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Hi all! I was frustrated that there wasn't a centralized location where I could view all time results for the 3 biggest competitions a Texas band can compete in: UIL State, BOA San Antonio, BOA Grand Nationals. UIL has the best site, but even then, it's difficult since all the classes are muddled. So, because I have to much time on my hands, I compiled the data myself and created.. TX Bands Results History (Big 3) This has results for all competition finals: UIL State I only wanted to include top class competitions, so this only includes whatever the top class was at the time: 1979: 4A 1980-2012: 5A 2014-Present: 6A UIL State competitions occurred: 1979-1990: Annually 1992-2020: Bi-Annually 2021-Present: Annually BOA San Antonio From 1994-2002, BOA's San Antonio competitions were Regionals. They were held every year with the exception of 1996 & 1997. In 2003, San Antonio became a Super Regional, effectively serving as BOA's Texas state competition. It has occurred annually since with the exception of 2020 (COVID). Is it a bit flawed to include pre-Super Regional San Antonio competitions? Perhaps. There were other inconsistent regionals in the Houston and DFW areas during those years, some schools competed in both, some only in their local competition. The Alamodome was the biggest and most significant venue, and was the first indoor marching competition in Texas. To remain consistent, I thought it made sense to include all BOA San Antonio competitions so that's what I did. 🤷‍♂️ BOA Grand Nationals This includes all results for TX Bands in BOA Grand National Competitions since its inception in 1976. It wasn't until 1985 that a Texas band was a finalist. Other Notes I absorbed McCullough HS into The Woodlands HS history. McCullough was the name of the high school that was replaced by The Woodlands. It had all the same students and faculty. Reminder that because this only includes top class competitions, it is NOT an exhaustive list of school results in UIL state competitions. Schools like Cedar Park and Vandegrift have decorated histories in the second class that aren't accounted for here. For 2020, there were no finals, it was just a one-time performance and placement. I only listed the top 12, which is consistent with the number of finalists in the previous competitions. Please see all 3 tabs, and create your own filter to sort columns by school, years, etc. So many cool learnings and observations to be had and discussed! Some notable takeaways: L.D. Bell's 1999-2012 dominance is unmatched. They have a right to call themselves the best high school band in Texas history. From 2004-2012, they didn't place lower than third in a single competition! But they have had a significant falloff since then. Would love to know what happened to Westfield. They were the best Texas band in the 80s and 90s, but haven't been finalists in a major competition since 2007. Interesting to note that The Woodlands have been finalists the most times of any Texas band, despite only winning twice. Ronald Reagan HS has been finalists in EVERY BOA San Antonio competition since 2000. That's a 24-year streak!! And it's still active!! Although no Texas band has won all 3 competitions in the same year, some have won two of them in the same year: 2000: L.D. Bell (UIL & BOA SA) 2003: Westfield (BOA SA & GN) 2010: Marcus (UIL & BOA SA) 2013: The Woodlands (BOA SA & GN) 2016: Flower Mound 2021: Hebron (UIL & BOA SA) Hope you all enjoy!

I've learned some things I'd never thought of by having conversations with friends who've made it into professional ensembles. 1. The concept where you spend 6 months on a marching show, 6 months on All-State etudes, 4 months on UIL music and 3-6 months learning a solo for Solo & Ensemble contest has almost ZERO resemblance to anything you will ever do as a Clarinetist in a Top 5 orchestra. In the professional world it is very common to learn 2 hours of music in one single rehearsal, and have a concert on that music just a few days later. 2. If you don't love the instrument enough to practice it by yourself all day long day-in and day-out (6-8 hours per day), then you're probably wasting your time, because that's the level of commitment it takes to get into that level of ensemble. This is very similar advice for people trying to get into the NFL, NBA or MLB, as the difficulty for getting into all of the above is very similar. 3. Practicing for three separate 1 hour sessions in a 24-hour period is more efficient than one 4-hour long practice session. Yes, I said 4. 4. Every practice session should have a specific goal in mind that you're willing to break down to almost the atomic level and rebuild it from the ground up. If your practicing method starts and stops at just learning a bunch of new solos or cruising through an etude book, you will never reach the highest level....no matter how many thousands of hours you put into it. 5. All 5 of the top ensembles require sight-reading when you audition. This is because your skill as a sight-reader is more valuable to an orchestra than your skill as a soloist or even your skill as an ensemble player. I'm a Euphonium player, and Brian Bowman; one of the greatest Euphonium players of the 20th century once said "The best way to approach sight-reading is to simply learn every single piece of music that they would ever throw at you....Even though I was required to sightread at every audition I ever took, I knew almost every piece the committee ever threw at me, so I hardly ever actually had to sightread".

Didn't like the jump scare? I think knowing some of the back story about the show makes you even more dusty https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_and_the_Thousand_Paper_Cranes