NETexasBandFan

2017 Region Stats (Including Non-Varsity Entries) 6A: 207 1st divisions 23 2nd divisons 2 3rd divisions 1 DNA 5A 190 1st divisions 45 2nd divisions 7 3rd Divisions 4 4th Divisions 1 DNA 1 DQ 4A 116 1st Divisions 51 2nd Divisions 14 3rd Divisions 1 5th Divison 2 DNA? (Region 10 bands with no result marked) 3A 101 1st Divisions 66 2nd Divisions 26 3rd Divisions 1 DNA? (Region 4 band with no result marked) 2A 65 1st Divisions 51 2nd Divisions 21 3rd Divisions 2 4th Divisions 1A 14 1st Divisions 11 2nd Divisons 7 3rd Divisons 1 DNA

Knock on wood please

2A Area C will have 3 state spots, and 7 area finalists, which will be it's first time with area finals thanks to 15 bands advancing to area. Key Bands: Clarksville, Timpson, Carlisle, Shelbyville, and Union Grove Clarksville is the defending state champion, and will be the only corp band contending for a state spot. If I've been told correctly they have a new director this year who moved up from the middle school. There's not much to say about them other than they will be good, and on the slightly smaller side. The rest of these bands are all military style and can be summed up with 1 word, "WOW!". Watching all of them on live stream, the sounds coming from such small groups (who are most likely all marching middle schoolers) were absolutely amazing, extremely mature, and very clean/ Carlisle and Shelbyville made state in 2015 and both made state finals, while Timpson and Union Grove mode it in 2017, but neither made state finals. I had to say if any of these groups is a lock though, it'd be Timpson. All of these key bands listed WILL be in area finals, I can not see them miss it. Btw, go watch these groups on youtube or other sources if you can find them, the maturity that can come from these tiny groups is so awesome!

Bold: Made state on last state year Italics: Made area finals on last state year -- Area B will have 5 state spots with 25 bands currently qualifying, 1 more will qualify by default or with a 1st division after Region 32, raising it to 26. Key Bands: Argyle, Canton, Wills Point, Melissa, Farmersville, Community (unheard of, but they are AMAZING this season, they've made so much progress). Anna and Krum could make some noise too. The first 5 are almost certainly locks, I see Community finishing 6-8, but maybe knocking someone out for 5th. Anna and Krum will be anywhere from 5th - 12th, Krum got 10th at area in 2016 but also made state honor band in 2017, so I'm willing to bet they've improved, Anna is just always a solid program -- Area C will have 5 state spots with 24 bands currently qualifying, 2 or 3 more will qualify by default or with a 1st division after Region 9, raising it to 26-27. Key Bands: North Lamar, Spring Hill, Little Cypress-Mauriceville, Lumberton, Paris, Bridge City, Pleasant Grove. Less likely but potential surprises are Bullard, Chapel Hill, and Gilmer, those 3 military bands have really impressed me this year! Edit: I also have to mention Brownsboro, they have a REALLY awesome "milicorp" style show that was super unique and challenging, if it's cleaned well between today and area, I think it will do great. I LOVED watching it. First 3 I mentioned are locks for sure, Lumberton, Paris, and Bridge City could go either way for the 4th and 5th state spots, but I have lots of confidence in BC after their recent honor band success, and Paris is a constantly improving program with nowhere to go but up after their first state trip. Pleasant Grove is historically one of the most unpredictable bands I have ever seen, but their random state trips and recent area finalist finish makes them worth the mention. Bullard made area finals for I believe their first time in 2016, and is improving each year, I watched them on stream today and was very wowed, but I'll leave it to the area judges to see how far they've really come. --

Thank you so much, I need the help for sure!

Most penalties in UIL are a 1 division rating drop or a straight DQ, why it's that way, I don't know, it's extremely harsh for a simple mistake and can go as far as to punish other bands by reducing state spots. Plus it's somewhat redundant in regions with 2 or less of a classification because they go to area regardless of rating.

Smaller classifications are also typically held to a lower standard for a 1, but not much lower. I've saw plenty of surprising 1s today though (hopefully the standard isn't becoming too low). But Allen definitely got all 1s and was knocked by the penalty

It'll also be 7 area finalist spots.

I feel like I made a mistake, but 6A Area H only has 18 Area qualifiers as of now??? It will be 19 because Vista Ridge is the only one who hasn't had their rating posted As of now (?), 7 area finalists, 3 state spots.

4A Area C now has 24 bands qualify for area, Region 9 (3 4A bands) hasn't gone yet, so there will be a minimum of 26 bands there, max of 27, meaning 5 state spots.

http://www.teamline.cc/free_view?teamcode=7794&eventcode=59&status=UUF&redirect=free_view Region 21 stream, it's a weaker region but has some AWESOME 2A military bands that will be fighting for state finalist spots, and I love watching them.

