packwick

absolutely horrifying. i was hearing murmurs of an active shooter from others at Morton ranch today but didn't realize it was at a tcgc event. thank goodness the parent took him down. absolute hero. waaaay too close to home. the world seems to be getting sicker and sicker. stay safe, everyone!!!

lotsa contests all over the country today, lotsa first performances. Lockhart JH continuing to slayyy, outscoring all the HS regional As in this early batch of results. McCullough JH also had both their teams win, but both scored over a dozen points lower than usual. wonderin what's up w/ that...

assuming i didn't mess that up, that means... Texas: 37 medals; 12 Gold, 11 Silver, 14 Bronze; 16 Independent + 21 Scholastic -Houston area: 14 medals; 6 Gold, 4 Silver, 4 Bronze; 4 Independent + 10 Scholastic -DFW area: 13 medals; 4 Gold, 3 Silver, 6 Bronze; 10 Independent + 3 Scholastic -Central Texas (Austin, San Antonio, San Marcos, and New Braunfels): 8 medals; 2 Gold, 2 Silver, 4 Bronze; 2 Independent + 6 Scholastic -El Paso area: 2 medals; 2 Silver; 2 Scholastic -1980s: 3 medals -1990s: 4 medals -2000s: 6 medals -2010s: 19 medals -2020s (so far): 5 medals -TX Guards w/ more than one medal: Odyssey (2), Nolan (2), The Woodlands HS (3), Code Black (3), and Little Elm HS (2)

little elm earned a gold and a bronze in A, but hasn't medaled in open yet. they placed top half in SO finals three times in a row before covid. Texas medals in chron order 1984 Odyssey - IA Bronze; Main Event (South San Antonio HS) - Scholastic Bronze 1986 Odyssey - IO Gold 1993 Nouveau - IA Gold 1994 Klein Forest HS - SA Silver 1998 Nolan Catholic - IA Gold 1999 Nolan Independent - IO Gold 2001 Winston Churchill - SO Bronze 2003 Insignia - IA Bronze; James E. Taylor HS - SA Bronze 2004 The Woodlands HS - SO Gold 2007 Code Black - IO Gold; Americas HS - SA Silver 2010 Ars Nova - IA Silver; Code Black - IA Bronze; Little Elm HS - SA Gold 2011 Oak Ridge HS - SO Gold; White Gold - IA Bronze 2012 Dekaney HS - SA Silver 2013 Identity - IO Gold; Code Black - IO Silver; Claudia Taylor Johnson HS - SO Silver 2014 Spring HS - SO Gold; Brenham Independent - IA Silver; Little Elm HS - SA Bronze 2015 Marcus HS - SO Bronze; Eastlake HS - SA Silver 2017 Klein Oak HS - SA Gold 2018 CGT Denton - IO Silver; Black Gold A - IA Silver; Leander HS - SA Gold 2019 Dripping Springs HS - SO Bronze 2022 The Woodlands HS - SW Bronze; Westlake HS - SA Bronze 2023 Clear Brook HS - SA Silver 2024 The Woodlands HS - SW Bronze; Menage - IO Bronze

aaaand here's barbers hill from a couple weeks ago. a lil more relevant for this thread.

ok, well, here's a Hannibal Lecter show from FIU World to hold u over LOL good luck hearing the soundtrack over the screaming girls!!

Lockhart ftw tonite in dripping springs!! both in Nat A and their junior high cadet regional A too, which outscored all the high school regional As at the contest except for westlake's jv. dripping springs in 2nd. strong upper 60s scores, w/ some 70+s in upstairs content. none of the scores scream reclassification or A class medalist at Dayton, but we'll see. super duper early.

dripping springs scores should be in soon. def interested in any in-person perspectives!! biding my time by looking at recaps around the country. surprised to see tarpon w/ an over 7 point drop yr over yr at their first contest, w/ the same effect panel too, and mostly wgi judges. maybe more incomplete show than usual or just a more fun show, bc they aren't attending Dayton?? they do have a habit of going back and forth b/w gold medal worthy shows and middle of the pack ones.

little elm with a fab first score tonite. nearly a 70 in open class in late Jan. actually all but on judge had them over 70, including all the active wgi judges. scholastic open scores tend to run a lil low for whatever reason. growing pains?? lol

yah i should have just DuckDuckGo-ed the title. DuckDuckWent it?? lol. lyrics are interesting, but methinks music kinda flat/repetitive for a guard show. maybe they're doing a different arrangement of it w/ more builds, tension, release, etc.?? im sure they'll be great anyway. kinda had that problem w/ twhs A's song last yr too and they still won wgi houston, tho it was bc of the performers, didn't get a single 1st place ranking in content.

