QuadraticBeats

All of the top three. BD: Park and Blow "Are Us" (But GO BATTERY and the essentially perfect Front Ensemble) Cadets: Uh... Cavaliers: Okay, so the finals performance wasn't horrible... but the overall playing quality of the hornline and drumline doesn't do justice to a third place finish. I wouldn't particularly care if they stayed in those spots, so long as they didn't beat other corps by multiple points when there was little to suggest that they deserved such wide margins of victory. But I WILL admit that they were all at least clean. And the judges thought so too.

Well, after seeing that... plus the staff they have lined up this year... plus what they did last year... Though it is quite early to predict it, I would not be surprised if Vanguard took it home for the first time in nearly 10 years this coming season.

Simply this. Beast.

For the most part, I will simply state this about predicting who will go on... wait and see. Oh, another thing - they should really, really consider applying basic rounding skills to UIL state advancement policies.

I don't think anyone who has actually watched the Crossmen more than once or twice is going to surprised. Best of luck to anyone trying out for percussion... ~80 snares and ~40 tenors tried out last year, and this year they basically have a completely returning line from what I can gather. If that number stays up there, it should be another lolzfest. In fact, you may find it easier to make say, Bluecoats, or Carolina Crown, or Santa Clara Vanguard, or maybe even Phantom Regiment with those kind of numbers applying.

We're not going to Lone Star this year... which pisses all of us off, as we have made that a tradition in our short existence so far. But we ARE going to the BOA Percussion Symposium (I believe that's what it is called) at Indianapolis as one of three performing ensembles in March. Well, some of us are, anyways.

The Machine isn't rusty yet. Nonetheless, I doubt a return to an era of absolute domination... they haven't won by more than a point since 2002. In fact, it's been either losing by more than a point or winning by quite a bit less than one in the past five seasons.

Well... my apologies for this apparent slight. Forgive me for not knowing who was in the pit, or the book they played, or their level of performance within the corps, given that I didn't actually march there. In addition, by rookies, I meant rookies to the corps... so instead of complete rookies I suppose they were 7/10s rookies by my definition - I should have clarified my meaning. My assumptions were based off of what seemed to be the case from what little information I had available to me, as well as the EnCorps videos - so my opinion was essentially guesswork. So, indeed, now that I have some definite information, it appears that my assumptions were erroneous, and this is good to know: for I do not like to be wrong, particularly when being wrong unintentionally draws hostility. Nonetheless, this does put the Bones' percussion up a healthy bit more in my opinion, so thank you for your clarification.

And in 4th place... with a score of 94.85... Phantom Regiment.

Ya, the percussion judge's scores at Westlake were ridiculously high. Everyone got funny scores like that. Paul Rennick judged Capital City's percussion caption. His judging seemed pretty random excepting his placements of a few outstanding schools, such as Georgetown.

Congrats to all of the competing bands, the judging was mostly accurate insofar as I could tell, excepting that I felt that Leander and Akins should have been placed higher. Of course, facing the show from the back is not a great place to judge from, but anyhow, my sentiment remains the same. Now, for a critique of my own school, simply for closure () and my own entertainment, as well as an explanation to anyone who is curious at all. As my unknown peer mentioned earlier, we got 11th. This was due to a last place guard that was more than just a few points off of the next highest place. We also got 14th visual - something that wouldn't have happened with our ex-assistant director and recent Cavies ageout (and Cavies visual tech as of this last summer) still in the program. Horrible indeed, but that's what a lack of practice on marching fundamentals does for you - as well as a guard performance like the one we apparently had. Everything else was good enough that if the guard had done better, we would have made finals. Not making finals after working all of the years to do so is rather excruciatingly annoying for me as a senior, but whatever, 'twas fun. Plus... the section that I am involved in got 4th overall. So apparently, the drums are not a problem. As we move toward UIL, the drumline is left to do what little it can in the UIL venue, and hope that the winds and guard pull it together in the visual caption. As far as I'm concerned, we should just cut everything down to the very minimum that can be done well visually, but if the directors wish to commit competitive suicide by adding more stuff that will be dirty (mainly due to the lack of aforementioned fundamentals required to do these things), alas, we shall not see state this year, and probably never will unless they decide to stop taking shortcuts in the program. I can now sympathize somewhat with what the Marcus drumline went through before last year's season... you have the best drumline in the nation and your band can't get to state. I'd have to imagine that to have been very annoying. Three other comments about the competition: Cedar Park: The prelims performance was amazing, as I am sure any one who also viewed that performance or is marching in CP right now will attest to - the scores also reflect how good it was. Let's not mention finals. Bowie: Loud, aggressive show with interesting drill. The only thing I found lacking was hornline balance, but that didn't hold them back in finals competition. Leander: I only saw the finals performance, and it was from the back stands, but nonetheless, from back there, the show seemed amazing. Great balance to the sound, enjoyable music. The program is back on its feet and is heading back to its tradition of success. Good luck to all bands in the upcoming UIL competitions or otherwise.

