NTXBandFan

Flower Mound marched 24 this year. They love to feature their horns, see last year's and this year's openers.

Actually Cedar Ridge was 14th in Prelims and they would have missed out on finals if Leander would have been able to go.

I'm amazed how FloMo dropped from 1st to 6th in Music

Our best fundraiser is typically working one of the concession stand at the football games. We also sell poinsettias, we've done the mattress sale thing, and march-a-thons too.

FloMo doesn't have a community performance tonight. It's just a rehearsal.

FloMo Won GE in the two competitions they were in as well over Marcus in both, and Hebron & Round Rock among others in Arlington. Shocked you have FloMo listed under music, which is usually their weak point, while leaving them out of GE, which their show is known to be loaded with this year.

I second what was said above. It takes everyone to be in sync from the top down. The "other" LISD, Lewisville ISD (home to Marcus, Hebron, & Flower Mound) has a huge commitment to the fine arts. That bleeds down all the middle school bands. The directors at the high schools actually go to all their feeder schools every week to work with the kids. I even saw the middle school band shirts that feed into Flower Mound, had the FloMo Band logo on the sleeve. That breeds dedication and desire to be a part of the program. They follow the example of successful high school football programs in that the coaches at all levels use follow the same offensive philosophies, and such, that makes it all the easier for them at the next level. Aside from that, it takes a dedicated group of volunteers. Everything the volunteers do, means less the directors have to worry about and the less money they have to spend on someone to do things like build or paint props, transport equipment and so on. Which means all the money they raise can have a larger effect on the program. Finally, never underestimate the power of the student leaders & upperclassmen. They set the tone from day one, and are the ones that the younger kids look up too. I've been a part of teams and groups who struggled in early years, only to have massive turn arounds due to the dedicated upperclassmen. If kids see an all-state senior put in extra work to keep getting better, they will learn to do the same thing. It will really sink in if they see all the seniors doing it. Just because they don't have a title, it doesn't mean they can't be a leader

Why is it to your dismay? Isn't it a good thing you're improving? I'm looking forward to seeing the changes.

It was sunny during prelims. FloMo had a late prelims draw They ended up with the first or 2nd slot in Finals, so they were able to just leave their props under cover in the dome, which was good for them at the time, because the weather was about to hit. After finals they had to clear out and make room for all the other bands' props and gear. Which meant it all got soaked. It didn't matter so much for the other bands, because that was their last show, but FloMo still had Indy coming up. Unfortunately, it took a while for who ever was running logistics to figure out how the bands could work their props iand equipment in and out. without getting wet.

I will say that the monsoon that hit during State last year ruined the fabric on FloMo's props. They had to order new fabric in time for Grand Nats.

No they didn't. http://www.birdvilleschools.net/cms/lib2/TX01000797/Centricity/Domain/2921/BISD_Marching_2014_Results-PRELIMS.pdf

It seems Flower Mound likes to rotate through the local competitions rather than hitting the same ones every year. 2011 - Birdville 2012 - Tournament Of Champions (Carrollton) 2013 - Duncanville 2014 - No local comp presumably due to Grand Nats trip 2015 - Birdville http://www.worldofpageantry.com/scores/index.php

Marcus went two years ago, and the FloMo directors tagged along to learn the logistics. A lot of it is handled by a tour company, from hotels and buses, to storage and practice space at the convention center. The tough part is making sure you have the adults to help out with chaperoning, pit crew, and equipment transportation. As far as a cycle is concerned, there is nothing set at this time. At best it will be every 4 years so every class has a chance to go. But the director has been known to mention every 5 years is closer to what he'd like. He definitely doesn't want to do like TWHS, and put that kind of financial burden on families by going every other year.

Bowie and FloMo are earlier, on Saturday

It's amazing what a trip to Grand Nats can do for a band. Their skills confidence have definitely improved.I would say the same for Wakeland.

The S shaped props seem to have some purpose too. They have some kind of mechanism at their base that looks to be for something other than balance.

Could you give some examples on the priorities, scoring and standards? Is it more like a junior circuit to the BOA? Would the BOA mid-tier bands, like Wakeland, TWCP, etc... dominate? How do they compare to the smaller local competitions?

What's the difference between US Bands and BOA? There seems to be more posts about BOA competitions here. I see some bands participate in both. The bands I see doing that usually place well at US Bands events, but don't make finals at even the regional level for BOA.

If you look at the show shirt more closely it's actually an apple. I think the coloring is a little off.

Box trucks and Semis. Flower Mound had 2 box trucks and a semi in Indy. The semi contained all of the front ensemble and some of the columns. One box truck had the remainder of the columns, and the other box truck had everything else. It's pretty much what every band does. By the end of the season most of these pit crews are pros at packing trucks and can do it pretty quickly. While the first show/ performance might take over 1 hour to load up after a show, the final load up can take 30 to 45 minutes with an experienced crew and enough hands.

Parking is going to be a real treat considering there's only 1 decent sized parking lot, and you have to pretty much allocate it to the bands and their equipment.

Interesting that they Have McAllen and Austin the same weekend. I wonder how many bands will actually make the trip south. Any word on when the other smaller non-boa contests like Duncanville, Friendswood, etc. are?

LISD doesn't pay for the schools to go to the BOA competitions. They only pay for the UIL comps. The booster clubs are the ones footing the bill for BOA. Hebron wanted to go this year, but their principal wouldn't approve it due to the extra time off in such a short period after UIL State. FM doesn't want to do the every other year thing, they'd rather keep it to once every 4-6 years.

I've also heard about this. It's a bad situation all around. Personally I think it should have been verified at that time, and once the results are announced, they should be final. It stinks for those kids at Marcus & FM, although more for FM since they don't get awards like this often.

I've heard about the Marian Catholic effect at Grand Nats, where the bands that follow Marian Catholic traditionally get lower music scores. I wonder if the same thing happened to Flower Mound having to follow Leander in finals.