BlueCircle

You’re right...I don’t want to give UIL any ideas

I know this is the wrong thread but Waco is over and I had the worst thought come to me. What if every band that wanted to compete was given the same show. Just like all-state audition etudes. Marching band would be so sad and boring.

Here’s my prediction after Waco and St Louis. I ordered the bands but also put a range I think they could fall under. Also, I understand that the placement ranges don’t make sense when compared to each other. This was HARD! 1.Reagan (1-3) - Reagan will medal. This show is too clean and well designed not to. Enough said. 2.FloMo (1-5) - They end their season here as well. There’s not enough evidence to confirm a medal lock, but it will be likely. 3.Vandegrift (2-5) - Will likely be the cleanest of the Nats attendees. I personally don’t see this show winning but a medal is very well deserved. 4.Hebron (1-5) - Won music and visual in prelims last season and were not even clean. Their difficulty may push them into a medal slot but I have a feeling that they will be peaking when they need to peak. Has been top 5 for many years. 5.CTJ (1-5) - Again, their difficulty may push them into a medal or even championship spot but I hope they peak later. Would be surprised to see them finish outside top 5. 6.Leander (3-8) - Will be interesting to see how the judges perceive this show. Could be like 2016 where they medaled but I’m leaning more towards something in the middle of that range, therefore I put them 6th. 7.TWHS (3-8) - Could pull a 2016 and medal like Leander. It’s definitely possible as I think the GE could be very very strong. Recent results point to them being on the line between top and bottom half. Again, another band that shouldn’t be peaking here and also has a history for taking their time to get clean. 8.Vista Ridge (5-9) - The show isn’t as magical as Lost and Found, but no one should expect it to be. They are an easy lock for finals but might have a harder time breaking into the top half this year (which they just managed to do in prelims last year). 9.Keller (8-14) - Big range on this one. Extremely close to top half in prelims last year and has made top 10 (actually top 9) the past 2 years (and in prelims in 2016). If they are clean, I don’t see this show finishing outside of the top 10. each year they add more and more difficulty. 10.James Bowie (9 -14) - After some mediocre early season results (for their standards), their Waco showing was very promising. I don’t think the show has as high of a ceiling as Vista or Keller, but their finals chances are looking really good. 11.Cedar Ridge (10-14) - Consistent finalist (except being alternate in 2016). Would probably be surprising to see them miss finals. I’ve noticed that their visual program is usually much safer than their music. 12.Marcus (8-14) - Another very large range. They will obviously be very clean and haven’t missed finals in forever. In my opinion, the show lacks the content and difficulty of the ones I placed above, but they are a finalist until they’re not. 13.LD Bell (11-14) - Bell usually struggles to peak at San Antonio. Snuck into finals last year. This is probably one of their better shows in recent memory but for me it still lacks the difficulty and content of bands I expect to see in the top 10. I think the show was maxing out at St. Louis but still has a good chance to make SA finals. Fighting for finals (11-14) - Westwood, Westlake, and Cedar Park. Westwood’s show is flashy and fun but feels like a Vista 2017 to me in the sense that the the band is about to have a breakout moment but maybe needs another year before cracking into San Antonio finals. If they don’t make finals, it will be close. Cedar Park is definitely having a better year and probably won’t finish 18th this season. The show seems more designed towards UIL success meaning that in my opinion it is missing more exposed playing especially in the brass. I don’t have much to say about Westlake. Their finals appearance last year was well deserved and it would be again this year. Wild Card - Vista Murrieta - I’m just scared and excited. Who knows what they will bring to San Antonio this year.

That has to be the best guard ever. I hope I’m wrong but I only see Texas maybe beating that in music, maybe. A performance that good a month before Nats makes me rethink my love for the 8 hour rule. I will say that I’m extremely excited to see what CTJ has been cooking up since Austin. They are the only Texas band that is ambitious enough to at least attempt a visual program like Avon or Carmel.

