whitewing09

Top two: Hebron and FloMo Next two: Keller and CP Prosper’s major threat for 5th place are Bell or Union, both of which have shown some weakness. It’s definitely not a lock, but it’s not unprecedented.

It just means that, individually we’re all imperfect estimators of a random variable (in this case, placements at a marching band contest). When you aggregate our beliefs, you can get a biased, but useful estimation of how a contest will be adjudicated. I say biased because the majority of us either had vista ridge high or just in the finals in final, but we had our expectations of their placement based on past results, so they were ranked low. The opposite happened with round rock where we expected them to be in the top half because of their history of success at Austin, but they fell to the bottom half. Sometimes our predictions are actually pretty good, but a lot of times we can over- or underestimate simply because of the data we have. a part of my life is also consumed with analytics

It’s such a delicate balance. If a band wants to do an abstract theme or go for a very complex design, they have to put in extra effort to ensure that they can communicate the message effectively. I think one of the reasons why leander struggled last year was because their message was somewhat obfuscated by the really...esoteric design of their show.

It sounds like there needs to be a change in policy to support the change in culture. Maybe band’s primary focus was to support the football team (like at the very least 30 years ago), but band has evolved into so much more than football parents complaining when bands aren’t playing enough, they’re playing too much, etc. With this evolution, policies need to evolve and it’s great that parents are in support of their students. The biggest barriers to change are complacency and fear. Stay hungry, stay brave.

Everything just seems up in the air with DFW bands. I’m cautious to think that haltom could medal based on scores this week. Even if HEB isn’t a traditional BOA contest, they were behind their peers by a decent margin. Keller is infamous for a slow burn—they start off slower, but blossom into a force to reckon with. The fact that they’re doing well this early in the season implies that they will do very well at BOA DFW. Marcus might be enduring change, but they’re still a threat, and prosper apparently can destroy with 4min of their show. CP on a normal year is a cut above Haltom, frankly. Even if we consider this year as an exception, CP’s finals performance last night demonstrated that they’ve chosen a difficult show and that it is within their reach. A week can do wonders for a band. I really need to see some vids because all this haltom hype just doesn’t seem real?

I think BOA Austin made it very clear it’s a State year. Cedar Ridge had this weird pattern of returning to two spots on the field during sectional features and impact. While this is good for their amazing musical book, it is very restrictive for their visual package. Vandegrift’s musical book is amazing, which is the reason why I was more shocked at CTJ taking music than Vandy taking GE. However, their visual book is very textbook UIL. It’s something to clean, but not necessarily convey a story. Round Rock’s show reminded me of 2016 where they had all the aesthetics in place, but the show is more geared towards showcasing strengths of the band than telling an intricate story. Hendrickson and Bowie were nice surprises. They were also very aesthetically pleasing and their musical books allows then to really showcase their talents in a fun way, but they don’t make it so obviously that they’re catering their show to UIL. I’d say the three UIL 6a shows that didn’t seem to concerned about UIL are Leander, vista, and CTJ. They are all performing very well, but their shows take a lot more risks. I think those risk are going to pay off in both BOA and UIL! Can’t leave CP out. I didn’t get to see the prelims performance that apparently was very weak for them. They impressed me a lot in finals. Their show sounds hard. I always hear little nuances in their show and say, “wow that’s very difficult and pulled off with finesse, nice.” Last night their show sounded blatantly difficult. I was impressed. Churchill: I don’t really know what to say. Nothing really stood out to me like the other bands. I guess they good at being dependable?

Wow a back to back to back comparison of the bands that we can’t stop hyping

I am dumbfounded and utterly surprised by Lake Travis. They’ve grown some.

I've heard good things about Stevens. They also got 8th in area finals in 2016, whereas Del Rio was in last. It's not outlandish to have them ahead of Del Rio.. We gotta remember if you don't have the baseline execution down, that GE doesn't really do favors.

They'll probably land around the same level of execution as 2014.

I'm very excited to see where Seven Lakes lands! I'm also very curious about SFA!

The little band that could... blow your brains out. I'm sure a lot of folks at Nats 2016 were also wondering who that little band with Mr. jack-o-lanturn was.

Anyone have a clue how complete Vandy and Leander's shows will be by Saturday?

I’m flooded with emotions.

If anything, Carmel beat a band that has a history of being a Grand National semifinalist by almost five points, when CTJ beat a band who has recently begun showing potential of executing at the caliber of a Grand National semifinalist by a little over three points, whereas last year CTJ beat a gnat semifinalist-type by a 5 point margin the first competition of the year. These can be perceived as hints for how the season will play out, but it will be easier/better to understand more next week when CTJ goes up against it's peer bands.

It’s especially hard to make a comparative assessment because Seven Lakes is up and coming and Alexander really beat expectations. Considering their placement last year, it was a pleasant surprise to see them medal this year. It’s so awesome that BOA McAllen (as well as Midland) is a thing (I know that they only just recently reinstated it). I was looking at a map earlier because I grew up between Laredo and San Antonio and I remembered thinking that Laredo was a far outpost in the desert plains on the edge of Texas (have always had a vivid imagination). I believe the closest BOA regional is actually SA (only by a handful of miles), which is always so crowded because of its informal status of Grand Nationals of the South. Laredo doesn’t have the option of rolling out of bed a couple of hours before a contest to perform. Whether it’s a trip to San Antonio or McAllen, it’s a nontrivial distance. While a lot of bands do travel those distance for contests regularly (Austin to Dallas, Austin to Conroe, Dallas to Conroe, SA to Conroe), they do so out of option and not necessity. The smaller, fringe(?) regionals offer an accessible competition for our bands in the outer reaches of Texas. I’m hopeful that their inclusion will help to close the gap we see in the different areas because it seems like it’s starting to happen!

