I found myself liking Jordan's show quite a bit, but then I started second-guessing myself--is it the glittering uniforms that are distracting me? Should I rank them lower? I really think they should tone down the uniforms - they're shiny to the point of being distracting from the performance, which was otherwise very strong.

Cy Woods had me nervous, probably because they were so incredibly clean, and I loved their choreo and props, and also because they historically have done well against us.

My own final ranking for the finals was:

1. Cy Fair

2. Bridgeland

3. Seven Lakes

4.-5. Tie-Jordan, Cy-Woods

6. Tompkins

7.-8. Tie - JET, Katy

9. Cinco Ranch

10. Cy-Ranch

I wasn't too far off, but I'm glad I was wrong about #1!

Agreed wholeheartedly, the thing about cy-ranch is cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, if they can get really clean next year, I see a very successful future for them, but considering that they didn’t do too hot last year at area, it’s nice to see them back in finals after a few years. Honestly I definitely Expected cy-fair and bridgeland to be top 2, and while I was leaning towards cy-fair to win, I knew bridgeland winning was definitely a possibility. Cy-Woods did scare me a bit aswell, they ended up beating cy-fair in prelims, and I thought they could’ve potentially won area I. My predictions were, 

1. Cy-Fair

2. Bridgeland 

3. Cy-Woods

4. Seven Lakes 

5. Tompkins 

6. Jordan 

7. James E Taylor 

8.Cinco Ranch 

9. Katy 

10. Cy-Ranch

[Tubalord11]

Congratulations to Bridgeland for getting the dub! Them and Cy-Fair have both been having equally good seasons so I could have seen either one taking first. Seeing Tompkins get 3rd was definitely a nice surprise, hopefully they can do well at state. Really sucks with Jordan, but I know it's only a matter of time before they will get in. Congratulations to all the bands here on an amazing season and to those advancing to state. 

[Sideswiperr]

1 hour ago, Tubalord11 said:

Congratulations to Bridgeland for getting the dub! Them and Cy-Fair have both been having equally good seasons so I could have seen either one taking first. Seeing Tompkins get 3rd was definitely a nice surprise, hopefully they can do well at state. Really sucks with Jordan, but I know it's only a matter of time before they will get in. Congratulations to all the bands here on an amazing season and to those advancing to state. 

Really nice area competition this year, I was sitting in the crowd as they were announcing who got what, really nice surprises!

[11BandMan11]

Wasn't able to be there for pre-lims but made it in time for all the finals bands - GREAT performances from every group that made it to finals this year! Hoping one of the State qualifiers this year gets to State finals and represents the Area! 

[TigerJ948]

Congrats to the great bands that made State! 

I'm so proud of our Katy band for continuing to reach new heights as a program. They've made three straight Area finals which has never been done before at Katy. We've gotten better each year, but the bar keeps getting raised by the phenomenal programs in our Area.  We're definitely underdogs in this realm, but our kids embrace it and keep pushing forward.

Bridgeland, Cy-Fair, Cy Woods, Tompkins, and Seven Lakes...we wish y'all the best!

 

 

[Sideswiperr]

https://www.smbc.uiltexas.org/area/results/files/area-23_6A Area I.pdf Here’s the full recap!

shocked at JV’s placement lol

[Bandmomlover]

Congratulations Bridgeland!!! I don’t consider it shocking at all but who is the show designer for Bridgeland?!!!

Last year was incredible and this year even more so but with impeccable execution!

[Sideswiperr]

On 10/23/2023 at 8:04 PM, Bandmomlover said:

Congratulations Bridgeland!!! I don’t consider it shocking at all but who is the show designer for Bridgeland?!!!

Last year was incredible and this year even more so but with impeccable execution!

Agreed! Cfisd has been stepping things up, even with some of the bands that don’t typically make finals. Though never talked about here, Cy-Springs placed 14th out of the 27, and they are usually in the bottom half so congratulations to them.  I see so much potential in paetow, it’s exciting to see what they will be up to next year.

[11BandMan11]

1 hour ago, Sideswiperr said:

Agreed! Cfisd has been stepping things up, even with some of the bands that don’t typically make finals. Though never talked about here, Cy-Springs placed 14th out of the 27, and they are usually in the bottom half so congratulations to them.  I see so much potential in paetow, it’s exciting to see what they will be up to next year.