Personally, I feel that my Devs are going to fall a place or two, perhaps more. Cavs may be a contender for first again, but more likely second unless their hornline makes a miraculous leap in progress - nonetheless, they'll certainly be better than last year. Cadets may step it up, hopefully surprising us with a more traditional show - I believe that they'll probably sit around where they are. There's about five corps that immediately strike my mind as possibly being much more competitive next year: First and foremost, there's Phantom Regiment. One only needs to compare the late July shows with those shows closer to finals to see how much progress the corps made in a year - additionally, compare their '07 show directly to Faust ('06); even then, one can find significant improvement. If Valenzuela keeps this rate of development up without any significant losses of the corps' talent and performance ability in between the seasons, the corps will go very far with a well put together show. Secondly, there's the Bluecoats. Up until the end of the season, the corps led brass and was a contender for high percussion, which demonstrates the quality of the corps - perhaps with more cleaning and visual work, as well as shows that continue to be excellent in design, the Bluecoats should win more than just one competition over the current powerhouses of the activity. The Santa Clara Vanguard made great improvements between last season and the end of this one - in my opinion, the show itself was the best put together on the field. Unsurprisingly, having both Key Poulan and "Sly" Sybilski (the Cavaliers Visual Caption Head until the end '06) on your corps staff will tend to result in the formation of that opinion. Their design team is there, and the members' throughout the corps have developed tremendously since the '06 rebuilding season. However, due to (yet more) recent music caption head changes in Brass and Percussion, it cannot be certain as to whether or not they will continue to develop as strongly. For what was almost a brand new corps, the Crossmen made a strong debut - it is amazing to contrast the corps' sound in the early season to its sound at finals. Though this goes with no offense to any who marched with them last season... to put it quite politely, the trumpet section was not at the same level as the rest of the hornline. Consistently cracking pitches and having sporadic tone quality while marching distracts greatly from how well the rest of the ensemble is performing - hopefully this will change. Secondly, though the pit was essentially composed of complete rookies (like most of the corps), and though it is also not a distraction to the ensemble, it falls short in comparison to the performance level of a good number of its competitors. This should definitely improve given the instructors and assumably high number of returning members next year. And lastly, there's the Madison Scouts. For a group with a rookie situation quite like that of the Crossmen this past season, the Madison Scouts performed quite impressively given their nearly complete rewrite of their original show in the middle of the season. One look at the staff for this upcoming year, combined with their efforts in this past season, as well as what will probably be a high member retention for this upcoming season, seems to indicate that the corps will at the very least be back in Finals. Stop wasting your time reading this now and go do homework.

I'm pretty sure he's a beast.

Santa Clara Vanguard 1989, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2004, 2007 Cavaliers 1992, 1995, 2001, 2004 Phantom Regiment 1989, '91, '93, '95, '96, 2003, '06, '07 Cadets 1983-84, 1995, 1998 Blue Devils 1994, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2006 (Too bad they didn't have the 2005 hornline to work with Godfather... ) Madison Scouts 1988, '95 Bluecoats 2005-07 Those are all that I can think of right now.

I'm going to be selfish here and hope that all three LISD bands make finals. That would be pretty cool, methinks.

Uh... well, we have the record of the Dallas Cowboys, if you switch the W/L amounts...

Two that I can think of just from my local experiences are: (listed in no particular reason except for organization) 1) Vista Ridge (my school - particularly if a well-liked and extremely competent assistant band director eventually becomes head director, or if some future turn of events unbeknownst to me occurs to make us accelerate our progress - but then again, we might just keep metaphorically bashing our heads against a wall, and hopefully break that wall despite how much of a headache it is to do so...), Leander School District 2) Hendrickson High School, Pflugerville School District

Just trying to see where the emphasis of certain approaches and the correlation of judges' love for you begins, as well as getting an idea of why "X" school does DCI DII/Open Class-like shows while "Y" school does marching exercises on the field as their marching program. Comment for my own entertainment: I thought we got shafted by the judges, but then I viewed our recording, and wondered what became of that middle voice I heard in the wind ensemble before they started moving.

