RenMacnary

I'm just one person, but from the start Vandy's show had my favorite moment of the year: the Mars hit with the guard in red and the flags flowing back through the Band. I saw them for the first time in BOA Austin, and that moment had chills running up my spine for a minute. Just so powerful and TRUE to the music. When I saw them in region, same thing...just a balanced musical show. I'm not sure they "stepped it up" from BOA San Antonio to State, I think their show was more suited to a UIL contest than BOA. They certainly don't have the eye candy of a complex show like Tarpon Springs or CTJ. But REALLY good music. Same thing with Cedar Park....REALLY good music, in tune, just lovely. For me, in the 6 years or so I've been watching Cedar Park, the one consistent thing I've noticed is how in tune their trumpets are. Clean, supported, never pushed, in tune. Bob Cannon is one of their private lesson teachers, 1st Chair in Austin Symphony, and it just always amazes how clean their sound is. But I'm a trumpet player, so of course I listen for that.

My Vandy friends think they're going 6a next year. Obviously still a work in progress.

Oh, and loved Wando. Weird, they performed right after Westwood, and had a portion of Whitacre's October in their show as well. They played it beautifully, but I did like Westwood's arrangement with October at the beginning and end of the entire show a bit better. It's a lovely piece. I'm not objective though. Frankly I was surprised that Westwood placed above them in the finals, they have a great band!

Such a fun finals, really lovely bands. Bell's show was awesome, Immortal. Churchill's was CREEPY, appropriate for Halloween. All the Texas Bands did well. As a Westwood guy, very proud of the music placement, as that's our focus. Tarpon's guard was off the charts...(didn't like the part where the head guy is on top of the cage whipping the girl tigers below. That was the intro to the concept.) Incredible technique all around, and boy are they good!

In 4A L.D.Bell 1sr, Winston-Churchill 2nd, and Cypress Falls 3rd. Clements and Westwood both made finals, so good showing!

All five Texas bands made finals. L.D.Bell swept the captions for 4A. Exciting contest. Tarpon Springs is amazing, violent show.

Putting the Largo of New World on top of the slow section of Rite of Spring was my absolute favorite music arrangement of the year. SO WEIRD! Couldn't believe it worked.

Schedule for Region 26: 6a bands first. Westwood starts at 4:30, followed by Rouse, Cedar Ridge and Round Rock. Stony Point continues at 5:30, followed by McNeil and Lake Travis Break 5A starts at 6:45 with Elgin, followed by East View, Manor, Marble Falls and Georgetown at 7:45. Break Back with Hutto at 8:30, then Cedar Park, Vista Ridge, Vandegrift at 9:15 and Leander at 9:30. 'sgoing to be great!

Definition of a good orchestra as well, or Band or indeed any musical ensemble: "each small part resonates with the other small parts, which echo endlessly one idea to the next the effect the performance has on the audience...." Same thing with a good musical, or play, or rock band, or even church service. Heck go back to gregorian chant...simple line, many voices, yet somehow the whole is more than the parts. I really like your definition!

Good God you have so much going on in that show already, you're adding MORE visuals? WOW!

McNeil...incredibly hard show musically, no drumline marching and ensemble coordination issues. I REALLY love their show, they're just having trouble keeping it together. Love the concept and the marching. Just having ensemble issues between the front line and the marching ensemble. Boy are they working hard....just a great challenging show. It's coming together, the contrast between Vista Ridge Festival and last Thursday was pretty dramatic! They really have some great musicians in that band!

Third part of Vandegrift's show, red on the guard, Mars played to the back, turn and WOW!

Tight between McNeil and Hays

Finals results 1st: Westlake 86.0 2nd: Westwood 83.5 3rd: McNeil 77.7 4th: Jack C. Hays 77.6 5th: Connally 77.1 6th: Georgetown 73.0 7th: McCallum 72.9 8th: Bryan 71.6 9th Lehman 70.0 10th: Hutto 67.3

Full prelim results on twitter @VRMarchingfest

Sorry..... Lehman show was the baseball.one

Caught all the last bands from Georgetown on. Some really interesting shows, very enjoyable!. Looking forward to finals. Westwood did not end up with part four. Westlake was lovely. Really enjoyed lehman baseball show! McNeil show is HARD.

Oh, I'm not assuming Westlake and Westwood will get 1st and 2nd... lot's of good bands there.

Did you catch the ballet dance from the Drum Major in the preshow of Hendrickson? Pretty darn cool if you ask me, double pirouettes, lots of leaps, really something. She does all that, goes to the stand and then starts the show. TOO COOL!

I like that, may the best West win! Don't know if you remember, but in the past the announcer would get Westlake and Westwood mixed up. May be apocryphal, but the story at Westwood is that at one UIL, they announced Westwood, then realized the mistake and corrected to Westlake. Had some disappointed kids that night! Thanks for the kinds words, see you Saturday!

So close...just impossible to predict. We're hoping that we(Westwood) get the 4th movement in, Westwood's show really lacks without the ending. Looking forward to it, Westlake's show is ALWAYS fun! No matter what should be a nice day, and don't discount any of the other bands, it's Music and the judgement is subjective! I didn't get a chance to see Westlake's show in the morning, so looking forward to it! Funny thing....both Westlake and Westwood's show has Mackey's Kingfishers Catch Fire in it. Going to be fun to compare!

She's not the tallest person in the world. Sitting in front of the Drumline, stage right. I LOVE classical guitar, thought it was a nice addition to the ballad.

Just a correction on the Westwood show, the classical guitar on the ballad wasn't a synth. BOA prelims were awesome. That moment when Vandegrift hit during Mars just had chills running up and down my spine. Incredible bands all day long.

It was the first time making state finals in the history of Westwood. At the Band Banquet last year, the seniors recalled coming in 23rd of 25 Bands in a BOA contest their freshman year, and building from there to making state finals. It's been fun to watch and an incredible amount of work. We're proud of them! I really like the show this year, interesting music.

Saw part one and two of Anderson's show last night. Enjoyed it highly! Lot's of nice sharp attacks. And a LOT of Flags! Sorry, didn't take a video.