knoxisawesome348

Wow, SEVEN Texas bands. It's a nice surprise to see L.D. Bell on that list. Looks like 5 Texas bands are making the trip to Atlanta as well, which should be interesting.

Hebron officially has Grand Nats on their band calendar.

I think captions this year are going to be interesting. Broken Arrow certainly has the capability to take all 3, but I'm willing to bet a Texas band will steal music, with Hebron being the most likely contender (but The Woodlands, Round Rock, and Cedar Ridge might have something to say about that). The Woodlands will also have a fantastic shot at taking visual. They've been exceptionally clean the last 3-4 years and I could really see them challenging for it. As far as Keller and KC go, I'd say they're pretty equivalent in terms of quality. They've usually been within a few spots of each other the last few years at most BOA competitions. If they don't make finals, I bet they'll finish high in semis. Definitely too early to tell for either of them how they'll do, but finals isn't out of the question. Right now my guesses are: Locks: Broken Arrow The Woodlands Hebron Avon Carmel William Mason High Bubble: Round Rock Cedar Ridge Marian Catholic Harrison (I think they're going) Homestead Bubble (* = my pick): Union Lake Central Blue Springs Keller Center Grove Keller Central PCEP Lawrence Township * Edit: Forgot Homestead

So far this is the list for grand nats I've gathered: For sure/Likely: Keller Keller Central The Woodlands Cedar Ridge Hebron Round Rock NOT on the band's calendar (so pretty much for sure not going): Vista Ridge Cedar Park Vandegrift Unlikely: CTJ Bowie Leander (state year) Marcus Flower Mound No Idea: LD Bell Reagan

Did more snooping. Looks like Fossil Ridge is planning a trip to Atlanta as well. Keller ISD dropping the $$$ this year.

It's Keller, Keller Central, and Hebron for grand nats. That info isn't on Hebron's website actually, but I've heard a million times over from different sources that they're going. Keller and KC do have that info on their calendars though. And Richland is the band apparently considering the Indianapolis super regional.

The official lists are released mid-April. And I've counted 3 DFW bands plus a 4th that may be attending the Indianapolis super-regional. All of this info is on their respective band websites so I don't see it being too harmful spilling the beans, but I'll hold off for now... Looks like at least 6 Texas bands are going to make the trip this year.

Yeah, I've also heard rumors that CTJ and Bowie are (super unfortunately) bailing on nationals again next year. CTJ was my blind pick for the 2015 eagle, so I'm pretty disappointed. I'm wondering why they aren't going now especially considering state and BOA SA are both held right in their backyards each year - just a simple day trip. Can't imagine expenses getting in the way too much. So to make a list of bands almost for sure going, it will be: - The Woodlands - Cedar Ridge - Round Rock - Hebron (hopefully) Maybe? (one can hope): - Ronald Reagan - Leander - Cedar Park - Vandegrift - LD Bell - Westlake - Hendrickson - Spring I'm calling Cedar Ridge to be the dark horse for a very high placement this year. Mark Calima knows what he's doing and their last two shows have been very musically interesting. I could actually see them turning into a mid/late-2000's LD Bell with the right show design. It's a bummer they didn't win the Socal regional this past season. OR maybe The Woodlands will bring back a second title, which would be pretty cool too. I thought their descending from chaos show was insanely underrated.

Looking at recaps, Wakeland came in 15th in semi's. Only about 1.5 points out of finals! That's the first visual award a Texas band has taken home from GN since Stephen F. Austin tied in semi's for visual in 2004. Great job Wakeland! And of course, great job Flower Mound. I'm willing to bet they would have scored closer to William Mason had they performed in the second half of finals. Regardless, 6th place on a first showing? Amazing. Glad they showed everyone San Antonio was a fluke.

And here are performance times: (All times Eastern) 8:00 PM - Flower Mound (TX) 8:15 PM - Wando (SC) 8:30 PM - Kennesaw Mountain (GA) 8:45 PM - Homestead (IN) 9:00 PM - Tarpon Springs (FL) 9:15 PM - Avon (IN) 9:30 PM - Carmel (IN) 9:45 PM - Union (OK) 10:00 PM - Marian Catholic (IL) 10:15 PM - Broken Arrow (OK) 10:30 PM - Lawrence Township (IN) 10:45 PM - William Mason (OH) Flower Mound is yet again cursed with a super early performance time. (They went 3rd at San Antonio and 1st in UIL State finals). Hopefully it doesn't make too big of a difference tonight!

Results went pretty close to expected except for class 3A. Congrats to Flower Mound and Wakeland! Can't wait to see FloMo's finals run!

I'm skeptical of this comment.

I just want to point out that this is the first time since 2004 (when Cedar Park took the silver medal) that a band outside of the Dallas area has medaled at UIL state, and the 2nd since 2000. HUGE congrats to Claudia Taylor Johnson! Also when was the last time a band made it into finals on their first trip to state (in 5A/6A)? I know Marcus didn't.

I agree. This year was probably the most competitive BOA San Antonio for the top half of finals, but overall I would say last year was a bit more competitive top to bottom with only a 7 point spread (and 1 point separating places 6-11). But as far as having a "GN winning show" I wouldn't say any of them quite cut it. I think Leander, CTJ, and maybe The Woodlands would be capable of medaling, but that's about it. Bowie, Hebron, and Marcus would all do well too but probably be in the 4-6 range. Of course though, I bet any of these groups could snag the music caption if they attended. Show design wise, I don't think there's any show I've seen from any group (whether it's inside or outside of Texas) that matches The Woodlands from last year. CTJ would probably come the closest I guess for Texas bands, but who knows.

