packwick

yah, looks like United and Wylie East are in the same or similar boats w/ Friday games, others in the 1st block have Thurs games.
heart goes out to em! gonna be a test of resilience.

and just imagine if bridgeland, wakeland, prosper, and timber creek were going. like... yikes. there really is twice the number of SA finalist worthy bands in TX than SA finals spots. not convinced that's true for any other boa contest.

goin' thru the finals recap.
Marcus won 2 of the 7 judges, both of em in the individual perf captions, which gave the big M a well-deserved win. 3rd in GE. butchya know what, watchin the finals on sub-HD hicam tonite (thanks box5) the weird caption splitting iiiisn't actually surprising to me. didn't think Marcus was ahead of the field visually or in GE. i still woulda had them 1st thru execution, but the show's individual parts, like brass, perc, woodwinds, guard, seemed greater than the overall product tonite, like a reverse synergy lol. like i just didn't really know what all the notes added up to, wanted to be a little more moved by it all. on the other hand, when u do focus on the individual parts, like that PERCUSSION, you're just like, lawd have mercy on everyone else when UIL rolls around.
meanwhile Bentonville i feel like communicated the intent a little better, but then didn't have the polish to win here, despiiiite that prelims music win lol.
LD Bell i was suuuper excited to see for the 1st time, always nostalgic to see Bell. i enjoyed the show, super colorful, and they executed well here. sometimes the staging just didn't look like the designer wrote it w/ those big tarps in mind, that's prob my biggest complaint. like, they framed the field in a particular way, shrank the stage, but then the drill wasn't in balance w/ it.
Prosper was awesome, not surprised to see them do very well. love me a good Sam Barber show. kind of a more elevated music program, requiring more patience. really liked how they moved around those lil yellow boxes, or whatever they were, to reshape the stage. made for some cool vis moments.

and just imagine if bridgeland, wakeland, prosper, and timber creek were going. like... yikes. there really is twice the number of SA finalist worthy bands in TX than SA finals spots. not convinced that's true for any other boa contest.

and just imagine if bridgeland, wakeland, prosper, and timber creek were going. like... yikes. there really is twice the number of SA finalist worthy bands in TX than SA finals spots. not convinced that's true for any other boa contest.

i actually have 22 now that i've seen everything.
strongest shots at finals (10-to-6 panel 1 skew)
p1: james bowie, round rock, cedar ridge, ronald reagan, flower mound, the woodlands, marcus, coppell, pearland, vandegrift
p2: cedar park, leander, westlake, rouse, vista ridge, hebron
strongest maybes: keller, ctj, southlake carroll, cy-fair, waxahachie, wylie
ofc lots can change in 4 weeks.

just a lil snarky lol.

just a lil snarky lol.

I decided to watch TMC instead of this one tonight. The results here are a tad surprising, at least based on, ahem, reputation, but they are what they are. Hopefully some videos leak soon! 👍

goin' thru the finals recap.
Marcus won 2 of the 7 judges, both of em in the individual perf captions, which gave the big M a well-deserved win. 3rd in GE. butchya know what, watchin the finals on sub-HD hicam tonite (thanks box5) the weird caption splitting iiiisn't actually surprising to me. didn't think Marcus was ahead of the field visually or in GE. i still woulda had them 1st thru execution, but the show's individual parts, like brass, perc, woodwinds, guard, seemed greater than the overall product tonite, like a reverse synergy lol. like i just didn't really know what all the notes added up to, wanted to be a little more moved by it all. on the other hand, when u do focus on the individual parts, like that PERCUSSION, you're just like, lawd have mercy on everyone else when UIL rolls around.
meanwhile Bentonville i feel like communicated the intent a little better, but then didn't have the polish to win here, despiiiite that prelims music win lol.
LD Bell i was suuuper excited to see for the 1st time, always nostalgic to see Bell. i enjoyed the show, super colorful, and they executed well here. sometimes the staging just didn't look like the designer wrote it w/ those big tarps in mind, that's prob my biggest complaint. like, they framed the field in a particular way, shrank the stage, but then the drill wasn't in balance w/ it.
Prosper was awesome, not surprised to see them do very well. love me a good Sam Barber show. kind of a more elevated music program, requiring more patience. really liked how they moved around those lil yellow boxes, or whatever they were, to reshape the stage. made for some cool vis moments.

glad to hear it!!! lol. i do like their show more and more as the season progresses. and after watching both TMC and BOA Prosper finals tonite, im feelin quite a bit better about them roughly maintaining their late season success this yr.

wellll this thread is all over the map.
i def fall into the "buuut where are the examples/evidence?!!" category for the reputation debate. thiiink what we'll find is that fans of this activity sometimes have a pretty solipsistic perspective when it comes to band perfs. im guilty of it too. like, why don't the judges over-privilege the same parts of a band perf that i do?!!! why don't they prefer what i prefer??! why not just... my opinion?? other opinions exist?!
meanwhile im super hard pressed to think of any of the heavy hitters that aren't consistently awesome in all or most of what's actually on the judging sheets. and when they aren't, they drop in placement, like others have said.

