TXGABandFan

I attended both prelims and finals at UIL and was amazed at the level of playing by all of the bands. Regarding the different style bands (Coppell and Ducanville versus the BOA pack) I think you really need to analyze the entire show. While many of the BOA style bands march extremely fast, complicated drills, they do little playing during these moments. When sections are featured playing difficult music it is generally when they are standing still. I noticed several bands would march for up to 90 seconds before playing their first notes as an ensemble. Either sound effects, drums or a sectional solo played while the majority did some amazing drill move. And one band only played as an ensemble for a total of about 4 minutes........I timed it. They didn't make finals, but what is the music judge supposed to judge when you aren't playing? If you noticed, Coppell and Ducanville play from start to finish pretty much as a full ensemble, spreading across the entire field with their large bands. And they play with an incredible balanced sound, especially considering how far apart the sections are. Both groups march very clean drills. Sure, they're not running around in drill formations but they are playing their instruments non-stop. So while some bands are practicing to perfect their difficult drill moves other bands are working to perfect their difficult music. Now I agree, BOA style bands are generally more crowd pleasing and fun to watch. But the point of UIL is to reward those bands that are teaching their kids how to play music well while marching. It doesn't necessarily reward the show designers for a cool concept the way BOA does. A band that plays very well will generally do better than a band with a great show design at UIL. However, some bands like Marcus and Bell have figured out how to impress both BOA and UIL, and I predict other bands will follow suit over the next couple of years.

I maybe wrong but I believe that UIL and BOA have different show length restrictions as well as other key differences. So I'm just curious if bands that are competing at both BOA SA on Saturday and at UIL on Tuesday alter their shows for the time differences allowed, or make other changes for the different judging formats.

I think this is a good concept but it would become difficult to follow individual band comments in a single long thread like this. Everybody likes to know how they're doing and appreciates feedback (good and bad). That's why you get so many people fishing for comments on this board. It would be a nice idea if the owner of this site could create a major thread category called "Band Shows and Comments" or something similar. Under that major thread category could be a single thread for each band. Then people could go to that band's thread to enter comments about their shows. It would also be nice if the site could include or cross reference a database of each band's show theme and music, contests attending/results, band directors and other information such as number of members. Or perhaps that information could simply be entered as a post under their thread. Just a thought............

I saw your show last week at the Coppell game and was really impressed. The Coppell home crowd even gave you guys a standing O. The drill is very good, especially the opening set which got everyone's attention, and I like the music selection a lot. The only part I didn't like was the waving of the little green things, wasn't very effective and kind of strange. What was that all about?? Very good guard, also. Best of luck at area.

Most of you have heard of Spirit from JSU at DCI. Here is a link to a recent performance of the JSU Marching Southerners at the Cobb County Band Exhibition in Georgia. The Marching Southerners is the band program at JSU. http://www.hutchdeloach.com/video/jsu.html I'm an alumni of JSU now living in Texas and am blown away by the many talented bands in this state. I would love for those of you thinking about pursuing music in college to check out Jacksonville State. A great school, fantastic music department and beautiful campus.