Skyisthelimt

I agree, its more than props, its the money for the significant amount of marching techs, etc, that make the difference. I did not want to name names and don't think its fair to do so, but all the bands you speak of have plenty of money. You don't see any of the intercity bands there even though the kids work just as hard. My point is if a band is willing to spend 100K on its program surely it would be willing to send 10K to a intercity band. And btw props do matter to the judges or some of these other bands would have won over the last five years.

I signed on to this forum for one reason only, and that is to express my sadness after seeing last night's contest at Duncanville. I miss bands like Sunset High with their high steppers, and generally feel sad that the band of America contests now boil down to who is willing to spend the money on large sets, and marching techs. Yes the kids do work hard in these bands, and the shows they present do look wonderful. Nevertheless, it is my take that given the right amount of funds, a band like Sunset High could perform and do just as well as any of these bands that won top spots in the contest last night 10-29-11. I'm not sure one can take pride in spending large sums of money? I'd love to see an even playing field, but that's never going to happen. It's ashamed for schools that have little or no financial resources. I don't have any kids at Sunset High, but I'd sure like to see them out high stepping!!