aaron067

I won't share the recap, but I'll say that if you remove the content and design caption, Waxahachie jumps up to 2nd place behind Hebron. - The average of music captions creates the rankings of: Hebron, Keller, Waxahachie, Wylie, Carroll, Rockwall - Visual would have been Hebron, tie between Wylie and Waxahachie, and a tie between Keller, Carroll and Rockwall. That should give a slightly better sense of how bands might stack up at Area.

Yes, finals performance order at DMI is reverse order of prelims. The correct placements were communicated to some directors through the contest host. It's unfortunate for the students in the Wylie, Waxahachie, Carroll, and Keller bands, but I'm sure they'll ALL go out and perform their very best tonight regardless of any issues with announcements in prelims.

The announcement of 2nd and 3rd was not correct. Just fyi. The performance order is. So Hebron, Wylie, Waxahachie.

At least one of those bands you mentioned will be leaving after their prelims performance to go back to school and returning in time for the announcement of finalists.

From a BOA perspective, effect is often generated by execution. That's why the same bands are at the top of BOA and UIL. Plus, Visual Ensemble is looking at how the show is constructed and whether or not the vision of the designer/drill writer is showing through the performance. Again, that depends entirely on how well the band is performing the drill. So, if he's saying something isn't effective, then a band should look at why that might be the case. Maybe forms aren't locking into place, or marchers aren't hitting their dots, or maybe they just don't look the same. Visual clarity creates tons of points in all 3 visual captions. Same is true for music.

I imagine the most important aspect of the USBands contest at AT&T stadium is that it's at AT&T stadium and not that it's USBands. It's also an opportunity for top groups to explore a potential end of season contest in a dome that is local instead of always having to spend so much money and time traveling to San Antonio for 4-5 days for two back-to-back, massively competitive contests.

There were 14 bands originally, all of which would be performing in finals (top 7/bottom 7). Prior to the contest, one band communicated that they would not be performing in finals (top 7/bottom 6). At prelims awards, another group communicated that they would not be attending, and at that point there was no time to change anything (top 7/bottom 5).

It's 100% possible for schools within the same area to have different environmental factors affect the heat index and the wet bulb, in particular. For instance, Flower Mound is much closer to a lake than Hebron is, which means humidity will be higher and consequently the HI and WBGT will also be higher. If the temperature and general humidity put the readings close to the limit, Hebron might be able to go outside while FM is stuck rehearsing indoors at the same time time of the day. Also consider whether or not the band has easy access to shade for breaks at their practice field. That's another aspect of the new UIL recommendations thet can affect a band's ability to be outside for any length of time. It's important to be safe when dealing with high temperatures, but bands have been making it work for years without issues. To now put such strict limits on what we do is reactionary at best, unfortunately. The fact that bands are rehearsing as early as 5:30 in the morning or consistently finishing rehearsal at 9:30 at night to work around the restrictions makes it all that much worse on the students.

This is more common at smaller schools. In most competitive 5A/6A programs, the guard tech/instructor/director is a separate position from any band director role, but I'm sure there are larger programs out there that don't have the funds for a separate guard instructor.

It wouldn't let me edit, and I meant to add that all recordings in this room had some truly exceptional moments, and students and staff of each program should be *very* proud of the recording they put out.

Zone 2 order: was Coppell by majority rule Dawson Waxahachie The Woodlands Lake Travis

Vandegrift's music was one of the hardest books on the field this year. Period. Their dance team exhibits the same level of skill in dance that the best guards exhibit in equipment work. It's different, not lesser than. Props have exactly no place on any rubric in any competitive circuit. If a group chooses to use props and they're integrated into the design in an interactive manner, then that can contribute to design/ge points. Otherwise, they don't add or detract. Especially at UIL.

Unfortunately, this is only part of the score. The days of just having a Music caprion at UIL State are over (though Area still uses that). It actually functions much more like the BOA caption of the same name, which takes into account the construction of the arrangements (from an effect standpoint) and how well the band executes that. "You could really have more range of expression" is a comment heard on these tapes that just means "I want you to play louder here".

Fixed! Dang autocorrect.

