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Majellan

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Everything posted by Majellan

  1. Jenks has had a great band for long time so they certainly should be in the finals hunt. Pains me to say that but Tulsa area has a great group of bands. Never mind that the whole state is almost half the population of DFW alone. Hook ‘em Texas bands, save for Broken Bow...edit Broken Arrow. We’ll take them at grand nats:) It’s interesting how the higher level of competition in Tulsa has radiated out. The top two bands in Arkansas are in the northwest corner of the state. Bentonville was rolling at boa St. Louis before they split into two high schools.
  2. The successful colleges all have tailgate parties for football, seems like Texas should have them for band:). I think this is going to be the year at Indy, so many top programs going, they’re not all going to have a down year as has happened so often in the past. By that, I guess I mean not winning is a down year, probably not the right word choice.....At least the rain is not pouring this year. That’s only good thing about lack of rain and heat!
  3. That’s some great intuition you had 9 years ago:). Hit the mother lode on choosing Vista Ridge:). I think VR’s show and Reagan’s were my favorite from 2018.
  4. A little off topic, I love all bands, clap for all of them etc. I’ve moved to Fort Worth from Frisco Lebanon Trail attendance zone. Did I pay attention to which high school band’s attendance zone while I was looking for a home?....you bet, lol. So I’m in Keller Central’s attendance zone and heard them practicing, sounded great. Here’s where the band geek still resides inside of my 48 year old mind. Should I have picked a house in Timber Creek attendance zone, they’re up and coming? There aren’t any homes that I liked in Keller but man they’re top dogs in Keller isd right? I stopped there when I realized I was being ridiculous. I now live in the attendance zone of a band that has ranked in the 20’s and low 30’s out of all the boa San Antonio Goliaths. That’s pretty good and the Keller isd showcase must be outstanding with central, timber creek and Keller bands on the field. I wish I could say I didn’t partially decide where to pick a home based on that but I would be lying. So there’s that, confessions of a 25 year removed band geek and his continuing obsession with high school marching bands.. Now I have get my 8 year old more excited about band:)
  5. Don’t underestimate Hebron and Flower Mound, some bands had more problems with rain last year than others in Texas. I see Hebron as a dark horse winner at SA and nationals. The only caveat to that in my opinion is what CTJ brings this year. It’ll be interesting to see if Vista Ridge can pull a repeat at finals this year. With completely new show writers, who knows?
  6. Thats why I really respect bands like Avon, Vista Murriwta and Westlake from Utah. They know what they’re headed into but they come to give their best shot. That is a good indication of how things would be if they ever moved the gnc to Texas. It would end up being a second State UIL contest in most years. It’s amazing how they argue up there about how good the Texas bands really are. When the heavy hitters show up however, many of them stay home. They need to have more of the spirit that Westfield, Churchill and Spring had in the 80’s and 90’s. They were outsiders then But sure enough they usually got into the top 5, Westfield was number 2 a couple of times even before Spring won it all in ‘93.
  7. Not too long ago the favorite target was Marcus, then flower mound and ctj now. Even though I live in dfw ctj is one of my favorite bands. Somehow in a state full of great bands they stand out, but the comment Avon dad made about every band kid working hard is true. I admit I don’t stand for every band because that I’m a music snob, but I still respect everyone and clap. Having been in a not so great band from east Texas many moons ago I know what it’s like to hear critiques instead of applause. However, I didn’t expect people to give us a standing ovation for just being there, that’s insulting. That being said we still started working on August just like everyone else. So congrats to ctj for getting criticized, sometimes that’s the ultimate compliment:)....And props to Jarrett Lipman for being a good sport with us novices on here!
  8. Yes, I love for people from out of state to come over to the Texas forums and talk. Avon dad has been like a member of the family since Avon came down a couple of years ago. There are others as well,I respect a band that is willing to test themselves against the gauntlet of outstanding Texas bands. Certainly isn’t the easy road. If we’re being honest they always could’ve gone to St. Louis and probably made finals, so I’m excited to see how VM does here.
  9. I think Timber Creek will continue to get better. Their staff has a great list of bona fides with several of the directors having worked at Flower Mound, Marcus, Keller High and CTJ.
  10. I hope y'all are right about Friendswood. The Houston area used to be the standard bearer for Texas Marching Bands. Spring, Klein Oak and Westfield ruled the 80's and 90's. But the last 10 years the whole area has been basically a no show besides The Woodlands and North Shore in class 5a and 6a at the state level. Yes Seven Lakes is moving up but that is a recent phenomenon. And I'm moving to Keller so I can say this and not be a homer. Lebanon Trail is going to surprise alot of people this year, I think they'll go in the top 3 at state.