I was very impressed watching Alexander on the BOA McAllen feed! Their show is edgy and from the zoom ins, the kids got into it.

I guess we’ll get a better gauge at Austin!

Who you tryna see?

I’m very excited to see what a Duffy design will bring to their show. They have such a refined sound... like a mini Marcus. I think they’ll represent us well at St Louis. Hoping that we see them in the top of half of finals.

Alexander was fiery tonight. Loved it. We got a great zoom in of a snare very into perforomance!

I got to tune into the live stream for a few bands and I’m truly impressed. I’m so glad that BOA does McAllen and Mindland. It’s awesome to see some bands that I don’t normally get to see because of the promixity of these bands to other contests and crowding of probably the most Central contest—San Antonio. I’ll talk about a few. I love United! They were such a pleasant surprise at SA last year and they were great to watch this year. I’m sure this will be in finals tonight. Seven Lakes really left me wanting more! It’s awesome to see them developing into such a fine band. Hoping to see them in Conroe finals this year! Westfield surprised me! They’ve had a rough time these past (several) years. I believe the program shrank substantially after the retirement of a very prominent director, but it looks like they’re growing. They’ve step it up in terms design and I could see them really stepping up to the plate and returning to, at least, regional prominence. Cannot wait to watch finals tonight!

Thank you for sharing your insight and the design team’s vision, Jarrett (I’ve been a huge fan of CTJ since Bloom; it’s cool to even just talk to you indirectly). I discussed my perspective with several people who have been involved in the marching arts in various capacities for several years. That’s to say that I wasn’t alone in my assessment, but I will claim everything that I wrote as my opinions. Overall, the fact that we had very different takes on the same show highlights the importance of crafting a tight message. Personally, I’m trained in literary criticism among other things, so my first instinct is to ask what are quotes relationally to the musical elements and temporally in the show. Then, what’s the significance of the quotes used and the original source. How about we remove the vitriol and focus on discourse of ideas You don’t need to agree with me, in fact, I actively encourage people to disagree with me (because we learn through discourse), but please refrain from sophomoric comments.

I’m glad that we’re having this conversation because it captures so many nuances that can be discussed not only regarding band, but discourse in general. Warning: Spoilers after my soapbox. The impetus behind publishing this thread isn’t to make a statement about the performance or talent of the children performing the show. The design of a show cannot be beyond reproach and we need to divorce the children’s execution of the show from the design, which was created by adults, to have a meaningful conversation. I intentional crafted the message to make commentary on the design of the show. No American themed show can be apolitical, which a wise friend pointed out to me. And, that's not bad. I realized: Politics by definition encompasses the decisions-making and norms in a society, which are directly related the allocation of resources and the narratives presented. If you are doing an eight minute (or in this case 13+ min) American show you are inherently choosing a perspective of America to represent and making a political statement. Perception is a reality for the arts, which is why it is imperative for designers to be meticulous in their construction of a show to convey a meaning that isn’t confusing. Again, this is completely separate from making a comment on the kids who perform the show. From an optimistic perspective: this show is merely confusing amalgamation of very good pieces that the students will perform at a high level of excellence. From a critical perspective: this show conveys a very confusing message—in a problematic way-- and raises a lot questions that most shows don’t. If we look at other patriotic shows like Churchill 2007 and Bell 2012, they did not leave open ended statements via design. Just from beginning to end, it was hard to understand why the show starts off in a peaceful sea and somehow ends up with the America the Beautiful... It's a weird coincidence to start the show with Ritcher recomposition of Vivaldi and Grainger's Lisbon (Italian + Portuguese) along well three boats (La Nina, La Pinta, and Santa Maria), that don’t seem all that engaged. The preshow has a nice smooth feeling which precedes a powerful quote from MLK, which turns into an aggressive/dark Barber #1. It then transitions to some MLK/Kennedy work and a peaceful ballad. Then we get a prominent quote from Ronald Reagan’s inauguration followed by the most grandiose/uplifting part of the show with Ward. The show seems to go Peace (with Columbus) -> MLK -> Dark -> MLK/Kennedy -> Amazing Grace -> Reagan -> American Glory. It leaves the audience questioning: What is the show trying to convey with its props, voiceovers, and arrangement, both musical and organizational. How is the messaging accomplished with the aforementioned? What is the audience supposed to understand about the show? If we want to get really political: why is MLK's most pronounced moment followed by a darker part of the show, while Reagan's very pronounced quote is followed by the peace and grandeur of Grainger, Copeland, Ward? The use of MLK isn't too controversial, so it makes sense that it's a main centerpiece. However, to a lot of American, Reagan is a very polarizing figure because his policies and a lot of his social commentary was divisive. Many would argue that seeds of division sewn in the 80s have festered into deep-seated divides that we’ve seen now. We happen to have a president who likes to use the divisive rhetoric that is a product of the aforementioned period. All of this is just very peculiar, especially with the coincidental name that is almost truly a reference to our president who loves to use patriotism in his grandstanding. I'm not saying CTJ band kids should be shamed. They are talented and should be celebrated. However, its hard to understand the overall message of the show because of the design, more so than most other patriotic shows done by top bands.

Title says it all. I was trying to figure out what Tremendous Sea of Love means..The music just isn't typical 'sea music' and links in CTJs shows normally aren't so tenuous... Passion Pit and Donald Trump were the only references I could find. Passion Pit is nowhere to be found in the show (that I know of), but here is good ol Donny. (Hint: the show design takes the most atypical turns and direction I've seen yet) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/01/26/in-his-first-major-tv-interview-as-president-trump-is-endlessly-obsessed-about-his-popularity/