Not to undermine your point, but that was Coppell, not LD Bell, who was .1 behind Keller in DFW prelims. And I think the explanation is fairly simple. Keller went third in prelims and was therefore the first scored finalist. The other finalists were very spread out causing that inconsistency. In finals, the judges were able to make more direct comparisons and came to a different and hopefully more accurate conclusion. These inconsistencies are concerning for San Antonio prelims with the 2 panel judging system.

Just some thoughts I wanted to get down about this weekend: From 2017-2019 Bowie has continuously produced some of the most creative shows. And Then I Saw The Sky (I think that’s what it’s called?) is one of my favorite marching shows ever. I really hope to see them back in SA finals after just barely missing last year, and beating Keller is definitely a step in the right direction. I think it’s no surprise that Keller was very dirty here; that closer was insanely challenging and frankly this is their toughest show ever. Keller is notorious for a slow build. In 2015 our first full run of the show was at SA prelims. Last year, our first full run was in area prelims. So believe it or not, Keller is a bit ahead of schedule this season. Also, it is extremely shocking to see Hendrickson place that low. Is the show really just not connecting with the judges or did Henny go through more major transitions?

Everything about Pearce’s show was absolutely beautiful! Y’all should be proud!

Probably, or it definitely seemed like it. There’s a video out there from prelims. The closer is really dirty, especially visually. But the 1 minute trombone octet accompanying the band there at the end while the drill and music is insane is probably up there as one of my favorite moments of the year.

Scores are relative, judges are more focused on ordering the bands rather than giving them a specific score. A specific score doesn’t hold the same meaning year to year.

Scores are really low @ DFW and Waco compared to other competitions and compared to last year. Keller scored an 85.50 in DFW prelims last year. But they scored over Bell by a decent amount this year at DFW so I don’t think they are struggling at all. And I think that they have a ton of room left to grow.

Keller closer to Martin than to Bowie is...interesting.

Is this Haltom’s first and only competition this year????? Other than region or course. I’m glad they are ending their with a bang. Edit: thanks for reminding me they’ll be at Duncanville.

Bowie really impressed me at Austin and I really though they would place higher, but then their TMC results were a bit underwhelming. So I’m glad that they are getting the recognition that I feel that they deserve. I think Keller and Bowie should make SA finals, I don’t really see any reason why they shouldn’t.

I can’t get over how much I absolutely ADORE Keller’s closer. Easily the hardest thing and coolest thing they’ve put on the field. However, it’s not clean. yet. Definitely the most demanding show of the night.

Jeez 7L, that flag work is crazy hard, probably too difficult and spread out to every be clean, I was just mesmerized by the visual design even if it wasn’t clean.

Yeah, the judges definitely didn’t stay within 5 yards from the sideline. I just found it really weird that the judge decided to stay in the worst possible spot in the field. Was he going somewhere where it was quieter and could properly voice his opinion? I'm genuinely curious.

The only band I got to see today was Keller but I did see some odd judge activity. One judge was walking on the side of the field behind the prop for a good portion of the beginning/middle of the show. There is no way to properly judge individual performance like that??? It really caught me off guard while watching. I don’t want to undermine Bowie, I didn’t even see them so I bet it was fantastic.

If it is true that Hendrickson didn’t place in the top 10, I’m shocked frankly. They made San Antonio finals last year and as far as I am aware, they didn’t go through any more major transitions after all they went through last season.

Extremely surprising.

A lot can happen in a few weeks, but I’m surprised too. I did see some drill errors and general uncleanliness in Keller’s closer but it makes me wonder how good Bowie must’ve been to sweep captions in 4A.

Didn’t see Bowie but based on how their season has been going so far, I’m absolutely shocked that Keller didn’t get a single caption. Maybe Bowie was really clean?

Side note: Keller needs to bring back their backflip thing they did in 2016-2017 , obviously that person graduated (he was also the SCV Babylon acrobat) but it would perfectly fit the theme this year.

WOW Keller was phenomenal! That closer is so good!!! Insane drill and music, absolutely beastly closer. Just need to clean it up. Wow. I’m a biased alum but that was fantastic. There were some tuning and control issues in the ballad but it is 91 degrees so finals will be tighter. That closer is seriously impressive though!

I can’t watch online today, but go Team Texas!!!