Omega

That Leander, Regan, Cedar Park block with Keller closing it out will be one I will be sure to watch on flo. Super exciting stuff from all four of those programs and I can't wait!

Having seen all four of the "top 4" so to speak I'm really pulling for BA. I don't think they will take visual simply because the uniforms hide the legs but I expect a solid placement in GE and Music from them leading to a decent win (.5+) in finals. Don't quote me if I'm wrong in two weeks.

I thought UIL for area prelims and finals and state prelims didn't have anyone on the field? I could be wrong though.

I haven't seen any part of this show yet and I'm looking forward to the first time being in San Antonio live at 6A state finals!

I mean if you want to talk about how they are judged just look at the sheets: UIL sheets give a lot of freedom to judges on what to consider within a few "sub-captions" so to speak. The BOA sheets ask guiding questions for judges to answer about a show. Look at captions themselves: no two judges in BOA have the same sheet except for in MGE. In UIL three judges have the same music sheet, two have the same visual sheet. Also UIL doesn't care about effect/design just performance. In BOA 60% of one's score is GE. In BOA judges are generally on the field or on (or close to) the 50 in the box. UIL puts music judges on the 50 and both 45's in the box and outs visual judges on the 30's. None on the field in UIL. In terms of how the shows are designed with BOA shows you see many programs take big risks for effect. In UIL you see many programs play it safer with highly accessable shows the judges can immediately get that are less risky (not always easier per say). The simplest way to sum it up is this: UIL cares how clean you look and sound from up top. BOA, while it does care about how clean you are on and above the field, they care a bit more about how visual and musical elements work to create an incredible emotional effect.

Okay, so I looked at ticket master for tickets and does anyone know of a way to get tickets cheaper than ticket master provides them? I just want to get around all of the fees is all so if you know, please do tell!

I could have sworn he retired last year.

Exciting to see BA and Tarpon at GN in the same year! That hasn't happened in a while so it will be good to see. Also Avon debuts Saturday so we may finally get a good picture as to how they look and sound without Webb

I was under the impression during WGI season that those Bowie Balloms we're just air filled in which case they are 100% legal. If they were helium they would be gainst BOA rules so we would have seen a penalty at Conroe or ATX. My gut tells me they will find no problem at UIL with those.

Was anyone able to see CP exhibition? TMC’s Twitter seemed to like it, just wanted to hear from someone who was there as to what we missed out on from Waco.

So for the ATX area bands at BOA Waco (Dripping Springs, Westlake and Cedar Park) is there any chance they might now perform at TMC?

If you look at our old friends Cedar Park back in 2016 they did just that. At SA they finish 9th while Leander finishes 3rd. A week later in Indy Cedar Park finishes 5th with Leander in 6th. Hebron very well could have just gotten a lot better that one week and just come out swinging and really might have been that much better.

I’m not here to predict anything I just want to say I’ll be getting to go to finals! Aside from TMC in 2017 (which was awesome don’t get me wrong) this will be my first contest to watch live (normally I just use FloMarching) and I am so excited! Can’t wiat to meet some of y’all there and guys this is going to be a show to remember!

Okay I’ll add my two cents in here on the UIL judging discussion: I believe you should add a single GE judge for UIL. Then the split would be 50% music, 33% visual and 12% effect with scoring breakdown. Granted I’m also of the belief that BOA needs to change to a 60% 40% split for performance/design as opposed to the current reverse of that they have now but that’s just me. On the topic of BOA Waco: I’m looking forward to see what Cedar Park brings to the table as they haven’t added any show since ATX so I think we are due some more show from them. Hendrickson should be exciting to see how they improve off of ATX. Dripping I haven’t seen yet and I can’t wait to see what they put on the field after an incredible season last year. Marcus I’m also looking forward to being pleasantly surprised by as I haven’t seen anything from them yet either.

I don’t think anyone will guess who will be IN finals. Also under-discussed thing: the new way finalists for super regionals are decided and if someone might get screwed over.

I think we are seeing two things happen here: 1. Y’all don’t all know who Cedar Park is. Prepare to be surprised by this “little 5A band from out of north Austin”. Anyone who has them out of finals is most likely going to be wrong given their 6th place finish in ATX last weekend. 2. Top two will likely be Hebron and FMHS. Don’t know who wins but I’m guessing it’s one of those two. Next two will likely be Keller and CPHS just based of BOA SA results from last year.

Let’s not discount this though: Cedar Park came out in finals and did that thing where they just shoot up under the lights. 10th in Prelims is unexpected but shooting up to 6th in finals is impressive nonetheless.

And I get that. But iremember last season swing BA with a significantly lower score at STL SR than Avon or Carmel had at Indy SR and I thought for sure BA would get third at GN so I only speak from past experience. I mean don't get me wrong, both bands did a wonderful job I just don't want to see anyone fall prey to what I did last year. I'm sorry if I came across as sarcastic or "holier than thou" I'm just trying to make sure no one falls prey to what I did last season that's all.

Remember: never compare scores between contests.

One week and as always I could not be more excited about this contest! This has probably the most SA finalists of any regional at it and really makes it the hardest regional in the nation. This is going to be an incredible week I'm sure as each program gets ready for the contest and I am sure that this will be the best BOA ATX ever. I can't wait to see who shocks the crowd, and who gets us all in tears on our feet in the end and when we see the one show we all just fall in love with. It's going to be a great day for band I'm counting down the hours till I get to be at Kelly Reeves once again.

I'm going to make a statement that is just an observation, as we look at these 5A bands that are advancing to 6A it should be worth noting that sometime BOA Regionals can be a good sign as to if these bands can compete with 6A. If these bands are right up there with the 6A bands they may be in for an exciting year, but if not it may be tough to recover. Yes, they are different circuits but these BOA contests may give us some early ideas about which new 6A bands are there to really win.

So I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this but how are we going to manage having two different pannels. It will be VERY interesting to see how the new handbook handles this change and come may it will be a good read. I expect the top 7 from each panel will advance but that creates its own issues. Definitely something to watch.

Here is a list fo the proposed rules to be considered by corps directors at the 2018 Rules Congress on January 5-6. https://www.dci.org/news/9-proposals-on-the-table-for-2018-dci-rules-congress 1. Increase Membership to 154 2. Extend World Finals to 15 corps 3. No Scores Before July 1st 4. No scores- Ordinals Only (the UIL system) 5. Annual Rules Congress 6. Only allowing 6 brass players to be amplified at one time. 7. Add a brass judge in the box at large shows 8. Change the way percussion is changed (read the proposal on this one, it's tough to explain) 9. Adjust music sheets to deal with amplification and electronics. My thoughts: the only big thing I want to say is if 6 is adopted you may see BOA adopt a similar rule. Also, 4 would fundamentally change DCI, and it would be a little crazy at first, doubt it gets adopted. 7-9 all make sense to me. 1 is fine. 3 would help reduce slotting which is a plus. 2 I'm not sure about honestly, just on the fence.

Vista Ridge in finals?