BandWatcher

I’m sure you’re right. What could have ever come over me.

Sigh. If I’ve been proactively snarky, it’s because I’m speaking up for friends who can’t do so without being accused of bias. I believe, however, that my snark has been exclusively a case of responding in kind to other members of your “community”. I marched 4 years in a Texas 5A high school program and 3 years in college. But the sentiment seems to be that I don’t know what I’m talking about. Just never mind.

Nope. You didn’t get it.

Ok. Appreciate the additional context.

Yet Bowie tied Hendrickson for musical performance overall and had a higher musical performance overall than Cedar Ridge, Westlake, and LD Bell (Cedar Park’s musical average was better than all of them, Bowie included) ... and a higher visual average than Cedar Ridge. I’m sure Bowie can and will be better but if I’m one of those families I’m at a loss as to how yesterday played out.

If it’s possible to see around your over-inflated sense of self-satisfaction, go back and re-read my post. I didn’t say Bell and Westlake advanced *only* on luck. They obviously performed well and have worked hard. But it is disingenuous to say that the good fortune of being in panel 1 didn’t help provide the fractions needed to secure one of the wild card spots. It is possible to question the judging method without impugning any of the bands and their students. Grow up, please.

Leander was very good! Great season for themselves

There isn’t another state with this level of depth and talent. Which is another reason why BOA needs to get the judging issue fixed; what works for the rest of the country doesn’t cover eventualities you’ll see play out here.

If you watch the shows and not just look at numbers, then yes... MFA did a disservice to some programs and needs to take action for next year.

Dang it, you’re right: got my wires crossed on CP’s panel. I don’t have a personal stake in either program but have friends in both. Either way, BOA has some work to do. However the rules are tweaked for next year (and how could they not), I guess that’ll be the modern version of the “Hebron rule”? (maybe we’ll call it the “Bowie rule”?)

They were both plenty good enough.

BOA owes Cedar Park and Bowie an apology. Nothing against LD Bell and Westlake, but they were in finals because of lucking into panel 1. Finals scores back that up. Either BOA needs to get their judging panels to be more consistent (not sure how you do that since they’re people and prone to subjective differences) or you cap the contest at 60 bands and go back to one panel over two days. What’s been communicated today is that luck is every bit as important as show design and skill. Cedar Park not getting to perform at Waco might have factored but Bowie’s trajectory all season has been higher than Bell, Westlake, even Cedar Ridge and Hendrickson. Both CP’s and Bowie’s prelims runs were plenty good enough. Nobody probably cares tho. I’m sure Dan won’t spend 5 seconds talking about it on the pod.