An Inspirational Pinecone

Whole thing sounds like the Marcus Wall or Great Wall of Marcus or whatever it was called back when they dominated in Texas. Heard stories of them not budging or even moving their eyes when the results were over. Stood completely still during retreat too.

I mean I graduated from TWHS in 2020 and far as I'm concerned that's the Woodlands way. Back in 17 we were adding things and taking things out while at Indy. Like that whole pre-show meditation? Added before Semis. There's always last second choreography getting added or changed. Also in 2019 we completely redid half our ending after learning most of the drill. Edit: Just remembered that in 2015 they didn't play a full run through until the night before San Antonio

So many predictions y'all and it's funny how Vista and Cedar Park seem like a coin flip for top half and bottom half. Personally it's hard for me to say that Vista has lost it just cause of a low early competition placement. Same with Leander although I don't know their story.

Seems like BOA is very top heavy this year compared to 2017 for example. General consensus has CTJ, Reagan, Hebron, Vandergrift, and TWHS at the top of SA but in my short experience in band it seemed like anyone could swoop in and get a medal. Any reason for that or is that just the result of less bands attending + COVID

If any of TWHSParent's acquaintances would send me a video too that'd be pretty neat

Is it just me or is the top half bottom half split getting out of hand? I feel like there shouldn't have been that big of a score gap between Bell and Wakeland right?

I've been hesitant to say quite a few things before cause I'm one of the only people on here that represent TWHS but now that I'm graduated I feel I have a bit more freedom. I'll start with this: Mr. Vanderkolff, The Woodlands' drill writer and the drill writer for Flomo and the Bluecoats, said that On The Town was his favorite show he's ever made. It was pretty obvious though as he spent much, MUCH more time with us last year than he did years prior. That's not me bragging as I had no part in designing it BUT it's pretty darn cool to be a part of performing it. I think it's safe to say you can expect more shows similar to On The Town from groups he writes drill for (up to you to decide whether that's a good thing or not). Another thing is that Jason Harvey, former assistant director for TWHS in 2015 and 2016, was hired by our intermediate school to teach (the old director there retired). He is an excellent trombone player and low brass instructor and his first class of students arrives at the highschool this year so I'll be excited to see how the low brass performs in the upcoming years. (That's not an insult to anyone btw)

Don't forget that second in 2018 was a fight between Oak Ridge, College Park and Seven Lakes. A lot can change in a year so even with Pearland's success I can't agree that it's safe to call them second. I wouldn't be surprised if Bridgeland ends up second in Houston this year thanks to their Nationals ambitions

I really don't think enough bands participate in the LSP for it to have a 12 band finals. I'd say it averages around 18 bands per year so to allow 2/3 of that into finals makes it more like an exclusion rather than a recognition. And don't they have another sheet for color guard? They have a color guard caption and everything

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCZXPxMyL_U. It didn't load for me so here's the URL for those with the same problem

I wanna see more Houston bands take the trip. It'd be especially cool if Spring or Westfield went back up there after not attending for over a decade

It'll be exciting to see how well they do at SA! Especially with how much more time they'll get before their final competitive performance

2015, 2016, and 2017 were surreal, Leonardo Da Vinci (yes, an artist, but the show's based on what he did and his works), and mosaic respectively

I mean, The Woodlands was pretty good this decade..

I'd say it's safe to add The Woodlands' schedule (it hasn't changed in years and has no reason to change now). Expect them to attend BOA Houston and San Antonio

While they didn't go to SA (Which is disappointing because they could have made as big of a ruckus as Pearland did), they did compete in the Cypress Showcase Marching Festival and won above Oak Ridge who made 8th at Houston by 2.5 points. I'd say that they'd be a semis lock and a potential finalist if they improve as much as they did this year

I don't think there are any bands any year that don't look for a big year next year.

That was actually last year and lemme tell ya, hearing the announcer say "The Allen Marching Band will only be performing with 500 members" was a shocker to the whole band. The amount of people you had missing was the amount we have in our band (I know I talk about the size of your band a lot, but it's just insane)

The Woodlands beat Cypress Woods yesterday in a stupidly intense game. Seriously, we went into overtime (after barely missing a field goal that would have ended the game then and there) 21 to 21 and came out 34 to 28. It was so back and forth that I'd have been fine with the season ending then and there. We do however get to play against Prosper next week, so that'll be fun!

Ronald Reagan went in 2002 and made finals as well, so we sent 7 not 6. You got the number of finalists right though

Well if Reagan's going to Nats next year it could happen

Texas has never won two consecutive titles

I understand all of that fully, it's just that it feels disheartening and discouraging when you hear that you score lower after two weeks when just about every other band improved. And of course like you said the scores don't really reflect across competitions but we did significantly better in prelims and semis, both above what we scored in SA. So when they turn that around and tell us "91.2" it instantly makes us, or at least me feel like they're discrediting what we've gone through and accomplished in the past two weeks.

Oh, and congrats to RR on not only getting finals, rounding out the Texas 6, but placing 8th in prelims which is no small feat

Congrats to Vandegrift on their first place finish! Was hoping we'd see all three captions go to Texas, but Avon's visual is amazing. Hebron's third place finish was nice to see. Let's see how many grand nats they can medal in. Congrats to Leander and CTJ finishing out the top 6. Okay, now with all that out of the way.. I don't want to be *that* guy, in fact I absolutely hate to be that guy, but I can't help but feel like TW was robbed. Not necessarily of a placement but definitely of score and I fully blame the Hebron rule for that. I'm fine with William Mason placing above us. We performed side by side and the judges had perfect reference of one another. But if that is truly the case then they should have gotten a 93.5 or something of the sort. I know why they scored low and why we scored low as consequence (well, low compared to semis, prelims, and SA), I just wish there was a better system in place and that judges could judge consistently even if the band performing is the first band to perform. I know it's an impossible dream but when you not only drop 1.3 points after 2 weeks of nothing but cleaning, on top of dropping two points between semifinals and finals, I feel like something oughta be done.