josephbandfan

Flomo also won SA in 2015 and 2016, before dropping to 6th at SA and 5th at GN in 2017. Consistently holding the top spot in Texas is so difficult. But Flomo taking home the eagle is one of my top wishes for marching band history. Listening to their video last year explaining their approach to design definitely gives me high hopes

Flower Mound and Vista Ridge have won state before so it wouldn’t be a shocker if they did again.

Let’s be real, those prelims performance captions were all over the place. Pearland 18th in music, Ronald Reagan 15th, McNeil 25th. In visual, seven lakes 20th, Round Rock 22nd. And that’s just the bands that made finals

Finally!

When I went in 2019, I was able to walk inside without a ticket. I was just able to walk right in, so I assumed that the ticket area was further in somewhere. But next thing I know I’m walking around towards the seats. Not complaining though 😅

Keller still has quite a bit to add including another minute to their closer. Like every year, just have to hope they can clean enough by area. Especially with only 4 or 3 bands advancing to state

It’ll certainly be quite the drive for y’all!

So who is making finals?

Ben Ash was actually judging color guard. Understandable since Keller’s guard program has been rebuilding from all the guard director changes they’ve had and drop in numbers. 9th may have been a little harsh though On another note, it seems BC and Sachse actually tied in finals

No major disagreements with results. Just thought Sachse would get 2nd and win color guard. Unless I’m remembering wrong, I think Colleyville Heritage only had 6 color guard members and ended up winning the caption. They did utilize non varsity band members with swing flags as well and the woodwinds at one point of the show.

Can you list these strange things?

Theres always going to be some bias, that’s impossible to escape. But nothing on a major scale where I would call it a systematic problem

At least for Keller, they tend to stick to 2 BOA competitions a season, usually Bedford and San Antonio. Last year when they attended Prosper, they skipped out on Bedford. BOA competitions cost more to attend. Double or almost triple other local contests. This is also only a 20 min drive vs over an hour to Prosper. They usually compete at the HEB marching contest but looks like they took that out this year and added this contest. Maybe just wanted an extra week to learn their show before competing. I vividly remember this contest the last time they attended and can’t wait to be back!

With it still being relatively early in the season, I wouldn’t be surprised if BC wins. Haven’t seen them this year yet but they’re always great and Keller’s shows don’t usually come together until later in the season.

The music and visual caption judges on difficulty, range of skill, techniques, and their execution. The GE captions judge on whether the content they’re performing is effective in supporting the theme, if it’s interesting or innovative, and its execution. A band successfully executing music that supports the theme will be more effective than a poor performance of music that supports the theme. Basically, vis and music is purely execution of the technical aspects. And GE is execution of design, which execution of the technical aspects plays a part in. Yes, that does allow a little more room for opinions, but even the music and visual captions also have some degree of opinions as one judge may reward a specific technique more than another. Yes, the design of a show is mostly out of the student’s control. The GE captions is basically to help promote innovation and encourage unique exploration of ideas. If we wanted to judge solely on the performance of the students without any outside factors such as a non performer’s design, wouldn’t it make more sense to have every competing band perform the exact same show? Having more resources can definitely make being innovate easier. But, many would argue that most innovation in the world was a direct result of limitations. Some may argue about how much of the score should GE be responsible for which is understandable. But when you really break down what GE is, you understand that execution of a show is still the majority of the score. You don’t have to personally agree with it. You don’t even have to agree that it needs to be an entirely separate caption. But BOA and DCI use it for a reason. And no one is forcing band directors to attend these regionals, but many do. If a director only wants to participate in a circuit where only performance is judged and not design, they have free will to do so. How much money comes into play in student activities is always a discussion but it’s just the truth of life. Take out the design aspect, money still has a direct effect on music and marching when considering private lessons, well decorated educators, opportunities, etc. All that being said, a band can be successful in BOA without all the bells and whistles! Wakeland has been one of the top DFW bands for the past few years and their approach to their show themes has been some of the most basic I’ve ever seen that I could write it in my sleep. 2023 show was Sense of Direction and they just had a ton of arrow sets. 2024 show is Where the Heart Is. Stick figure family set here, house set there, heart set there. No props. But their performance ability has been so high in combination with the music and marching they attempt. Some people say the original GE is cleanliness. A well performed difficult show will have an effect on you. You could then say what’s the point of GE then if a band can just perform well and still succeed? How I think of it is that a well performed difficult show with basic theme still trumps a less impressive show with an amazing theme, as they should. But if it’s a well performed difficult show with an amazing theme, then they take the cake. It can suck that there’s an aspect that is out of the performer’s hands, but this is a creative art after all and there needs to be some level of subjectivity.

Flower Mound’s show and design was by far the most interesting here. Can’t wait to see it again in San Antonio

Some of that was actually due to all the electronic failures they were experiencing 😅

Keep in mind that visual GE is only 1/3 of the entire GE score. While props and costuming can contribute to GE, it isn’t even necessary as propless shows succeed on a yearly basis. Southlake Carroll’s show was filled with backdrops, props, bubble machines, theme specific uniforms, some guard members had glittery lobster hands, and was 7th in Vis GE. But was 12th in Music GE and 11th in GE overall.

This is the draw order posted on the official Area B site. Same one that is posted on page 2 of this forum https://www.uilregion24music.com/_files/ugd/2a9078_b15e7b302534413ca1a5ff844c69fd8b.pdf

Oh, is that so?

I know it’s early season but you didn’t have to call their show a house fire 😭

The only thing I was able to find was the list of judges on Duncanville’s band calendar, and I also saw that James Martin and Waxahachie have this on their calendar.

Apparently TW’s show is called Fantasia on Frenchman Street so I’m imagining a lively and jazzy New Orleans street scene.

Keller is going

Schedule is up! https://www.birdvillemarchingfestival.com/schedules.html