whitewing09

I thought this would be a fun exercise: pick a band and name what makes them special. It can be design choices, section sound, section phrasing/technique, visual book. I’ll start with a throwback. Cedar Park 2016: their edge was the purest chords I’ve ever heard.

Title is self-explanatory. Obsessed with this ballad. Anyone know where it’s sourced from?

Very much this. I think it also goes beyond scored sheets, but also just culture around performing arts. I have a vague recollection that at one point many years ago on this forum, some made contrasts in how Texas bands sound vs other states. Something to the tune of Texas bands focusing on timbre, tone quality, ensemble balance, whereas many non-Texas bands focus on phrasing and technical precision. Nowadays I think top bands are playing at such a level of execution that the differences aren’t as stark, but last Saturday I did find myself saying, “wow I think this Vandegrift show would score better at nats than San Antonio,” before placements were even announced. And I find it telling that only time Avon has placed below 3rd in the past decade was when they came to Texas regional (obvi more factors at play too). I also find it funny that for years there’s been a running joke that BOA judges hear with their eyes because of the perceived higher correlation between visual demand and MGE scores than musical demand and MGE scores. I think that analysis would be a fun data project to take on 😂

Can someone explain to me why cedar park music scores seem deflated? They (18.60) were .35 away from both bridgeland (18.25) and tarpon springs (18.95). Id assume execution wise they play a level closer to tarpon who was another .35 from the next band. is it a musical demand issue? A design issue?

Really wanna see Rouse at nats soon!

Does this mean flower mound and Marcus are due next year?

Very much enjoying watching the livestream for this! Have a lot of notes, but will share only the spiciest takes. Someone please correct me if I’m wrong, but this seems to be the first time since 2014 that the top three weren’t all medalists in prelims. Love the unpredictability. This year was such a good one for show design. A lot of bands putting out shows a wide range of shows. it was honestly so hard to guess placements each band performs at such a high level, each with their own flairs. A lot of musical flexing in these shows! Very exciting. FloMo’s show is a GE bomb and they execute it so well. With all the colors, it evoked memories of Pop! Really really loved pearland’s show. I think it’s my favorite take on themes from Respighi. overall they’ve really glowed up in the past few years. I feel like Rouse is the new Marian Catholic in some ways? Their ensemble size seems relatively small, but their musicality and movement are -chefs kiss- I hope that we see them at Indy soon. It’s so cool to see new bands in finals!

This is why there are always conspiracy theories. I agree the sentiment that Hebron was far behind in visual performance and GE, which cost them, but Hebron really pushes the envelope with its music book—it has the wow factor x10–it’s hard to understand how they could get one-pointed in music ge.

I totally get Hebron not winning because this scenario seems so reminiscent of 2015 when Hebron brought an immaculate musical book and execution with a… not winning visual, but I’m gonna need to see where that 2 pts came from this year.

I felt like the 6A finals feed was much better than the prelims feed

The musical demand of that show is intimidating!

Someone once told me that BOA judges hear with their eyes. I get the joke now.

Which judging format are they using for state?

These new rubrics make for such interesting results! CP basically won on percussion, content, and visual!

If any has finals videos… sharing is caring! Would love to watch a high res version of CPs performance

I, too, practiced my serenity.

Also, I can’t say which band was doing this because I didn’t see their shirts, but there were band kids consistently talking through the shows, which was supremely annoying. Little comment periodically is fine, but some of these students were having full on conversations.

I remember a story about how Bell parents used to hand out lollipops prior to Bell’s performance so that their fans would enjoy the candy during the performance instead of yell. I kinda wish more band parents did this. I’m all for supporting the students, but It got really distracting when parents would yell during their own students’ shows. -something cool happens in guard- -parent yells during woodwind feature-

This might be a myopic take, but I feel like TWHS has started moving and sounding more like a top Indy band than TX band, which includes having a killer visual package and brassy heavy show

The contrast of Hebron’s music vs the TWHS visual prowess is going to be very interesting for BOA. It’s pretty wild that Vandy won because Hebron/Marcus lagged a bit in visual. Hebron still has time to work on vis, but 🚩

I believe that was the first year Vandy made BOA SA FINALS 😍 I still remember that show. The Alexander Nevsky 😍

Trying to choose the tickets I want for finals. why is the 400 section $150 for tickets?! is it worth it or should I get a $50 ticket in the 600s?

This definitely shows that score growth is variable and non-linear. For example: I think CP is known for having rough parts in one week, look immaculate the next week.

-TWHS and Reagan enter chat-

I am very excited to see how Bridgeland performs at San Antonio. The video from Katy was promising! Kinda sad that bands like Cy-Fair and Prosper aren’t going.. this would have potentially been a good year from a premiere in SA Finals.