  11. Mostly true, but there are others. Don't forget the original LISD up north, Flower Mound uses JV band on performance weekends at football game, but Hebron, Marcus and even the resurgent Lewisville HIgh School Band are very well supported. Frisco iSD is very good about it as well, interest in football is not strong here with 10 high schools and counting. The only other districts that comes to mind with outstanding multi school support within the district would be Birdville ISD, Keller ISD with Keller High, Timbercreek and Keller Central as regular attendees to multiple contests, Edit: Northeast ISD also does very well with Reagan and Johnson making fairly regular trips to Grand Nats along with multiple appearance in Macy's and Rose parades.
  12. Wow we’ve got some Homer’s on here, lol. I’m from Frisco so I can say no, every band from 5a area b cannot make state finals. I mean that’s great rah rah, but wakeland, Lebanon Trail, maybe Centennial if they come back next year, and Maybe McKinney north with a possible Wylie east surprise. Friendswood has a great tradition but I don’t see them at state finals unless they step it up. It’ll be between dfw and Austin this year in finals. Btw, I’ll give you cedar park, they’ll vie for first place, dripping springs will probably make the top ten. Not sure about Rouse, have to see what they have this year. Add in Aledo and Highland Park for top 10, maybe Richland? Edit: Valley bands of course, Roma, and I thought pflugerville was 6a so have to include them in the mix.
  13. We can also hope that this fall will be back to a normal Texas fall instead a near constant deluge. That will bump some scores as well as opposed to this year. Sorry band mom, didn’t read your post before I posted this. We’re on the same wavelength here:)
  14. Harlingen came within 3 points of Ctj in 2015 for 2nd place and won the first boa regional in the valley in 2005.. So It certainly can be done, Harlingen also came in 6th at San Antonio in 2001 before it became a super regional and won the For some reason Harlingen stopped going to boa the last two years, but John B Alexander and San Benito seem to be coming up down there. I agree that it would be nice to see a valley win in McAllen. I started band at Harlingen before I moved north so I spent middle school years listening to all of those great valley bands, always root for them.
  15. I think San Antonio will be back itself this year. The constant rain last fall took a toll on a lot of bands in Texas, particularly if they tried to put together a difficult marching drill. So with hopefully no hurricanes and a drier fall, look out. I’m glad to see the out of state bands coming in, that adds a lot to the atmosphere, don’t think we’ll see either in finals but who knows. There’s a solid top 25 bands at boa SA, Vista Murrieta have to really bring it.
  16. There’s no shame in Texas, probably just 30 years of seeing the same song from Texas bands at the rose bowl parade. I am Texas proud to a fault, especially where it concerns marching band! Flower Mound did great today.
  17. Okay, I know it is our unofficial state song but why is it a prerequisite for marching bands to play this, particularly at the rose bowl parade. Mine did it at the Macy’s parade back in 1989, but why? I watched Flower Mound on you tube from the rose bowl band fest, field show was outstanding yet again, but they preview the song they will play in the parade and sure enough, deep in the heart of Texas. Props to Reagan for resisting the urge to play it in last year’s rose bowl parade. Nothing against Flower Mound they play it very well, this may just be me, but it makes Texas seem more provincial than we are.
  18. Porter came in at 28th in state two years ago. Is there new evidence that suggest they are in a position to move up against dfw and Austin bands? I don’t see it on video, but I know literally nothing about the program so I certainly could be off. Two years ago I wouldn’t have thought Frisco Lebanon Trail might make state finals but there is evidence this year of improvement in how they compare to common competition that are traditional state powerhouses. The Houston area has not had a lot of competitive bands outside of The Woodlamds and North Shore. 5a has been worse, no band from the Houston area made state finals last time in 5a, highest last time was Tomball at number 20 during prelims. Would love to see that change.
  19. Current bands Hebron 2017, CTJ 2017 and multiple LD Bell shows in the 2000's. However, the all time great for me is Spring 1993. They broke new ground, and of course brought home the first Texas grand nats gold medal. The Houston contest of 1993 was outstanding Spring, Phillip Geiger's Westfield and Duncanville. One of the best contests I've seen, one of those where you know you saw something very special unfolding. Spring and Westfield were setting trends for the future of high school marching band, Duncanville was it's usual powerhouse self and somehow Klein came in 3rd....... The next year Boa started hosting the regional in San Antonio, and so boa began to explode in Texas and it had alot to do with those three marching bands. Okay, have to add Vista Ridge from this year. I love that show!
