jmatthews

I agree with both of you and would add Clear Brook to the mix as well.

Brazoswood and Friendswood have come close to 6A (former 5A) finals on several occasions but seem to fall just short almost every time. I'm hoping we will get to see multiple Houston-area bands in state finals, but it is a very stacked competition.

Now that I've heard many of the bands at BOA, I will try my hand at predictions: 1. Bowie HS 2. Claudia Taylor Johnson HS 3. The Woodlands HS 4. Hebron HS 5. Marcus HS 6. Flower Mound HS 7. Coppell HS 8. Westlake HS 9. Cedar Ridge HS 10. Friendswood HS

The bands just on the outside of finals, Hendrickson, Richland, and Friendswood, were very close to getting into finals. All three should be proud of how well they did. Friendswood's performance bodes well for State, as their show seems more suited for UIL.

I will be going to BOA San Antonio for prelims. Are spectators allowed to leave and reenter? I cannot wait for Saturday!

I agree with you, and I think more discussion is needed on the subject. I think more people should watch videos of other bands. It's easy to assume Marcus, Bell, Hebron, etc are good (and they are), but I agree that people should pay more attention to bands like Coppell.

Having attended the state marching contest for many years, I can say with complete certainty that you can wait and get tickets at the stadium.

Yeah, there were some strange ordinals here and there. But overall, I think the judges did an outstanding job being consistent.

Let's move on from the biased judges idea. One reason why The Woodlands could pass up Friendswood is that TWHS has more potential for growth in the next 8-9 days. If multiple strong bands do this, Friendswood could find themselves out of the finals. I love Friendswood's shows nearly every year though. So don't chalk this up to bias towards The Woodlands.

Ok. Honestly, I just gave that reason as an additional example to explain my point. If Rubisco cares to expound on this point, he may be able to answer your questions. When I wrote about the judging bias, I can honestly say that I did not intend for my words to mean that "older judges = huge bias."

I apologize if I came off as critical of the judges. That wasn't my intent. They have an incredibly difficult job. In addition, marching band is judged subjectively. All of this leads to divergent results between different contests. This divergence is not the fault of the judges; it is the nature of marching band. Friendswood was very clean at Area, and they deserved to win. I certainly don't want to diminish the results of any band. My point is this: Area results simply don't correlate to state results, as knoxisawesome348 showed. Things change, things stay the same between Area and state.

Absolutely. One reason why I think The Woodlands will make finals but not Friendswood has to do with the judging at Area. As Rubisco has mentioned, the judges at Area F were all older, which may have resulted in some bias against The Woodlands. In addition, doing well at area does not necessarily correlate with doing well at state, for reasons I cannot explain. Area F in general is definitely better than I expected, so it would not surprise me to see Friendswood, The Woodlands, and Spring in the finals on Tuesday.

I think Friendswood does have an outside chance of making finals. As a prediction, I am going to say that Friendswood won't make it this year, but the directors and students at Friendswood should be applauded for how they have handled the transition to 6A. After being a 4A school for many, many years, Friendswood not only advanced to state, but won Area F outright. That is a monumental accomplishment. The last few finals spots (around 8th-10th) are going to be nearly impossible to predict. It's going to be a battle to get into finals.

Prelims (low quality): Finals (high quality): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fxh2Z2t6Fac The opener and closer sound and look like they are pretty much completed. The closer speeds up every time I watch the show. At 6:50, the flutes drag a lot, which causes timing issues on the next brass entrance. However, timing was better during prelims in that same spot.

Saw videos of Friendswood's prelims and finals performances. Music was clearer in finals, but they fell apart briefly after a flute soli dragged behind the drum majors. But don't get me wrong: Friendswood had two very, very solid performances on Saturday, especially visually. Edited.

Not yet - they should be posted by the end of the day today or early tomorrow.

What was it about Friendswood that the judges preferred over The Woodlands?

Honestly, I don't like how a lot of good bands are stacked in that last block. I don't think it's going to help an already difficult judging situation. Just my two cents.

Since DCI counts, this is one of my favorites recently.

Thank you both for the explanation! NASA Bandman, I wouldn't count out Clear Lake yet. I forgot to mention in my predictions earlier in the thread that I like Clear Lake also.

Anyone have videos of the finalists? Looking for SFA and Friendswood in particular, but I would love to see the rest also!

What is the rule for how many can go? I'm seeing 43 bands in the performance draw.

Having watched Friendswood for many years now, I would argue that they have mastered the slow movement or ballad. 2009 "Convergence" - "Adagio for Strings" and singing 2012 "All the World's a Stage" - music from Last of the Mohicans and trumpet solo Both of these movements were breathtaking. You honestly have to watch them to understand. Convergence - skip to 5:40: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COPKbE6_Y6Q All the World's a Stage - skip to 6:10:

Edit.

Thanks for the kind words! We always loved listening to the Ball HS band; it was an honor for us to listen to your performance. Every band is different, and that's what makes marching band fun - everyone has their own unique take on music, drill, etc. In addition, any marching band that works hard, practices, and achieves their goal of putting a great show on the field is always worthy of applause. Ball HS has always succeeded in doing this and should never be made fun of.