I'd say that all of the scorings were accurate excluding that of Phantom Regiment (if you have the ESPN broadcast recorded, check out DeLucia's comment after the Cavs' score is announced). Sorry to the Cavs, but PR was truly outperforming them by the end of the season - too bad the judges didn't care to score them as such. Nonetheless, kudos to them for putting out a beautiful showing at finals on the West Coast - extend that to the Cavaliers also for their more-heroic-than-usual efforts this year and choice to play some more "real" music. Grats to BD, and maybe, if Hopkins realizes that he can put out things more innovative than narration (which was at least tolerable by finals), he can start placing his corps more accurately once more - but I hold the marching members to no fault for what corps they choose.

As far as our line goes - Um... Mmmmggggrrrrllll. Excepting the basses. And ya, I concur about Cedar Park.

From the Vanguard website (SCV Website) The Santa Clara Vanguard is excited to announce the addition of Sly Sybilski and Tommy Keenum to the Vanguard Team. Sly Sybilski takes over responsibilities as the Visual Caption Head. Tommy Keenum of the Band Hall has joined the Design Team as a Consultant for the 2007 season. Sylvester (Sly) Sybilski - Sly has an extensive pageantry history, most recently with The Cavaliers where he taught the activity how to be technically proficient while performing state of the art visual design. Sly's talent and passion for the activity are a perfect match for SCV. Sly was a member of the Vanguard brass staff in 1996 and we are excited about his return to the SCV staff. Sylvester was the Visual Caption Head for the Cavaliers since 1998. A friend of mine in my high school band is going to be marching Contra for SCV this year. He says that all visual aspects are being changed from the past- even marching style is up in the air right now. What I believe this will result in- a 3rd place finish for Cavies for the first time since 1999, as well as a revitalized SCV- the level of drill they do is comparable with the Cavaliers, but it seems like Vanguard has had issues pulling it off (as you might be able to tell by the brass sounds they make while marching). Sybilski will probably change that.

As some of you may know... I complained alot about my band's complacency in this area in the past. Since then, the group has gotten much better, and surprisingly, particularly among the underclassmen- I found it heartening that they actually cared about their performance when they watched our BOA video (remember that big TV with random band shows going across it?) at the San Antonio Super Regional. But nonetheless, those people in the group who apparently don't care should just quit if they hate working on band activities. What is P.E. and Art class every other day in comparison to spending at least 50 hours a week at school during marching season? For these people, they should know that there are other avenues in which to study music. As one of our assistant directors (he's second to the head director) said... he'd rather have a dedicated and ambitious group, no matter how small, over any group that didn't care.

Good luck, have fun, etc.

I should add that I do not go out of my way to annoy my teacher, nor do I have a dislike for him.

So, my concert season activities look fairly boring for this year. Despite being third place overall from my school and fourth place overall at Region band auditions, and in the top band at both my school and Region, I am not in any of the wind ensemble only percussion ensembles. This would appear to be due to my bombed concert band audition on the region band music. I haven't asked as to the definite nature of this, but it's a hard slap in the face to put in all of that work and then get nothing for it. When people who you placed higher than at a regional audition are being given the more prominent parts, you have to question if your organization is the best place to develop your skills. Indeed, I could be in one of the lower bands, so it could be worse- having a few decent parts (marimba and timpani in two decently challenging ensembles employing the players from the top and second band) is better than none. Those are small bandages patching up the wound to my pride, however; seeing as how I'm a junior, finally getting to do cool stuff for only ONE year as a senior just makes the wound fester. The only other ensembles I'm in involve me being something of a helper for the second band feature piece (at least I'm not alone on that one), and parts in cutesy ensembles with everyone else (a trash can piece and something rather similar to drumspeak). When you're not treated objectively, one has to wonder if there are better venues to pursue your interests in. I do not deny that my instructor had reasons for choosing the players he did for the more challenging ensembles. However, it appears that there is a difference in the way that I am treated. Two of the better players in our percussion program didn't even show up to region, and hadn't prepared very much- yet they were given parts in these significant ensembles. Yet, if I did the same thing, he would probably say that I should have been more prepared as the reason why I did not get a part- which would then be explainable. This year, I did as he wanted us to, although definitely not as well as I could have, and came out particularly successful for the amount of work I put into it. Rather than this being proof of competence, however, it seems like it has been totally forgotten. It would seem that I am rated on what I DO, and some of the other players, who have their own fair share of talent, have been rated on what they crammed in on auditions week and what my instructor thinks they SHOULD or COULD HAVE done. I'd almost rather be placed in the lowest band, assigned to not a single ensemble, and instead given all of that period each day to practice on my own. Anyone have any advice on how to deal with this, asides from just practicing my solo and investing the minimum time necessary in the ensembles? Oh, and Merry Christmas.