whitewing09

Im very excited for flower mound! I absolutely love their show, especially their ballad, which definitely seems like a tribute to Kevin Haring with all his art, the ballad choice, and the red guy running around.

I think I almost started crying because that ending sounds so good.

This is their first.

They definitely have a chance. Their only issue is that 14-23 is anyone's game. An interesting aspect of DFW centered around CP. They were in the bottom half of Austin by 3 points the week before, to the top four at DFW with a two point advantage over Bell. I think part of that is because CP seemed especially challenged by this show for that early in the season. However, there is a good chance they will end up in the bottom half of SA. So you can you then take a look and say: Three bands at DFW ahead of them (FloMo, Hebron, Keller) + Five from Austin (CTJ, Leander, Vandy, VR, Bowie) + Two from Conroe (TWHS and Reagan) = 10 bands. That leaves CP + Three other spots. Hendrickson and CR were within a two point range at Austin and Bell was just at the two point difference at DFW. Marcus is under new direction... maybe they don't have the same Drinkwater gloss, but they may still have that shot at finals. Then you have the late season Rock Stars: Round Rock, Waxahachie, Churchill New blood: Timber Creek, Prosper, Oak Ridge, Cy-Fair, Seven Lakes

As someone who’s been around these parts for 10+ years I’d suggest these rules of thumb: Celebrate the achievement of others, but be conservative with hyping your own band. While you should be proud of your work, being a braggart can come off as distasteful. If you must hype your band, you gotta give us some lovin. Some videos to enjoy would be nice to receive. Certain bands are hyped more than other, largely because they go to contest that people of these forums frequent and/or they post lots of videos. It’s hard not to be skeptical of the hype if you haven’t seen the show. It’s especially difficult when said show hasn’t scored the best against its peers. Lastly, your hype should refrain from “better than” comparison. Band competitions are substantial part of the marching season experience. That doesn’t mean that competition is everything. At the end of the day, these students are creating art and their work should be enjoyed as art. Yes, bands win or lose, but that’s really not the main point. If you take a wholistic look, most of the bands who are talked about, have something truly special going on with their show like design or execution. They have those moments that make people feel something.

(wondering if anyone will get the reference) An interesting discussion has taken place in the Area B thread. How much hype is enough hype? Is there such thing as too much hype? What is the decorum for an online community like Txbands?

I'd say they are generalizations that were especially true last year.

The following makes me scratch my head: CTJ is the Texas band for visual demand and achievement Hebron is (by far) the Texas band for musical demand, achievement, and execution Vandy is the second band of music demand, achievement, and execution (like Hebron lacks in visual demand) How does CTJ beat Hebron in a music caption in 2017? How does Vandy score so high on viz that they medal at SA 2017? The discussions get really strange when you start looking at individual band success because they often contradict pretty general paradigms.

I really enjoyed Trinity. I hope I'll get to watch them again tonight.

Thank you! I am obsessed with the ballad and those Dr. Seuss/Gumby-like figures. It's nice to put a name to their creator. I thought that 2017 had a very beautiful visual design, but the theme was overall somewhat nebulous to FloMo's detriment. All the other years, they were able to very effectively coordinate their visual and music design to embody the movements they were portraying, imo. I agree. The whole point of any show is to the tell a story in the limited time that the performer has. FloMo is very good at taking what some would consider high art and encapsulate it into a show that a wide audience can enjoy, much like Marian Catholic is able to perform and sell very abstract or controversial shows. I'd say that in the past, FloMo's GE relied heavily on design (2013-2015) as they've grown they've been able to marry their design and execution/achievement to explode in GE (2016+)

We should also note that they were 1.15 points away from first, less than 1 point from second, and .3 points from third. The margins were razor thin that year.

Can someone explain FloMo’s show to me this year? I’m lovin it! Im fascinated by the, what’s seems to be, Andy Warhol theme. Warhol really embraced the movement to incorporate pop into (high) art. He was also very eccentric and not afraid to use dynamic colors in his work (I live in Pittsburgh and love the Warhol museum). I was wondering if FloMo was attempting to channel the spirit of Warhol and his art with their dynamic, yet quirky repertoire combined with the very ecentric and colorful visual design. Or, maybe there is an alternative meaning. Any insight?? I know we have some folks affiliated with the band.

Speaking of the magic of performance slot: did Bell and TWHS both win the eagle going third?

Officially coming to this. SO PUMPED.

I would to see a Spice Road show (to contrast with Silk Road which everyone loves to associate Scheherazade with). It begin with the grandiose overture from Lawerence of Arabia as a fanfare to start off with a grand sense of adventure. Then Spices, perfumes, and toxins I to emulate an adventure through the bazaar. For the ballad, the Damascus adaption of overture from Lawrence of Arabia, which has a very slow, almost sensual groove. Then ending with an aggressive spices, perfumes, and toxins III.

I cannot get over FloMo’s show this year. Cannot wait to see it at the end of the season.

You’ve hit it on the nail. At a lot of small town schools, band directors cannot force students to choose. That’s like something that would make it up to the school board where the director would lose. Even if the director had the ability and wanted to enforce such a rule, given the small population, he’d lose a lot of talent. Some of our best players were also varsity cheerleaders or varsity athletes. When you have less than 600 students in the whole school, having ‘smaller more dedicated’ cohort actually means losing talent.

This seems a little myopic for the realty of the situation because there is a distinct divide. Bigger poorer schools struggle with finances compared to bigger rich school just like smaller school (that tend to be from more poor rural areas in Texas) struggle compared to bigger schools. If you look at the very top bands in the state, the majority come from some most affluent parts of Texas. To name a few: FloMo, Hebron, Marcus, Vandy, TWHS, Round Rock, Reagan, and CTJ. That is not to say that bands from less affluent districts can’t be top performers (e.g North Shore and Duncanville), but they are more the exception than the rule. Other than that, if you look at the demographics, a lot of the smaller schools are in areas with nontrivial economical limitations in far reaches of Texas. It’s not that the families ‘don’t want to pay’ fees, the reality is that fees are hard to pay. When you have a family of four with a household income of 40k, something like $2000 per child seems rather steep especially considering the expectation that they will be in multiple activities since it’s a small school. Even $500 can be a lot if you come out to 4A area E where schools have a lot household incomes less than to $30k. Adding a caption that would be more designed focus will cater to bands that can afford to pay more in design fees. It's not just about props and costumes. If you can afford a Wes Cartwright show and you are judged on a caption that awards visual design rather than execution, you are paying for points. Small rural schools generally cannot afford designer shows and often do not have the connections to procure a designer-esque show due to their proximity. Marching band or any other activity will never be fair just because money talks, but that IS NOT an excuse to make a state sponsored circuit more unfair.

This hits an interesting point that I’ve seen discussed with multiple shows. Something like mics can be used to increase GE, but micing issues may not be incorporated into score sheets. Or how props can be used to increase GE without their coordination being judged.

Ooo that makes sense. Thanks for clarification!

I understand that one Hebron mic hit the wrong frequency, but was the mic supposed to be off (it didn’t sound like a soloist moment per se) or is it just common to mic individual performers without solos?

I see FloMo is continuing this year’s theme of having a soprano sax solo. I really like their show. It has a lot of potential if they can clean it (which they will).

Is this a joke that I’m missing? No way a gnat semifinalist and budding powerhouse will miss..

I’m gonna come out and say that I am backing THAT Wylie band to make finals. They had a strong showing at San Antonio placing 22nd right before Coppell and TC. A video I saw early this season hinted that they are not backing down!

Has Hendrickson ever actually beat CP in a finals setting?