NTXBandFan

It's a 5 hour drive from Flower Mound to San Antonio. If they perform on Friday evening, they would have to leave early Nov 5, and miss school to be able to be able to perform that evening. Then there's 1 night at a hotel, and the long day in San Antonio on Nov 6. 6A state is Nov 8 & 9, which means 3 more nights at a hotel and 2 more days of missed school. They get back home late Nov9/early Nov10. Then go to school on Nov 10. Grand Nats is Nov 11-13. They would likely perform Nov 12, which means they need to leave late Nov 10 or early Nov 11(if taking a bus), in order to have time to rest, recover, and rehearse. Another night in a hotel. Perform on Nov 12, and another night in a hotel. Perform Nov 13 then head home to arrive sometime Nov14. All told, if they go to BOA SA, they will be missing 5 days of school, and spending 6 nights hotels, and 3 nights at home or on a bus in the span of 10 days. If they skip BOA SA, then they cut out up to 3 nights of hotel, and save 1 day of school. And keep in mind that they all have to be fed during all of this. That's a lot of money, and strain on the families and kids

They won't have to drive back. They'll be performing late Friday. From what I understand, they had an early Saturday draw, and got permission to skip the game Friday to avoid the late night ride, early morning performance. I heard their Friday football opponent, Coppell, will be there Friday as well, for the same reasons.

That means she probably got on 79 in Hearne drove close to 200 miles... the wrong way!!!!

The SAT is that day too, so that could play into it, but I doubt it. It's hard to know with new leadership

Could be that they have homecoming that weekend too, and the new director may think that would be too much of a distraction.

Another interesting note from the same board meeting that announced her as the new Fine Arts Director. The District is considering starting school earlier, basically, cutting a lot of band camp out. With teacher meetings and such, there will likely only be 1 week available for full day practice.

I wish it wasn't a thing, and kind of lean toward hoping they figure out a way to outlaw it. It places a bigger emphasis on the kids working the sound board, than there should be. It allows bands to hide their weaknesses from the judges in the booth. It's unfortunate, but since there isn't a rule prohibiting it, there's not much we can do.

Thanks, I never noticed those. It's a first for me to see something like that. I've never seen any of the Texas bands do that.

I understand.... I'd still like to see a screen grab of the mics you're saying were pointed to the whole band. Honestly I don't think they used those for the whole ensemble, but for when they focused on smaller ensembles. And the time when you heard a mellophone from the other side of the field could have been a sound board issue. Where they accidentally turned on a mic at the wrong time. BTW, I took a look at a video from when RR had a festival of bands earlier this year. Their speakers were pointed upward, like they would be to reach the judges, and they had some mics near the drum major podium that I didn't see get used (of course this was from early October, so they probably got used later in the season). So it's possible they were doing the same thing everyone else is doing but you didn't realize it.

Can you provide a screen grab of these mics that were specifically pointed at the band? The only ones I saw were the small ensemble mics, the BOA mics, and of course the ones that were attached to the soloists. I'm trying to figure out what you're getting at with this one. If it's legal and several bands use it, is it an advantage? Wouldn't it be incumbent upon the other bands to use this technique as well? All of the finalists have experience with BOA events, they know what works, and what is legal, why would they not use whatever would help them put the best sound out there? I know the mics are also a risk, considering I heard sound issues, where some soloist mics went out during their moment, and some soloist mics came on when they weren't supposed to. I used to complain that there are some directors who actually stand near the head drum major and conduct. I read the rules, and they specifically say it's legal. So I quit complaining. If those directors and bands feel they need that, so be it.

Carmel did have mics up front for a small ensemble. The were to the left of the front ensemble between the 35 & 40 yard lines

- Color guard - yeah some bands have huge color guard. Flower mound used to have a pretty small guard, but over the last few years, they've been specifically working with their feeder middle schools, to get kids interested sooner. They even started having middle school guard camps, and hold an all ages (middle school & down) guard camp at some point. Although guys participate in guard, let's face it, it's dominated by the ladies, and many of the young ladies are involved in dance, and usually aim for drill team instead of guard. So they're being proactive in trying to grow the guard. Now if you want to see a huge Guard, look no further than Reagan HS. Sometimes I wonder if they have more guard than musicians. - From my experience they don't use the mics to amplify the total sound. I know Flower Mound only uses them to amplify the solos, the front ensemble, or the special ensembles like the flute ensemble at the beginning, and the sax ensemble. There was an array of microphones, separate from the bands', that were used for the video recording - You are correct in that they aim the speakers directly at the judges, which makes sense, - Straight lines and boxes are good for visual scoring, especially if they aren't lined up on the hashmarks and yard lines. They show that the kids can hit their marks, and keep the lines straight. They also make it easier to show when a kid is early or late. The curved patterns are easier to hide flaws. Circles are also a challenge as well, because it's really hard to line up perfectly - you'll see a mix of faster and slower movements, as well as marching styles. I think This shows diversity of skill, rather than just going at the same pace the whole time, whether it's fast or slow. - I do agree that you see a lot of standing and playing. This has been a complaint of mine too. This is how some bands get the really clean sound and really clean movement in the difficult sections. For some reason, I thought the new scoring format was supposed to help encourage bands to move more while playing. I guess the judges haven't caught up.

Um someone should tell Round Rock they have the Texas Flag upside down

We heard similar issues with FloMo mics too. I guess the timing of when it happened masked them.

One of my employees’ kids go to school there!

Now I see it. Eyesight is failing me. Getting old sucks.

Nope... they only take the top 2 it doesn’t matter which day.

He could've misspoke too. It happens

Min 30, Max 36... if the top 2 from any of the classes aren't in the first 30, they get added. Worst case scenario the 30 consists solely of bands from 1 class, which means 2 bands from each of the remaining 3 classes are added. 2x3 = 6 + 30=36

Shout out to Vista Ridge as well, although this isn't entirely unprecedented. Flower Mound had to do the same thing two years in a row in San Antonio in 2012 & 2013. In 2013 the football game went into triple overtime. It's amazing what all of these kids can accomplish. They are more resilient than what we adults sometimes give them credit for. Going through schedules like that can really make them tough competitors this year and for years to come.

After prelims they announce who made finals in random order. After Finals they announce in score order.

Candyland?!?! lol, not quite. I looked up the post, and this is what's there.

With so many Texas powerhouses going this year, I wonder if Marian Catholic's string of 22 (& counting) consecutive appearances in the finals is in jeopardy.

They're out

Flower Mound bussed the kids up in 2014, and of course they tucked the equipment too. If I remember correctly, I think Round Rock flew their kids up last year.