  20. He’s been to dci, boa in dfw and Plano East marching festival several times as well as a couple of others. He’s 7 so soccer rules right now. Clark middle school has a strong program and he’ll go there from his current elementary school, so maybe he’ll flip in middle school:) I probably do need to take home to the Frisco Isd showcase next year. I will say this, we went to a football game with my father and he was baffled by the crowd talking during the band performance at half time, lol. Kid has the etiquette down.
  21. Thinking this morning on the way to work and after tearing apart Carmel’s grand Nats performance. I just reminded myself after I woke up of how fortunate a true band geek has it in Texas. I’m 47 years old, was a drum major in high school, music major in college but teaching wasn’t my thing. However it does my heart good when I go walking at arbor nature preserve in west Plano and have the privilege of hearing Hebron’s percussion on fall mornings or pass by Lebanon Trail practicing in the parking lot on the way to get groceries here in Frisco. I still am a solid band geek at heart, there’s probably not a day that goes that I don’t watch band videos from somewhere. The most recent was the Arkansas Marching championship, other than Carmel this morning...I’m proud of Arkansas they have some up and coming bands, good shows. However, their best band would be lucky to place in the 30’s at boa San Antonio. Lucky, because I’m not sure they could top the Valkey bands. The Valley and El Paso have some outstanding bands that would be in state finals in many other states. But they can’t make it through the intensely competitive suburban bands from the big 4 metros. I’ve heard comments about there being 20 million people here and all, but I don’t see California or Florida putting up the deep quality of bands as Texas does. So I think I came to an epiphany about my fellow Indiana peeps who sometimes say we can’t hang. Let them have that, if we sent every top 20 band to indy every year there would be a lot of hardware in Texas trophy cases. I suddenly realized that the finals do need to stay in Indy, otherwise Texas would consistently dominate and that takes the fun away. I’m also a great lover of marching band and I love that states like Arkansas are getting more quality in their marching bands. I don’t want to take away incentive for those smaller programs to grow because they feel like they’ll be crowded out by the mass of outstanding Texas bands. So I guess I’m coming to terms with the St Louis regional that gave Clovis, nm, bentonville, ark and Weiss time to shine along with grand nats. Because Texans know where the grandaddy of marching contests takes place..... Right in the heart of San Antonio:). No Texas bias present in this wall of text at all;)
  22. Lebanon Trail, Centennial had alot of technical issues this year, seemed to me that they were trying a CTJ type drill that they had trouble executing except their musicality was lower than normal...same last year. They'd have to really pick it up to make state next year, and they might, who knows. In the one head to head they had last year at Tournament of Champions the score wasn't even close between LT and Centennial, LT won by a long shot and Centennial placed fifth. LT had a 88.5 and Centennial's score was 82.2. Plus if you listen to Lebanon Trail last year to this year, the improvement is amazing. If they make any kind of similar improvement next year they'll place high at state finals.
  23. The same thing that is making Lebanon trail strong is what is now hurting centennial. Clark now feeds into LT now, not centennial. LT also has the former marching band assistant from centennial as their lead director. She was in place the last two times centennial appeared at state finals. We’ll see, centennial has a good tradition and strong band parents association. I’m surprised Lone Star got past Centennial last year. That’s the only time all year that Lone Star beat Centennial including area prelims that day. I wasn’t fond of their show in 2017, but they executed it well. Edit: Southwest high school is the one that knocked centennial out after barely losing in prelims, not lone star. Lone Star beat Centennial by 10 points in 2017.
  24. I think you’re right, after watching centennials uil show they are going to have to step it up to get to state, LT has the mojo though, I think they’ll make it. I live just off Hillcrest so I’m technically in Centennials feeder, but son is in Lebanon Trail feeder system right now. He’s not interested in band but he’s 7, I have time for indoctrination lol. Have to make sure I choose the right band contest to take him to over the next couple of years.
  25. Thank You, lol. Beside's Wakeland, Frisco schools tend to get over looked, probably because they pop up like rabbits. Lebanon Trail's director came from Centennial and they had a great show this year. Frisco Centennial is still strong, they are both boa holdouts. Centennial had a strong drill this year that they had trouble executing. I would look out for Frisco Centennial, Lebanon Trail and Wakeland for state next year. Lone Star had a good show at area a couple of years ago and Centennial had an off finals performance, they were barely beat by Lone Star, I don't see that happening again. But Centennial does have a new regime as mentioned earlier in marching band so who knows, this year Lebanon Trail definately executed better in both visual and music this year.
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