goin' thru the finals recap.
Marcus won 2 of the 7 judges, both of em in the individual perf captions, which gave the big M a well-deserved win. 3rd in GE. butchya know what, watchin the finals on sub-HD hicam tonite (thanks box5) the weird caption splitting iiiisn't actually surprising to me. didn't think Marcus was ahead of the field visually or in GE. i still woulda had them 1st thru execution, but the show's individual parts, like brass, perc, woodwinds, guard, seemed greater than the overall product tonite, like a reverse synergy lol. like i just didn't really know what all the notes added up to, wanted to be a little more moved by it all. on the other hand, when u do focus on the individual parts, like that PERCUSSION, you're just like, lawd have mercy on everyone else when UIL rolls around.
meanwhile Bentonville i feel like communicated the intent a little better, but then didn't have the polish to win here, despiiiite that prelims music win lol.
LD Bell i was suuuper excited to see for the 1st time, always nostalgic to see Bell. i enjoyed the show, super colorful, and they executed well here. sometimes the staging just didn't look like the designer wrote it w/ those big tarps in mind, that's prob my biggest complaint. like, they framed the field in a particular way, shrank the stage, but then the drill wasn't in balance w/ it.
Prosper was awesome, not surprised to see them do very well. love me a good Sam Barber show. kind of a more elevated music program, requiring more patience. really liked how they moved around those lil yellow boxes, or whatever they were, to reshape the stage. made for some cool vis moments.

yay!! ok, the finals results look more in line w/ my thoughts than the prelims ones did. w/ LSP u never really know for sure what's gonna happen. congrats to bridgeland!! congrats to CP on snagging music too. they sound very good this year!!

TWHS exhibition…. Lmao, they’re on a completely different planet than the bands in this contest. Bravo. 

Finals Results:
85.70 Bridgeland
85.30 College Park
85.0 North Shore
83.65 Tomball Memorial
83.15 Klein Oak
81.50 Clear Brook
78.10 Grand Oaks
76.10 Klein Cain
75.55 Klein
75.45 Oak Ridge
 
Auxiliary - Bridgeland
Percussion - Bridgeland
Music - College Park
Visual - Bridgeland
General Effect - Bridgeland
 
 
 

wellll this thread is all over the map.
i def fall into the "buuut where are the examples/evidence?!!" category for the reputation debate. thiiink what we'll find is that fans of this activity sometimes have a pretty solipsistic perspective when it comes to band perfs. im guilty of it too. like, why don't the judges over-privilege the same parts of a band perf that i do?!!! why don't they prefer what i prefer??! why not just... my opinion?? other opinions exist?!
meanwhile im super hard pressed to think of any of the heavy hitters that aren't consistently awesome in all or most of what's actually on the judging sheets. and when they aren't, they drop in placement, like others have said.

wellll this thread is all over the map.
i def fall into the "buuut where are the examples/evidence?!!" category for the reputation debate. thiiink what we'll find is that fans of this activity sometimes have a pretty solipsistic perspective when it comes to band perfs. im guilty of it too. like, why don't the judges over-privilege the same parts of a band perf that i do?!!! why don't they prefer what i prefer??! why not just... my opinion?? other opinions exist?!
meanwhile im super hard pressed to think of any of the heavy hitters that aren't consistently awesome in all or most of what's actually on the judging sheets. and when they aren't, they drop in placement, like others have said.

wellll this thread is all over the map.
i def fall into the "buuut where are the examples/evidence?!!" category for the reputation debate. thiiink what we'll find is that fans of this activity sometimes have a pretty solipsistic perspective when it comes to band perfs. im guilty of it too. like, why don't the judges over-privilege the same parts of a band perf that i do?!!! why don't they prefer what i prefer??! why not just... my opinion?? other opinions exist?!
meanwhile im super hard pressed to think of any of the heavy hitters that aren't consistently awesome in all or most of what's actually on the judging sheets. and when they aren't, they drop in placement, like others have said.

wellll this thread is all over the map.
i def fall into the "buuut where are the examples/evidence?!!" category for the reputation debate. thiiink what we'll find is that fans of this activity sometimes have a pretty solipsistic perspective when it comes to band perfs. im guilty of it too. like, why don't the judges over-privilege the same parts of a band perf that i do?!!! why don't they prefer what i prefer??! why not just... my opinion?? other opinions exist?!
meanwhile im super hard pressed to think of any of the heavy hitters that aren't consistently awesome in all or most of what's actually on the judging sheets. and when they aren't, they drop in placement, like others have said.

wellll this thread is all over the map.
i def fall into the "buuut where are the examples/evidence?!!" category for the reputation debate. thiiink what we'll find is that fans of this activity sometimes have a pretty solipsistic perspective when it comes to band perfs. im guilty of it too. like, why don't the judges over-privilege the same parts of a band perf that i do?!!! why don't they prefer what i prefer??! why not just... my opinion?? other opinions exist?!
meanwhile im super hard pressed to think of any of the heavy hitters that aren't consistently awesome in all or most of what's actually on the judging sheets. and when they aren't, they drop in placement, like others have said.

Eh, I've been doing this for 30+ years. I've been hearing these criticisms -- mostly not from band directors -- for 30+ years. It doesn't matter what the band circuit is. Whichever one you choose, these criticisms will remain, lingering in the background like dark matter.
Meanwhile, BOA keeps adding regionals in Texas, and they're chock-full of bands! 🤷

It is 100% a very minor thing and nowhere near a genuine problem. I really struggle to see how people can say this given the competitive history of bands in Texas. If this were truly a genuine problem we would have never seen instances like LD Bell missing finals at BOA SA for multiple years, or Leander jumping from not in finals to 3rd overall, or Rouse winning Austin over Vandy, or Cedar Park dropping in and out of finals over the years, or Flower mound bursting into the upper ranks and becoming a mainstay powerhouse only to drop to 9th just a few years later,  I could go on and on and on. It takes A LOT to keep a program consistently at the top. Parent and admin support, cooperation between the high school and its feeder middle schools, fundraising, private lesson staff, and so much more. To boil all that down to "obviously there is just bias towards the big names" is frankly disrespectful. 

Can you list these strange things? 

Unless you're hearing the judges tapes and hearing the reason they're writing the number down, all this bias/unfair judging talk is just speculation and kinda misinformation.  Unless you have specific examples and evidence of a judge having a bias and that influence the number they're writing down, it's probably just your personal opinion/your own personal bias.  I hear it every year.