The Music and Visual Ensemble scores absolutely include design and construction considerations. EVERYTHING in BOA is tied into design except for the individual scores, and even those are affected by the range of vocabulary and style the students have been asked to perform. Music GE is also unavoidably tied to visual GE (from the judges perspective), which is unfortunate because that involves a lot of things that are mostly outside the students' control. It's all about how impactful the "moments" are, and that impact lives on a spectrum that varies by judge and is affected by design choices and how well the students execute. Even a perfectly performed show that the judges think is poorly designed will not score super well, while on the flip side you can have a brilliant show design that's been dummy-proofed that scores well with a moderately executed performance because the design is communicated at a high level. There's definitely some difference of opinion on how this should be approached in the judging world. 2019 Grand Nationals is a perfect example. Vandegrift won because they had a well designed show that was executed at a very high level, but Avon had a more complex and difficult approach that ultimately fell just short of the gold despite BOA changing the sheets that year to give more credit for difficulty vs achievement. I personally prefer watching the Vandegrift show because I just think they march and play better (and artistry is its own form of effect), but there's certainly disagreement over the matter. Ultimately, we see many Texas bands starting to figure out how to be successful in both, which is why 13 of 14 6A state finalists were also finalists at BOA SA a few days before. That last one attended both but has definitely figured the UIL game out much more effectively than the BOA game. Actually, that refined style you're associating with DFW comes from the University of Houston, originally pioneered by Eddie Green. It has spread throughout the state and takes different forms depending on who the director is and especially who their primary clinician or mentor is. It has been reduced by many people over the years to a very bland but technically very precise approach. Mr. Green had bands that were anything but bland, though.

Using solely the results from Prosper is a mistake because there are other factors to consider. - Bands like Keller and Waxahachie surge in the late season and usually have a more refined sound than groups that do well at BOA due to general effect. - This area is being judged by directors who primarily come from the Houston school of thought. - Music/Music/Music/Marching/Marching vs the independent captions of BOA will also produce different results. Ultimately, I think quality of achievement and cleanliness are going to outshine show design, but I suspect most (if not all) of the bands advancing will be those people are already talking about. Don't be surprised if final rankings look different than prior contests, though.

Waxahachie HS has the exact same % of economically disadvantaged students as Bell and a significantly lower academic standing. Still, the point remains that boiling it down to money isn't fair to the effort that everyone puts in.

Keep in mind that the more complex shows just aren't as complete early in the season (typical Marcus approach), or they are and just aren't clean yet (typical CTJ approach). So, the early contests sometimes give a false sense of where bands could end up by November.

Only by being in one of the listening sessions. The winning selections are often included on the Honor Band concert album produced by TMEA, though.

I'm not sure what CTJ and Vista Ridge are bringing to the table, but Hebron's recording was absolutely spectacular. There were many moments that left me with the sense that I was listening to a professional recording. Flower Mound was also incredible. It all depends on the judging panel for State, of course, so I wouldn't be surprised to see either performing at TMEA next February.

I was present for both but did not stay until the end of Area C, but I know someone who did.

I believe advancing recordings from Areas C and D are: Hebron, Flower Mound, and Wylie Westwood and Pearce

It's not the few...it's a large chunk of the state, and it's incredibly stressful on districts to finance an overnight trip for such a large group of people on a yearly basis. If you were to argue in favor of having the families of the band students offset that cost...well, that's even more stressful for most band students and their parents in the state. Your comment simply means you fall into one of two categories: you either live within easy driving distance of San Antonio, or your band program/district/community have ample means to ensure that yearly travel isn't a big deal. Unfortunately, that's not a majority of our state, especially given recent financial struggles in our country. Also, and this may be a contentious statement, I feel that's it's critical we remember this is the Texas STATE marching contest, not the "Big Marching Contest at the end of the season for those with financial means". It should be as inclusive as we can possibly make it to ensure the integrity of the amazing music education going on in this great state. *For what it's worth, my home band program is one that has been a long-time participant and medalist at the state marching contest and has also participated in BOA, both locally and at San Antonio.

The Region 20 info isn't correct, for what it's worth. The order was Waxahachie, Richardson, Pearce, Lake Highlands, with Berkner not advancing. The website shows Berkner advancing instead of Lake Highlands. Unless something has transpired since the results were shared at the completion of the judging...