washedupalum2017

is it obvious? i thought vandy had a more demanding visual book than anyone else -- "marching band" is, in theory, also about the marching. vandy was doing some pretty crazy sacktig drill while gunning above 160-170 for large chunks of the show. Moving at that tempo in and of itself is difficult. Doing that to Sacktig drill? I mean, just draft the kids for 2000's Cadets right now.

unsure why you're under the impression that having props or not somehow makes a show better or more difficult -- total non-sequiter. quite frankly w/ the general design direction high school band has been trending in, it's refreshing to see a program be so successful without spending tens of thousands on fabricating props.

Some timing difficulties in Marcus' first production that may knock them out of the running for gold. MAN can this drumline throw down though!

FloMo tuning was LOCKED IN across the board. Some really complex harmonic moments in that show & they executed at a fantastically high level.

Love the delightfully strange FloMo low ww feature. Super clean double tonguing too.

Hebron low brass is blowing out the field mics currently 😂

Good lord this Hebron opener. There's maybe 3 programs in the country that can pull off such an exposed opening trumpet statement. The first notes are double tonguing -- think about how difficult that is, from an individual performer perspective. From the opening milliseconds, you must be locked in across your entire section to get the timing just right. You have no drums backing you up, you're not in the zone, nothing. Just hands, boom, dugadugadah. that's insane.

Massive shoutout to TWHS guard. Lots of super exposed moments w/ a lot of equipment and they execute an insanely high level, especially for how many of them are on the field. the opening statement with the riflework particularly stands out as just an absurd achievement.

WOW that flute soloist! Hopped up on the stage and rammed a billion notes in about 15 seconds & sounded flawless doing it.

multi is good on my end.

Individual marching technique at Vandegrift is incredible. These kids move with such confidence and grace. Especially moving at what, 170 bpm? Faster?

@bassfunction don't take too much stock into what anyone says here, least of all me! y'all had an amazing run & an amazing season, congrats!

Ditto on Ditto on bridgeland. One to watch for sure.

My ranks after the first block -- Keller Wax Coppell Pearland Cy-Fair Bridgeland RR

Super glad that pearland show is going to nats. That'll be in great shape in a week or so.

i should have written "thus far"!

This pearland show is a GE machine!!! Such beautiful staging & lovely unis. Love love love the music selections as well. Excited to hear them tackle the Kamen stuff, Phantom 2010 is a perpetually underrated show.

Shoutout to Coppell for being the only school so far to still be wearing shakos. I guess I'm old school for that opinion. I think it's necessary in some drum corps due to way the visual package has evolved -- much more demanding choreo -- but I don't think a single high school has a choreo program that requires no headgear.

The cy-fair ballad hit -- what a great moment! Love the butterfly coming down the field, really pretty & effective staging.

Ditto on Keller. Closer needs some cleaning, especially for balance. A few stickouts from trumpets especially, though that could have very well been thanks to the mic placement. If you're going to execute the Mahler 2 finale properly though, you need a real wall of sound -- full commitment across the ensemble. Still waiting to hear that.

Looks like yes, likely for tempi.

how has the livestream been? considering subscribing for finals...

I think that for sure they will be competitive in finals, but not in the top 1 or 2 spots. I think Leander and Vandegrift both have something really special this year, so we'll see.

Right, that's what I was getting at; they haven't seen anyone at UIL. They may be doing very well in the BOA scene but BOA and UIL are judged extremely differently.

I don't know. The transition from classes has never been easy for any bands... maybe in a few years, they will be able to get up in the top couple places. This year? I'm not so sure. The Hebron/Marcus/FloMo/CTJ bubble will be very hard to pop, especially by newcomers.