If you ever take a look at UIL Area and even state spreadsheets, you'll often see a LOT of very ridiculous spreads. I know that judges can see different things depending on where they are and what they focus on, and I don't want to bash any judges, but I feel like this is an increasing issue with large spreads in ordinals becoming ever more common. Attached are judges sheets from prelims of 6A Area H, 5A Area E, 4A Area C, and 3A Area C all on their most recent state years. 3A Area C marching judges just really could not agree, could be different views on judging but the spreads got bad in some places, 4A Area C just had INSANE spreads, like 4 23 7 2 12, and 19 24 6 10 6 5A Area E music judges were just all over the place, judge 2 ranked several bands that made finals really low in prelims, 6A I could definitely find a better example for but it has it's spreads, albeit much more reasonable and common ones. https://imgur.com/a/5rewfrf If I could give any thoughts as to why this is common, I feel like it's a lack of clarification on the judging sheets, most categories are rather vague and subjective to the judge, the few ideas of GE and difficulty the sheets present aren't written out very well, such as "General Appearance" and "Visual Reinforcement of Music" which I would take to be the general look of the group at a glance and the drill fitting the music, but those ideas can be defined differently.

At Pre-UIL style invitationals, it's not uncommon for weak bands to leave early to spare kids shame at results, at these contests the ratings can be often 1-2 divisions better than what you would get at UIL, so a 3 or 4 at those competitions often provokes "ooh"s and even very rude laughing in the crowds of disrepectful groups. So it's just to spare the kids some negative feelings, but why you would travel from Houston to North Texas in this situation and leave early is beyond me! If you're going to go that far, stay and watch.

Agreed, no programs should EVER get below a 3. Most 5As and 6As really shouldn't even be getting 3s, unless a director is pulling them out of a past that's full of bad ratings, but consistent 3s in a large school is unacceptable. You have 1000s of kids to put together a program that can be considered 2nd division at the least, even if it takes a few years, and if that's not happening it's either poor support from the school or the directors, maybe both.

Wow! How do you tell if it's going to be a rainbow? That's some amazing observation or just prediction

Region 20 is mostly Dallas ISD, which isn't exactly known for it's outstanding music programs. Most of those programs are full of less fortunate kids. There's some exceptions to getting 4s and 5s like Sunset, Wilson, and I think Thomas Jefferson that get 1s usually. I have respect for any director able to bring a program to do that in that area.

Thank you for doing that while I couldn't get to it!

I knew that, just forgot to bold them. Thanks for pointing it out!

Wow! The entire fate of the band that will finish 6th at area relies on one band, and that area is by far one of the craziest, if not the hardest.

1 1 5 = Superior, Superior, Someone isn't getting hired ever again

Sweepstakes is completely unrelated to this situation, it's just about getting a 1 overall. If you get 1 1 anything you get a 1 total. So 1 1 5 can take you to area

I'm not sure! I'm amazed Region 4 was even able to find one themselves being mostly small towns, I thought Texarkana Texas High had the only full length indoor within miles of that region! I'm sure the Austin area schools could find some, it's just tough logistically to reserve these fields last minute and get everyone in and out of fields not really meant for such large groups, Region 4 had to back every band up to perform before 3:00 pm so Sulphur Spr. could still use their indoor for athletics purposes, leaving some bands 2 hours away to likely have to leave around or before 6 am, and this was all planned the day before.

Hopefully the weather will get better, I heard Region 4 was moved last minute to an indoor facility in Sulphur Springs, and the judges had to stand on drum major podiums.

Just updated the list with 4A!

Watch out for Area C in paticular, with North Lamar currently defending both marching and honor band titles, Little Cypress Mauriceville with 3rd at Honor band and looking to move up from an 11th place finish in marching, and Bridge City placing 4th in honor band. There's also Spring Hill who I've heard is performing a very difficult military drill this year, and will almost certainly be a lock. There is Lumberton who made 5A state in 2017 and was moved into this 4A area, Paris trying to return after their first state trip ever, and Pleasant Grove who is almost certainly still an underdog in size, but will be unpredictable as always. Area B will also be AMAZING, just imagine what Argyle is preparing with intentions to take back their title! I got to hear Canton in person, and let me say, WOW, they are fierce, powerful, and apparently beat North Lamar for the marching caption @ Princeton. Wills Point and Melissa will also be amazing as usual, and Melissa will look to move up after missing state by 1 spot, and with Princeton gone they will definitely do just that. Some much less well known bands such as Community are also on the rise, and you can't forget Farmersville, who's now in 4A after a silver medal finish in 3A. Last year these areas contributed the top 5 bands in the state, 1st-5th place were all Areas B and C. I expect them to return with 5 state finalists again. (North Lamar, Argyle, Spring Hill, Wills Point, Canton, and perhaps Melissa or a new one from Area C) These are just the areas I'm familiar with the most, and I'm willing to bet they will contribute some major state finalists this year. As far as suprises though, I havent seen enough bands in person to throw one in the mix, and 4A doesn't get enough online publicity for me to know otherwise.