SoundOff

Whoa whoa whoa… Many people are frustrated about the results from this competition every year but let’s not forget that the students and directors also view these forums. To demean their hard work is a bit harsh. Every band in this area consistently gets better and that’s how it should be! There’s no reason to disrespect other bands who were not “sloppy and gimmicky” based off of UIL standards. Take a look at the adjudication sheet (can be found on the UIL Area G website) and really try to understand how much they look at. It works wonders to understand that there’s a lot more that goes into it than what you may think.

G.E will definitely be through the roof this year in comparison to previous years!

This is John B. Alexander’s highest placing show in their BOA SA history! Huge congratulations to them for making a SOLID statement after that State result!

PSJA definitely surprised tonight! Amazing job to them. I think considering all of Alexander’s staff changes within the past 2 years they haven’t changed too much. They have been pretty consistent in terms of how they’re placing this year as well and their music is much harder than previous years. Hopefully next year they’ll surprise us again. As for United, jeez. United hasn’t been at state for a couple of years now and I am so excited that they are returning! It’ll be a great performance from all Area G bands but we all know how state goes and unfortunately they’ll all place in a surprisingly low spot. Your username says it all!!!

3rd- John B. Alexander HS (Visual) 2nd- Pieper HS 1st- Roma HS (GE & Music)

Anybody catch Roma?

That situation also seems to arise in many North Texas competitions where all the big dogs are competing and the judges really get down to the nitty gritty. It’s actually a really good thing if this is happening down here.

It’s definitely happened in other Bands of America competitions, I can’t quite remember an accurate competition but it’s definitely possible.

This! It’s amazing to see the growth and influence of south texas bands over the years. Ain’t nothing wrong with a little bit of friendly competition, all in all, every single one of these bands have a uniqueness to them and I am extremely excited to see how they grow throughout the season & the coming years!

JBA’s music this year is wild. I’m also extremely obsessed with their diversity in terms of music over the years.

Does anybody have a video of JBA or United, maybe even Edinburg?? Also very surprised to not see Del Rio in the last half of the block. Great job to all bands! Congratulations United HS!

Raised some eyebrows…Placement does not matter. At the end of the day, those kids and those directors are making it known that they are there. Congratulations to every single band that poured their hearts out these past couple of days. ❤️

Good luck to all bands competing!

I think it’s more of how much progress Alexander has made from last year to this year. The sound, the visuals, the general effect, the attitude, there’s a lot of factors that have drastically changed from just last year alone. Alexander has obviously been taking notes from the stacked competitions they’ve been going to. Placing just under a point beneath Leander at Texas Marching Classic also speaks a lot about how they are doing this year. Now that’s not to say that Hanna hasn’t been doing great, I think they’ve also been having phenomenal season. To add, Alexander has a very visually and musically demanding show, as all their previous shows have been and they’re doing a great job meeting those expectations. I don’t think it’s right of you to say they aren’t doing so. P.S., TikTok algorithm is very Russian roulette-esque and anybody can post a video and get more than 500k likes/views. Good luck to all bands! This is gonna be a great contest!

You should’ve heard the audience gasp when they announced Vandegrifts score after Reagan’s 😂

Brandeis placing above Leander is a HUGE shock but they did perform EXTREMELY well!! Leander also had missing performers:( This however, does not undermine the performance quality of Brandeis. They had an amazing series of performances today!!!! Congratulations to all!!!

JBA, Sandra Day O’Connor and Brandeis are all making it known that they are here! Amazing performances all around.

Alexander 2018- They based a large portion of their show off of “Ori and The Blind Forest”. The music they chose that year really highlighted and captured the emotions they were displaying throughout the entirety of the show. Gareth Coker composed in such a beautiful way that captured the storyline behind the video game and also used lots of theory to emphasize emotional connection to the player. I feel like Alexander utilized as much as they could to portray a show to connect with the audience and definitely met that goal when they had multiple people in tears at the BOA San Antonio performance. It was by far one of the most emotional connecting high school performances I have seen to this day.

Final Predictions: 1. Vandegrift 2. Cedar Park 3. Ronald Reagan 4. Vista Ridge 5. Round Rock 6. Rouse 7. Dripping Springs 8. Hendrickson 9. Leander or JBA 10. John B. Alexander or Leander 11. Louis D. Brandeis 12. McNeil

Excited to see how JBA will fit amongst these bands. They did NOT go to play around in McAllen. Seems they have upped their musical general effect this year as well as a noticeably larger & cleaner colorguard.

Found this on YouTube for anyone wanting to watch JBA’s Finals run. - https://youtu.be/8McRUgWAokY

JBA, Brandeis & SDO I have a feeling will be very close. JBA every year seems to bring out the most during their finals performances in McAllen and at Yamaha. This will truly be a great finals run from ALL bands. Very excited to see how Roma places in all of this, with the curiosity of how Sharyland places as well.