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There WILL be bands which deserve to be in finals that won't make it. There are just too many amazing bands that will be performing at State. I doubt anyone will actually predict the state results correctly. So many bands are on the same amazing level.

It's looks like a pretty well balanced schedule to me. It's going to be an amazing contest!

San Antonio: Taft 8:00 Cedar Park 8:15 The Woodlands 8:30 Carrollton: Hebron 8:45 Justin:Northwest 9:00 Harlingen South 9:15 Duncanville 9:30 Spring 9:45 BREAK El Paso:Americas 10:15 Lewisville:Marcus 10:30 Harlingen 10:45 Sugar Land:Austin 11:00 Klein 11:15 San Antonio:Reagan 11:30 Coppell 11:45 N. Richland Hills:Richland 12:00 LUNCH Brownsville:Hanna 12:45 Friendswood:Clear Brook 1:00 Houston:Langham Creek 1:15 Rowlett 1:30 Haltom City:Haltom 1:45 Donna 2:00 Sugar Land:Clements 2:15 San Antonio:Churchill 2:30 BREAK Hurst:L.D.Bell 3:00 Clute:Brazoswood 3:15 Austin:Bowie 3:30 Richardson:Berkner 3:45 PSJA North 4:00 Keller 4:15 Austin:Akins 4:30 This is the most updated schedule. It was updated once today... so far. What a day this is going to be! STACKED! Goooood luck to all of the bands. Source: http://www.uil.utexas.edu/music/smbc_info2005.html

Dances on the field... and that is exactly why LD Bell won State 2 years ago. Oh wait a minute, that's right, they didn't dance! Neither did Cedar Park. They did that crazy thing that you mentioned in your post... MARCH AND PLAY MUSIC! You know, I'm sure that at dance competitions, you won't see any dancers bust out a trumpet and start playing. Why does a band have to start dancing? Dancing is definitely a crowd pleaser, but that's about all it is. I admit, many bands are starting to take this route, but many bands do just fine without it. At the Area G contest, Sharyland and Hanna pretty much got the best audience reaction of the night. NEITHER of them spent 30 seconds dancing. Sure they did visuals (Hanna did a lot actually, but most of them were while they were playing), but at least both bands marched and played a heck of a show. OK, enough of that.

I've never been a spectator at State. Does the Alamodome get a packed during finals? All of the videos make it seem like there are 5 people there

OK. So, here are my thoughts: I saw the entire morning block and finals, and I was shocked to not see edinburg make finals!!! WTF? When I saw SA Marshall, I was just trying to figure out how they beat edinburg. Was it because they played 8:45? I don't know. Such a long day . Anyways, about finals: I was kind of shocked with the results from 3rd place down. I knew Hanna and Harlingen (they went 1st and 2nd during finals, btw) were definitely the top 2. I expected Sharyland to take it all, but their finals performance wasn't like prelims. Many of the woodwind runs were dirty, and mannnny sections of the drill was dirty as well. BUT, besides those issues, this band played awesome! How did they not get 3rd? Oh well. Sharyland: I'm sorry for what happened yesterday, but just know that you all performed very well and I stood up to applaud after your performance, great job guys. So about those rankings. I think a lot of the WTF? from prelims to finals dealt a bit with the first 9 bands performing so early. I know many people will say that is not a factor, but I will tell you that IT IS! And it was shown yesterday. Sharyland had a darn good run in the morning, and even if Harlingen played their show to perfection, it shouldn't have beaten Sharyland. Harlingen's 3 minutes of dancing (exaggeration) didn't impress me as much as Sharyland's 3 minutes of amazing woodwind/brass runs. Anyways, that's about it from me. I have a lot more to say about yesterday, but I'd rather not get anyone angry One more note though: Congrats to Hanna and Harlingen for having the only clean drill last night! I loved both performances. Good luck at state.

State is going to be insane this year. And so the countdown begins...

I saw Hanna perform both in prelims and finals. I wasn't too suprised to hear them ranked 1st after watching all of the finalist bands. Hanna seemed like a completely different band during finals. Their show was very clean and well played. They performed the crap out of it, actually. Awesome. Anyways, I believe that these bands (advancing) should do fairly well at state. Good luck to Hanna! They should rank well at state, more than likely above the rest of the area G bands advancing (yes, even Harlingen). Anything can happen though. In 2002 Harlingen got 2nd at area and went on to beat all of the area G bands at state. Good luck to all of the bands!

hahahahhahahaha

Yup, good luck everyone. Leave everything you've got on the field, don't let yourself wonder "What if?" afterwards. Go get 'em!

only 7. I hate the fact that only 3 will advance

Yup, good luck to all of the bands competing. Go Cedar Park! You all were amazing in 2004! Ahh... there are going to be many talented bands at the Area D contest. Someone better post those results ASAP after the contest

They should really let students know about these kinds of decisions. Oh well, it doesn't matter what anyone says now. Area G is going to happen and it will be the toughest area G contest to date, and hopefully whichever bands advance represent the area well at state. *I still think the first block is going to dominate. It's just an opinion...

Yup, RGC will be the standard. We'll see how the day plays out!

I agree that a finals-worthy band should perform awesome at any time. My only concern is: What if there are 6 bands that are finals-worthy and perform awesome in the morning block? Will they all advance? Have their been instances where almost all of the finalist bands come from a single performance block?

Any update on the protest of time slots? Does anyone think the judges will be ok with advancing several bands from the first block to finals? This is based off of the 2004 finals.

Wow, many of the finalists bands from 2004 are in the first block. I hope all of those students are ready to give their "A" performance early in the morning. I predict that 6 of the finalist bands will come out of the first block in the morning. We'll see how it goes!

Read the last sentence of the second paragraph http://www.ldbellband.org/info/modules.php...article&sid=436

Congrats to Economedes for earning their first division 1. Area G will be interesting. Yup.

I'm still shocked that Area G will be advancing 7 to state this year, wow. Did anyone attend the region 15 contest? If so, were there any standout bands? I saw about 3 that should do very well at the Area G contest from region 28.

That's great. It seems like area G will be better than past years. I sure hope so. I think after Pigskin, I'll have a better idea of who to watch out for at area. I love being able to finally watch bands instead of being on the field (i do miss it, of course). We'll see how it goes.

I'm glad to hear that the valley is advancing, we've been behind the rest of the state for a while. I haven't had a chance to see many other bands. I did get to see Harlingen South at the South vs. Hanna game. It was pretty early in the season so it's hard to base anything off of that performance. I live in Brownsville and I have only seen Hanna and Pace. umdebaba, how are the bands that you've seen? Anyone stand out yet besides Edinburg?

a review of area D would be awesome. anyone else going to review an area contest?

I'm pretty sure they were talking about region. All a band needs to do is get a 1 after the highest and lowest of three scores is dropped (I think?) to advance to area.

sounds great, I'm sure sharyland and donna will do great. I'll see donna at pigskin and both at area. Area seems like it is going to be a lot of competitive fun, can't wait.