I think a big congrats is definitely due to Reagan. They fell on some hard times during the school split in the 07-09 years and their 5th place finish is a testament to how incredibly well their program has bounced back. They might not be quite on the same level as they were 03-05 in BOA competitions, but this ties with their highest finish at UIL state finals (they were also 5th in 2006). Glad to see their program at the top again.

I'm 99% sure The Woodlands and James Bowie will be going. CTJ went in 2011, so it'll have been 4 years since their last trip - hopefully they go too. I've heard rumors that both Cedar Ridge and Round Rock are going back. I've also heard Hebron's been flirting with the idea for the last two seasons. Doubt all of these bands will go at once, but there will definitely be more representation than this year.

With the exception of Flower Mound, I definitely agreed with the visual GE judge way more than I did the Music GE judges. Much more consistent with what I expected.

Man, I am too good. On a serious note, it really looks like the judges came in and tried to be as unbiased as possible and didn't judge based on rep. Cedar Park in 3rd for both music GE judges? I would never have expected that, so congrats to them. It seems though that the MGE judges disagreed on everything else. I guess they kind of balanced each other out though? One low and one high score for each of the top bands pretty much. It definitely seemed like GE scores increased as the night went on too. If you just glaze down the GE column on the right hand side, it almost uniformly increases. Performance order definitely played a pretty big role. And like everyone else, I'm shocked at Flower Mound's placement. For a band to win GE in prelims and then drop to 12th in GE in finals is a bit... funny. But I guess their music performance could have hurt them. I think performing right after Leander didn't help, and had they gone towards the end of the night I bet they would've scored higher. I don't think they will have any trouble making GN finals though. Their show is great and if it sticks out enough in a 64 band prelims to win GE, it'll stick out in GN semi-finals as well. So basically, all of the weird judging evened out and created (pretty much) expected, reasonable placements.

After seeing Flower Mound win GE, I'm a bit surprised they didn't place in class. But that just shows how close the scoring is I guess. I'm expecting an entirely different outcome in finals like last year.

I'm thinking you could say the same for Round Rock and Hendrickson as well.

UIL judging tends to be pretty wacky and it's never guaranteed how any band will do. It's so wacky sometimes, that it's better to rely on certain bands' histories and trends than on previous contest results. For example, at area B in 2012, the 5 state qualifying bands finished in this order: 1. Marcus 2. Hebron 3. Plano East 4. LD Bell (peaked very late in the season) 5. Richland While at state the finishing order was (I think Richland was 13, but I forget): 1. Marcus 2. Hebron 3. LD Bell --- 19. Plano East Plano East could have dropped for a variety of reasons, such as lack of experience at state, peaking early, maybe an unintentional judging bias, etc. It just seems though that it's the veteran bands that tend to make state finals consistently (The Woodlands, Marcus, Hebron, Bowie, etc.). This is just one example, Friendswood has a great chance at making state finals, but you never really know in a class as competitive as 6A. I do guarantee however, that the judges will be all over the place in the scores they hand out for most bands. It just happens unfortunately.

Last year it seemed at least somewhat clear going into San Antonio that Hebron and The Woodlands were the top 2, and even then the top 14 switched COMPLETELY in order between prelims in finals. This year I think the water is a bit muddier. I wouldn't be surprised, for example, if CTJ came in 1st in prelims and Leander in 5th, while in finals Leander comes in 1st and CTJ in 5th. I'm betting the score gap at the top will be razor thin (think 2001 GN finals thin - 1 point separating the top 5 bands). On a side note, I'm going to also predict that Leander places first in visual GE.

The band attending this competition is Bowie HS from Arlington, not Austin. Austin Bowie is the one that regularly makes state finals, BOA finals, etc.

Just curious, do they still have Wednesdays off from rehearsals? And I'll take a stab at the rankings: 1. Hebron 2. Marcus 3. Flower Mound 4. LD Bell --------------------- 5. Plano East* 6. Richland* 7. Mansfield 8. Martin 9. Haltom 10. McKinney Boyd * = good chance at taking a state spot

I'm a Plano alum so I can only speak for them and not necessarily Plano West (though the reasons are probably pretty similar). Plano used to go to area and made it to area finals in 2008. For personal reasons (and I believe this sentiment was well received with the students) the directors decided to quit going to competitions aside from the Mesquite Marching Festival (used for judges commentary I believe) and UIL. As a result, rehearsals were also shortened from 8 hours a week to just 5, and only 2 Saturdays were lost the entire marching season. The reasoning behind the decision was that the directors thought that marching band should be more about having fun than worrying about competitions (I think a lot of students were overly disappointed to miss state in 2008). I'm competitive as heck, so I was always jealous watching Hebron and Marcus whenever we played them in football games, but I do think the majority of students preferred the 5 hours a week to the 8 (shocker, right?). It did create a much more relaxed environment, and since the Plano schools tend to be some of the most academically rigorous in the Dallas area (granted, the Lewisville ISD schools are as well) many students had a lot of other priorities elsewhere and the directors wanted to help with the balance between school and band. The end result was learning a "fun" show that only required 5 hours of rehearsal time a week, and after UIL was over, we would learn a second "fun" show for the rest of the football season. Just a different way of doing things. That being said, the Plano schools each average about 7-10 students advancing to all-state each year in a very competitive region and area. I would LOVE to see what each would be capable of if they were to go the BOA direction and compete again, but as long as the students and directors are happy with the way things are done now, I don't foresee a change coming for a long long time.