'nother reclass incoming. spring woods going to be moved from regional A sheet to regular A sheet. their downstairs/upstairs score split at Turner kinda comical actually. 95s and 98s in IA, then, like, upper 50s upstairs. you'd think the amazing downstairs skills would fuel a lil bit of a higher upstairs score, right?!! lol

grand oaks' varsity show is called My Name is Carnival. which has me intrigued, bc i don't know if it's a carnival show or if there's someone famous named Carnival lol.

Leander has announced their varsity show, The Green Light. prob a Gatsby show by the looks of it, green light at the end of the dock. that metaphor for the dream that Gatsby chased.

yayy!!! good for them. hangin w/ the A class big boys. or maybe it should be big girls, given the typical guard gender skew lol.

dripping springs def looking like a strong contender in A class based on that insta vid they posted a couple months ago. seems like they're attempting some well-above class skills, like rolls and double turns under tosses. if those skills end up in the show, could get them some notice from the steering committee. esp if done by multiple members.

def it's a risk to make strong predictions on early tcgc results. i remember thinking cywoods might obliterate the competition in 2023 when they got a 72 on Jan 21st (2nd to last comp in Jan). they ended up 2nd at both wgi Austin and tcgc state. so, amazing, but didn't dominate. but there were some hints in the scores: Doug and Charles gave them 65s in IA, and then the upstairs guys went really crazy to pull them up to a 72. Lee gave them nearly an 80 in DA. def raised my eyebrow at that lol.

no, you're right, it's early, + completeness versus incompleteness. aaand george ranch got tanked in GE. on the other hand, barbers' highest scores were in the IA captions, and both barbers' and dickinson's IA scores were all 65+, def in line (above line?? lol) w/ wgi regional finalists for a Jan 18th comp. that said these early season local contest scores can be a lil.... iffy. lol. not sure i trust em. we'll see what happens later when everyone's done w/ their shows. could be a flash in the pan.

hmmm wondering if we see Dickinson and Barbers Hill moving on up to Nat A after today. pre-penalty they both outscored the Nat A guard at the contest, and also scored around where last yr's WGI Austin and Houston regional champions (Pearland and Woodlands) scored at their first tcgc event, which was a week later. prob those two were underscored but still. consistency is key!! was thinking about going today, but opted not to. don't know what anyone actually looked like, just going off of scores.

def interested in seeing Pride. tbh i think any of their shows from the past 10+ years prob would have won last year's IW contest. didn't help that paramount had a design misfire. def pride is my idea of "goal guard" from a performer perspective. don't think they've missed the top 3 since like 1996, + lots of golds. think all the other top IWs will be stronger this season too. Fusion still maaaybe emerging as the new SCV w/ their design team. etude - hopefully even better recruiting after that silver medal. also suuuper duper curious to see if Invictus and maybe Menage/Mirage have drawn any talented performers from Origins, which could help elevate them a little.

ah ok. so the scholastic A group at this WGI regional is their JV guard that's in scholastic AA in TCGC, and the independent A is the high school varsity guard in both WGI and TCGC. thanks!!

it might be a hassle, but the money aspect of it??? ehhh, that doesn't pass the sniff test, what with the obscene amount of money already being spent on set pieces, costuming, silks, drill writers, music arrangers, electronics, etc. etc. also adding performers would bring in more money, part of which could be used for maintenance costs. mostly just seems like tradition is why ppl balk at it. similar to the whole costume debate. which is fine, tho i gotta say the newer costumes make a helluva lot more sense w/ the show themes than the typical 1800s military uniforms do.

does 7L actually have a separate independent A guard, or is that their varsity and they just signed up for both here bc they didn't know if they qualified for scholastic?? not sure how that works. i only see the indie A guard listed over at TCGC, which is why i ask.

on the other hand, woodwinds look incredible dorky on the field, somehow even dorkier than the brass and perc... so many things to consider... LOL

im surprised they haven't gone full woodwind already, what with the financial issues corps have been having. my primary instrument was brass, though i now play "all three," and i see no problem w/ this. expanding the boring old drum corps color palette is a good thing. they've already been trying to do it w/ electronic instruments/synths, which in my view have helped tremendously to enrich the drum corps listening experience. adds complexity to the flavors, less McDonalds more Michelin star. i also think of all those music educators whose primary instruments are woodwinds who are shut out of "marching band's major league" unless they pick up a brass instrument or whatever. not fair to them when they start applying for jobs at the HS level, where DCI experience can be a great asset. def im used to seeing 3 brass/perc directors plus 1 woodwind specialist.

welp, Avon's marching band and guard might be looking a bit different next yr...