YES!!! Bridgeland has been crazy good the past two years! I believe I heard somewhere that Jeremy Spicer was working as their program coordinator? Maybe? Someone have more info? 

Cy Fair, Cy Woods, Seven Lakes, and Tompkins will all represent the Area really well at State! 

THANK YOU for showing love to the groups who didn't make finals but have been improving like CRAZY the past years! Cy-Springs, Paetow, Langham Creek, and Waller had solid prelims runs as well. There has been a TON of growth and development across the entire Area the past two years and I can't wait to see what happens next year! 

Were there any surprises from anyone in the Area of groups that have not been doing as well as anticipated?   

Edited October 26, 2023 by 11BandMan11
Typo!

[Sideswiperr]

45 minutes ago, 11BandMan11 said:

YES!!! Bridgeland has been crazy good the past two years! I believe I heard somewhere that Jeremy Spicer was working as their program coordinator? Maybe? Someone have more info? 

Cy Fair, Cy Woods, Seven Lakes, and Tompkins will all represent the Area really well at State! 

THANK YOU for showing love to the groups who didn't make finals but have been improving like CRAZY the past years! Cy-Springs, Paetow, Langham Creek, and Waller had solid prelims runs as well. There has been a TON of growth and development across the entire Area the past two years and I can't wait to see what happens next year! 

Were there any surprises from anyone in the Area of groups that have not been doing as well as anticipated?   

I always love showing love to the groups that never get too much of a chance at making finals, I do think it’s really important that they know they aren’t working hard for no reason. Langham Creek has been improving a lot! Really hoping that they can jump up to where mcadow brought them. 
 

Paetow is a bit of a smaller group than most in this area, but my gosh are they fantastic?? So much potential, and that percussion is killer. 
 

Cy-Springs, huge progress in that program. 
 

To answer your question, I thought Cy-Falls this season hasn’t been doing as well as I thought they would, last year It seems they had a bit of a hiccup compared to the previous year, from 8th at finals in 21’, to 12th in prelims in 22’, I was thinking that it was another hiccup, but unfortunately it seems to have gotten worse, they started off the season placing dead last at BOA Conroe, and 26th at BOA Katy, to a 16th place finish at area prelims. All of those results were either the same or a few spots down from last year, I’m really hoping the program can get back on its feet.

[JamesNorris22]

On 10/25/2023 at 8:50 PM, Sideswiperr said:

I always love showing love to the groups that never get too much of a chance at making finals, I do think it’s really important that they know they aren’t working hard for no reason. Langham Creek has been improving a lot! Really hoping that they can jump up to where mcadow brought them. 
 

Paetow is a bit of a smaller group than most in this area, but my gosh are they fantastic?? So much potential, and that percussion is killer. 
 

Cy-Springs, huge progress in that program. 
 

To answer your question, I thought Cy-Falls this season hasn’t been doing as well as I thought they would, last year It seems they had a bit of a hiccup compared to the previous year, from 8th at finals in 21’, to 12th in prelims in 22’, I was thinking that it was another hiccup, but unfortunately it seems to have gotten worse, they started off the season placing dead last at BOA Conroe, and 26th at BOA Katy, to a 16th place finish at area prelims. All of those results were either the same or a few spots down from last year, I’m really hoping the program can get back on its feet.

I feel like that could not have been said much better. I’m a big cy falls fan and I don’t want to sound mean or like a hater but I didn’t think they would be able to fall off anymore than they already had. I’m interested in seeing what the cause of their issues might be. I feel like a lot of people tend to blame the staff change but that was a good while ago unless the directors still just aren’t doing the most with what they have. Could also be morale issues since they’ve been scoring lower. Over the years I’ve been watching cfisd schools I’ve seen a change in falls rehearsals from the 2015 or 16 era when they were doing good to the current and i think that may be one of their bigger issues. I feel like their director might be working harder on getting their schools name out there then making the program better 

[Sideswiperr]

4 hours ago, JamesNorris22 said:

