Samuel Culper

I saw Lake Travis at Region 32 and loved their show. They sound fantastic and will be difficult to keep out of the State slots.

There are two RRs in this area.

The only thing you are accomplishing is showing your immaturity.

Monday, Nov 4th is the alternate date

I believe it is state law to stop at Buc-ee's when going to/from a band contest.

No, they do not look at previous scores. The winner is determined by what is called "judges preference", meaning that of the five judges, the band with a higher ranking by the most judges wins. Here are the ordinals from last night: If you add the five numbers across for each band, that is their ordinal total. Cedar Park - 1+1+1+3+3=9 Rouse - 2+2+3+1+1=9 Leander 3+3+2+2+2=12 So, CP and Rouse are tied, but three of the judges had CP higher than Rouse and two of the judges had Rouse higher than CP, so CP wins.

This may be my favorite Cedar Park show I've seen.

Were there still 25 without Flour Bluff? If so, I misunderstood. There will still be five to State.

Ouch. That is brutal. Competition for that 4th and final spot will be fierce.

My guess is that you are referring to the judging itself. I have ZERO interest in adjudicating that old argument. I am referring to the process by which advancement takes place. It is a completely separate argument. I am not claiming that the 40ish bands that make State are the 40 best bands in the state. I am referring to the very top tier - the bands that should be in Finals or even in contention for medals. I think you would be hard-pressed to argue that there is a band left out of the State contest that is legitimately one of the top 10 in the state.

First method - Judging marching band off of recordings is a terrible idea. This isn't concert band. Conditions aren't controlled. And there is no way that a video can communicate the impact, let alone show the whole field AND allow for focus on details. A video camera just doesn't allow for dynamic change of focus like the human eye/mind. Second method - Now you are asking all bands to be evaluated on the same scale by many, many different judging panels. This is precisely why there is so much angst over having two panels at BOA-SA and no semifinals. Advancement to Finals is based off of scores from two different panels and thrown in a pot together. I am about 90% certain there is an overall judge (or judges) who has the job of "managing" those scores, but it's also somebody who is likely present for all the performances and can impart informed guidance. When you are looking at 10 or so Areas across the state, that becomes impossible. I think the current advancement setup is imperfect, certainly, but it does succeed in getting all of the very best bands to State. The UIL and TMEA have a tough job in balancing the Region/Area alignments and I believe they do it very thoughtfully.

Yeah, the natural follow-up question. My new Area Z leaves us with the following regions to make up Area Y - 11, 12 and 29. Here are the 6A schools in those Regions: 27 schools total, so as many as 5 State spots, but maybe 4.

I've seen a number of posts, this year and prior years, commenting on the fact that Area H and Area D both combine Austin and San Antonio schools. The lament is that this seems to limit opportunities for San Antonio Schools (outside of RR and CTJ, primarily) to advance to State. I get the frustration, but I do think the TMEA sets things up this way to keep a competitive and a numbers balance to the State contest. As a thought exercise, I wanted to take a look at what a more "Austin centric" grouping of Regions would look like for 6A. So, I'll create a new Area Z contest that encompasses Regions 18, 26 and 32. These regions cover all of the Austin metro and immediate surroundings. This list of 6A schools in those Regions looks like this: Sixteen total schools, so there would be only three State spots available, at most. Look closely at that list and imagine only three of them at State. So, maybe we broaden the geography a bit and add in Region 8 - the only other region really adjacent and not impinging on another large metro: This gets us seven more 6A schools for a total of 23. So, we have only added a 4th State spot. Finals for Area Z would be a high-stakes bloodbath, with multiple State Finals quality bands left behind. Big-time oof.

Same story in 6A

Thank you. So, that makes 21 total, so 4 State spots on the line. Awesome!

Does anyone have results from Regions 11 and 29?

Last night was my first time to see Lake Travis' show. I thought they were fantastic. They will be tough to beat out for the 4th State slot.

Panther Creek is Frisco ISD.

Makes no sense. Region contest is not a contest against other bands. And UIL has never done caption awards that I am aware of.

No Vista Ridge? 🤔

All 1s for Region 32

I'm sure it's a travel time thing, allowing bands enough time to arrive and prepare for warmup. Vista doesn't have to get on busses.

Those are 5A schools.

The schedule for Region 32 on Wednesday has changed. Vista is now going before all of the 5A bands: 7:15 - Vista Ridge 7:30 - Cedar Park 7:45 - Leander 8:00 - Glenn 8:15 - Liberty Hill 8:30 - Rouse 8:45 - Westlake 9:00 - Vandegrift 9:15 - Lake Travis

My feeling is that 90% of "the judges are biased" claims come from folks who disagree with results and/or are fans of bands that "should" have placed higher/not missed finals. But that's just, like, my opinion man.