LostChoirGuy

I'm not sure why you think making multiple 5A schools in the same district is a bad thing. I can see how it bothers you from a competitive standpoint, but they do it for the quality of education the students are able to receive and the increased opportunities for each individual. I would never call that a bad thing.

I agree. With so many activities and sports for kids to choose between, many will choose to join a program with a better chance of success. If a high school band is known for consistently making state, students will want to join and be a part of that success. Likewise, it is hard to have fun when you belong to a group that never performs well and doesn't have the resources put into the program to create compelling show designs and musical education. When students don't have fun, they leave the program.

Beat me to it. I was going to say that FISD had another UIL state medalist this year. Also unrelated, but didn't Colleyville Heritage make the top half of finals from area F a few years back? They might have even medaled.

Soooo proud of Wakeland! And I absolutely LOVED that soprano sax soloist. My jaw actually dropped when he finished.

The future of music education is in good hands is all I can say after those Leander student interviews. Man, I'm having a blast watching all of these final performances. You can feel the students leaving everything out on the field.

Forney is going to continue to hold their own in 6A, in my opinion, even though they will be in a VERY competitive area. That was a great performance! And the soloist!!!

That's my favorite Cedar Park show since 2016. It's so dang fun to experience! Great job to all performers. I'm glad I'm not a judge and can just enjoy haha

Rouse reminds me of a much smaller Carmel. They have this beautiful rich symphonic sound and such an elegant and refined show. I love seeing how this group has progressed. Can we PLEASE see them at nats soon!?

I'm sad I have missed the performances so far, but I'm hoping to catch the top half.

Fossil Ridge will likely be dropping to 5A also. I think in two years we may see several new 6A groups though.

Yay! I'm so happy to see Roma comfortably made it into finals!!!

I honestly thought the Keller winds were the best I can ever remember them during UIL finals and was flabbergasted that they got 14th.

Hoping Keller can add something to make their closer pop also, as it's really lacking in the wow moments that can bring in the GE.

Looks like Fossil Ridge is likely moving down to 5A. Forney and Northwest should become 6A. Anna will probably be 5A too.

I remember this! I was a kid watching my sister perform at state when I saw Marcus perform. I thought it was so fun! That's still the only time I've ever been lucky enough to see a contest in the alamodome.

Congratulations to Vandegrift! Not going to lie, I'm a bit surprised at the order of the last 5...

I sure hope Hebron can go the distance and finally bring home a grand nats championship to Lewisville ISD. It's crazy to me that it hasn't happened yet, tbh.

Oooh gotcha I thought you meant you were looking forward to seeing their growth in the next performance.

Was this not Cy Fair's last performance of the season? I was very impressed with Pearland and Keller. Good signs for those bands as their season still has another week and a half. Every band in the first half of finals today showed why they deserved to be there! So happy to see these Cy Fair schools finally break in to finals.

I also thought Keller's performance was awesome and much better than yesterday. They should be in a good place next weekend to make finals at Grand Nats.

It's also worth noting that the examples given of previous infractions going over time all happened prior to coming to state. The state competition isn't as concerned with it as these bands have all earned their way here already and done so keeping within the time limit. In finals, they don't even do a timer.

I'd argue that the fact that Keller's late season success doesn't result in early season success is pretty decent evidence that brand name isn't as impactful as you seem to think it is. I do think it affects us somewhat because we expect great things from groups like Hebron and Vandegrift before we even see their shows, but that is probably more of an audience thing than a judge thing.

I'm very impressed with the overall improvement and growth in Houston area bands this year. Congrats to Cy- Fair and Bridgeland on very deserving finals placements. Also- Keller keeps doing its Keller thing haha. Seems pretty safe to pencil them in as a bottom half finalist in every late season contest for the next decade or two no matter how their season starts.

Vandegrift to me was a top half of finals performance but not a lock for a medal. Of the ones I saw, I could see Hebron, Vista Ridge, Marcus, The Woodlands, and maybe even Flower Mound on top of them and I missed the first half of the day.

Wow, I really liked North Shore. In my opinion they are comfortably in the bubble.