NTXBandFan

Not to gloat or anything, but I'd like to lay claim to being the first to suggest FlowerMound as having a legitimate shot on page 1. Others had them in the finals, but no one really thought they had a shot to win. Of course I'm a bit biased, and want to be the first one to be right.

Just a little bit further south in town this time. LISD proud

My bet is that the contenders probably all already have a rehearsal planned out on Tuesday regardless of when they go on. The ones who go later, can have one earlier in the day to shake out the nerves, and tune up, while the ones in the morning can rehearse later to fix flaws. Wednesday would be the interesting one. The last few bands could have an early morning walkthrough before reporting to the alamodome. The band going at noon won't even have to be at warmup until 10:50. They could easily have a 7am practice somewhere for 2 hours. then have plenty of time to have a quick lunch, regroup, and drive to the stadium.

Yes Flower Mound stayed in San Antonio this weekend. The schedule for those going to GN this year is pretty crazy. Two years ago, Flower Mound had a football game the Friday night before San Antonio, that went into 3OT, had a quick pizza dinner, loaded the buses for the 5+ hours bus ride to San Antonio, early prelims performance, Finals performance, retreat, then returned home after finals. On Monday they went to class, had a short practice, then left for San Antonio for state. Performed at State on Tuesday, returned home that evening with props that had their fabrics ruined by the rainstorm. The drumline had a competition that weekend (thankfully it was local). Then left for Grand Nats the following Wednesday evening. The replacement fabrics were actually delivered to Indy. After the whirlwind weekend in Indy, the kids' buses departed town late, and one even broke down on the drive home. They had to combine those kids onto other buses, AND leave their bags behind on the other bus.

http://www.musicforall.org/resources/fall-results/2016/2016

Atlanta and St.Louis are probably the only options even close logistics-wise

This has been talked about many times. San Antonio isn't really set up very well logistically to handle that many bands, requiring a lot of practice space over several days.

FloMo is still my favorite, but I think Leander is as good a contender as any to give them a run for their money. Really good GE for both. And yes I think Leander has a shot at Grand Nats

It seems to work ok when I use my laptop, but if I use the iPad it jumps around.

It seems to work ok when I use my laptop, but if I use the iPad it jumps around.

She was already at Flower Mound that year. She started there in the Fall of 2012 FloMo had a unicycle in the circus show, as well as someone on stilts.

saw another post answering what I attempted to answer

Let's not forget that some of these bands are on a different trajectory for this year, and targeting Grand Nats for their final peak. Hebron kept chasing FloMo last year, only to finish in 3rd at Indy. In 2014 FloMo finished in 13th at BOA SA & 9th at State, only to peak at GRand Nats & finish 6th.

They did admit their bias and untrained eye. No need for the "eye rolls." Save them for the internet experts

Hebron and FloMo tied for first in prelims, but Hebron had more 1 rankings. FloMo was first out of finals

To add to what FloMoParent said. We also have a separate payment/order for away game meals. There were two prices for that. It was one price for a regular meal, I think $25, and $30 for the larger meal, which usually included something like a second sandwich. Also the order form allowed them to make some limited selections on food types. The meals for competitions came out of the competition band fee. I'm not sure how they handled the orders for that.

Is there going to be a live stream of this competition?

Aren't they doing the same thing this year?

That's the movement camp, where they teach the incoming freshmen marching fundamentals, and it serves as a refresher for the existing students. In any case, it can qualify under a couple of categories. School year practice, that still is less than 8 hrs./ week, and auxillary camp. Neither of which apply to summer practice rules, and since they aren't learning anything about the show, it doesn't violate the pre-Aug1 rules.

I'm disappointed that you alluded to unscrupulous actions taking place. I can attest that the FM directors are following the rules and are very strict about their practice time. They don't even work on the show parts until band camp starts in August. When band camp rolls around they really put a lot of the work in. That's when UIL has no limit on hours. I think the program has risen because it keeps building its foundation. 1)the district strongly supports the arts 2)the feeder schools have excellent band programs 3)much like sports teams, a band program can build on the previous year's experience. If you watch the last few years, they've been playing more and more complex music, faster marching, more complex marching, louder sound, and great show design 4)they have a JV band that learns a basic show that they perform before the competitions begin. This teaches marching skills to the kids who didn't make the competition band. 5)finally, the school is on a block system where they only have 4 classes per semester. This in effect gives them a year's worth of class time in 1 semester. As a result, a graduating senior will have the equivalent of 8 years of band classroom hours.

The actual stadium. The practice stadium that Frisco ISD uses is too small for grand nats.

While I do find the margin to be unusual, I'm not sure what the problem you're alluding to is. Flower Mound did have what appeared to be a finished show, but they still have more to add, I'm sure. There's no way the directors and designers would have put a completely finished product out there yet. The end game is still San Antonio (BOA &State). Honestly, I think FM was living in Marcus' and to some level, Hebron's shadows. Once they went to Grand Nats on their own and saw what they could do against great competition they knew nothing about, the kids developed an amazing level of confidence, which translated into last year's results, and now this year's. Not only that, they are adding more complexity each year. On top of all that I'm sure you're seeing what could be a bit of the Michael Jordan effect. They've developed a name for themselves, and the judges might give them a nudge because of it. The fans probably do the same. I'm not saying it's unwarranted, there are many programs that probably benefit from it from time to time, and now it's Flower Mound's turn.

I don't know if they'd go every year. That's an expensive undertaking that they don't have to deal with like the further away schools do. I especially think schools like Marian Catholic would have to end their run of consecutive trips to the finals. Of course they could save some money doing it DCI style and staying in local school gyms, but it's still a big logistics challenge and still costly due to food and transportation. That's a lot of strain on a program.I'm sure if it were always in Texas you'd see the local powerhouses there every year, even in state years.

So... how do you feel now?

They should call that the Plano Rule.