I feel like that could not have been said much better. I’m a big cy falls fan and I don’t want to sound mean or like a hater but I didn’t think they would be able to fall off anymore than they already had. I’m interested in seeing what the cause of their issues might be. I feel like a lot of people tend to blame the staff change but that was a good while ago unless the directors still just aren’t doing the most with what they have. Could also be morale issues since they’ve been scoring lower. Over the years I’ve been watching cfisd schools I’ve seen a change in falls rehearsals from the 2015 or 16 era when they were doing good to the current and i think that may be one of their bigger issues. I feel like their director might be working harder on getting their schools name out there then making the program better 

I agree with this entire paragraph and especially that last statement, I would assume it’s in the rehearsals but I’ve noticed they attend more BOA’s they have been and haven’t been doing too well, I mean they received last a Conroe, and 2nd to last in class 4A at Katy, I definitely didn’t expect their placement at area.

[Sideswiperr]

Since I’m very impatient(I should get it checked out😂) anyone have any thoughts on potential finalists and state qualifiers for next year? 

[ChristopherRoden]

14 minutes ago, Sideswiperr said:

Since I’m very impatient(I should get it checked out😂) anyone have any thoughts on potential finalists and state qualifiers for next year? 

I’m hoping next year is Jordan’s year! 
I also see Bridgeland and Cy Fair continuing their dominance.

I hope Tompkins has a better vehicle next year because those kids can march and play! 
Cy woods and 7L still are wildcards to me. I get the impression 7L bit off more than they could chew this year. Cy Woods I felt was much improved over last year by the end of the season after a slow(er) start. 

[Sideswiperr]

24 minutes ago, ChristopherRoden said:

I’m hoping next year is Jordan’s year! 
I also see Bridgeland and Cy Fair continuing their dominance.

I hope Tompkins has a better vehicle next year because those kids can march and play! 
Cy woods and 7L still are wildcards to me. I get the impression 7L bit off more than they could chew this year. Cy Woods I felt was much improved over last year by the end of the season after a slow(er) start. 

Agreed!! 
Horribly inaccurate predictions: 

1. Bridgeland 

2. Cy-Fair 

3. Cy-Woods 

4. Tompkins 

5. Jordan 

6. Seven lakes 

7. JET 

8. Cy-Ranch 

9. Cinco Ranch 

10. Katy

8-10 Could be a toss up between the two ranches and Katy lol.

[11BandMan11]

On 11/9/2023 at 12:45 PM, ChristopherRoden said:

I’m hoping next year is Jordan’s year! 
I also see Bridgeland and Cy Fair continuing their dominance.

I hope Tompkins has a better vehicle next year because those kids can march and play! 
Cy woods and 7L still are wildcards to me. I get the impression 7L bit off more than they could chew this year. Cy Woods I felt was much improved over last year by the end of the season after a slow(er) start. 

The Top 5 for the Area I think are going to be the same as this year, with potentially some changing of placement between 2-5. Bridgeland is going to continue throwing down and improving. The only big change I could potentially see in the Top 5 is with Seven Lakes. They just added a director on staff this year who used to be at the Woodlands during that programs dominating years. I'm just guessing here, but I bet they take on more this coming season and Seven Lakes jumps up. 

6 - 15 could literally be ANY of the bands that placed in 6 - 15 this year depending upon their show design and execution. Every group is going to continue to grow throughout the spring and summer; it'll be a complete mystery as to who will end up where until we actually get to next fall and can get some more concrete grasps on each bands performance. 

At this point, we could ask the Zoltar and they'd give us a prediction with the same accuracy as any of our guesses. 🤣

 

[Sideswiperr]

3 hours ago, 11BandMan11 said:

The Top 5 for the Area I think are going to be the same as this year, with potentially some changing of placement between 2-5. Bridgeland is going to continue throwing down and improving. The only big change I could potentially see in the Top 5 is with Seven Lakes. They just added a director on staff this year who used to be at the Woodlands during that programs dominating years. I'm just guessing here, but I bet they take on more this coming season and Seven Lakes jumps up. 

6 - 15 could literally be ANY of the bands that placed in 6 - 15 this year depending upon their show design and execution. Every group is going to continue to grow throughout the spring and summer; it'll be a complete mystery as to who will end up where until we actually get to next fall and can get some more concrete grasps on each bands performance. 

At this point, we could ask the Zoltar and they'd give us a prediction with the same accuracy as any of our guesses. 🤣

 

This is why I love area I, so unpredictable lol.