MikeKyu

Last year they ran all classifications to make up for COVID restrictions and complications placed by school districts for the 2020 contest.

There is an element of truth to this statement in regards to BOA weighting

The band directors and BOA staff. Other than that, it's a mystery.

I didnt want the Hebron show to end. They are squarely on the bubble...the bubble of sweeping captions and winning this outright by a fair margin.

That's a trick question. We all know the answer in None. These are inferior shows that are played at a level that would not allow entry into the State of Indiana.

While I agree with the sentiment here and would love to see a semi-finals I just do not see a way that it would be a sound investment for the schools nor a fair representation of BOA when considering all of the other Super Regionals. It's tough here. Relish this. It is making every band better. Maybe one day Texas will produce a band that can hang with the bottom half of Indiana schools (tongue firmly in cheek) .

Hendrickson looked and sounded great. They are in the GN Train and peaking at the right time. Cedar Park floored me. Their dynamic control and clarity today were incredible.

This is the best year for Westlake in a long time. I'm really happy to see them back to competing at a very high level. What a great show.

Well then. I guess it's a good thing that judging is no longer done on a demerit basis. I was sitting on the 50 3/4ths of the way up and my tin ears couldn't hear any full band tuning issues. Poor Vista Ridge, I guess they aren't going to beat a clean Westlake to finals this year.

Leaving Austin shortly. Will be having lunch at Cherrity then heading in for the afternoon and rest of the night.

Throughout this season the stream quality improves as the contest moves along.

Finals Recaps here: https://marching.musicforall.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/10/2022-Waco-Finals-Recap.pdf

I can't see LISD not allowing their bands to compete at Area. LISD tends to prefer their bands to compete when the directors want to compete. I believe the bands all opted out to conserve budgets and prep for the last weekends of BOA.

Vista did a massive amount of work this week and it really paid off for them. Well earned podium for The Ranger Band.

No, everyone else just had a better run this afternoon.

Lubbock Cooper is surprising to me today. Nice show. I haven't watched much of this contest due to TMC, BOA Dallas, and Delaware but I can see this show pushing to play tonight.

Lebanon Trail no longer surprises me. They have earned a standard level of expectation. I love that organization.

You can always use the umbrella as a drum during performances. There is nothing saying you cannot, right?

LD Bell. Visually a great show. I think some of the performers put too much pressure on themselves and overplayed a little more than they wanted to. They marched well. They sound great when they focused in and weren't overplaying. I am willing to bet they will not have that issue this evening.

Rock Hill. The Mad Hatter show is not only cute but reinforcing my belief that the slide whistle needs more prominence in the contest marching band world. This show should clean up nicely and they are looking wonderful for a 2nd year band.

This is a gorgeous show by Southlake Carroll. I love how they split the field in the 2nd movement. And what's to not like about a company front ending

I guess it's a good thing they no longer negatively judge on holes in shows then. In reality, that's terrible. Hoping for The Lions to recover quickly.

I believe the 2 point difference will all come from music at this contest. Vandy is clean clean clean right now. Reagan had a fair amount of dirt to clean up last weekend and some of those niggles will most likely remain. Visual performance is a dead heat between the top 3 right now. I put CP 3rd because I believe they are going to perform the 4th movement of the show. I saw video of it this morning.

This is a heavy contest. I can see things going a few ways in finals but this is my final guess: 1. Vandegrift H.S., TX - They are going to win by 2.0+ points2. Ronald Reagan H.S., TX They are going to win visual pushing them above Cedar Park by the smallest of margins. 3. Cedar Park H.S., TX It hurts to put such a great conceived, played, and performed show in 3rd. I wouldn't be surprised to see this show in 2nd4. Round Rock H.S., TX They made strides and cleaned this show up considerably. After the last few years it feels oddly great to put the Dragons this high at this contest5. Vista Ridge H.S., TX This show is cleaning up nicely but I think they will fall below the Dragon at this show. At the end of the year they will overcome Round Rock but not yet. 6. Rouse H.S., TX Not too much of a change the last few weeks. They have supposedly hit hard by COVID. 7. Hendrickson H.S., TX They are pushing hard to Grand Nats. 8.Leander H.S., TX Big improvement from BOA Austin. They aren't playing like Leander of near past but they are marching the show well.9. Dripping Springs H.S., TX Huge strides made in bringing this band back to prominence with a well thought out and played show.These last 3 can go any way 10. John B. Alexander H.S., TX My favorite dark horse in every contest 11. Louis D. Brandeis H.S., TX Up and coming band. They will learn a lot from this contest.12. McNeil H.S., TX They always seem to be on the bubble. This contest brings them to finals.

Oh yeah, and here's the full retreat treat. With a fun and friendly (honestly meant in jest) little jab at our friends in Indiana who claim Texas bands have volume because of "shotgun mics."