TrenBS

This is becoming a long response so Ill preface that I'm not yelling at you in particular, but I've also thought about comparing Grand Nationals to San Antonio, so this is more my thoughts on the matter lol Is Grand Nationals tougher in regards to finalists? Sure, definitely with Carmel Avon and Blue Springs the top half is extremely hard to break, but for the bottom half of finalists there's a strong argument that BOA San Antonio is more difficult, since Southlake, Prosper, and Hendrickson all made finals at BOA GN in 2022, and I couldn't even tell you the last time these bands either made BOA SA finals (or even beaten Wakeland at a BOA competition which typically places on the very low end of BOA SA finals, in which Southlake placed low in BOA Prosper finals and Hendrickson missed at a regional, albeit a very difficult one) From there it drops off even further, I know it's not really fair to compare scores between competitions, but the top 32 at San Antonio is breaking 80s and sometimes doesn't even fall below 82, while at GN it's fairly common to have multiple mid-high 70s scores which on the sheets is almost a whole area below an 80s score (80s being all "usually"s on the middle end, with 70s having low "usually"s, or high "sometime''s scores) and ignoring that, TX bands who are middle contenders at BOA San Antonio typically make finals at GN, or at the very least place very high in Semi-Finals Obviously, there can't be an objectively "right" opinion unless we held these contests at the same day, had the same judges score on the same standards, and placed people both in BOA SA and Grand Nationals, but saying that GN is absolutely way more competitive than BOA SA is being pretty reductive to the absolute depth of BOA SA, and at worst is a pretty slim margin to be judging both contests competitively, but I absolutely agree that top half of finals at Grand Nationals is way more competitive, particularly with Avon, Carmel, Broken Arrow, Blue Springs, and William Mason in particular, but top to bottom Id argue that BOA SA has more depth in competition

If possible, could someone post McKinney bands somewhere after they finish? Partly for me but also since most of them dont have recordings since their Band night almost 3 weeks ago lol

The area itinerary will be released after the region contests are finished as any bands receiving a second division will not participate in area prelims (99% certain not a single band here will get a 2, I promise you lol), so making a schedule now would be redundant, although the draw order is what the full schedule would look like, so you can kinda guess about when each performance will happen through there Also, go Broncos lmao

The top middle seats (up the stairs) are the seats with backs, the rest spanning out Im fairly sure are normal bleachers along with the bottom seats, so essentially second floor middle should be the seat seats

Can confirm McKinney is essentially a humidity trap right now, so hydrating is definitely going to be necessary haha

Boyd has full band retreat on their schedule for area, so its most likely the case since the main contenders from area C (and coordinators outside of the Mesquite folks) are here, and so I dont doubt that Area C and J would do full band retreat given how the groups here are much more “modern” in terms of the ways of thinking Also heres my October prediction, Id normally wait a lot longer but many groups have put a ton of show on the field recently and Im starting to create some solid (about as solid as you can get for pre-area) takes that differs my opinion greatly nowadays: 1. Flower Mound 2. Marcus 3. Hebron 4. Boyd/Prosper [TIE] 5. Boyd/Prosper [TIE] 6. McKinney High 7. Wylie 8. Rock Hill 9. Wylie East 10. Little Elm 11-15: Plano East, Lewisville, Plano West, Allen, Plano Sr. Im confident in Little Elms ability to make area finals, visually they look cleaner than the groups below them, and music is starting to click in, now I dont think theyd beat Wylie East, Rock Hill, Wylie, or High in BOA reasonably, but I could see them stealing some 7-8 captions and potentially sneaking up to 9th, and WEast just has plenty of dirt that we will need to see them clean before judging completely, they could be 5th, and they could also be 9th currently

I could see that logic applying this year, but to be completely honest, were still really early given how 6A area is in November, so many groups are extending their timelines which are resulting in weaker scores in the early season (Wylie East is an example, placing 16th at Conroe after placing like 5th last year, and they just started closer work), so until BOA Prosper and after, area predictions are gonna be near impossible to be accurate, and with KCent placing 11th at HEB, we could argue that Haltom could make it over TC and KCent if we went based off of HEB🤷‍♂️

Ive been loving the representation of other states in these competitive competitions in Texas (BOA Prosper as another example), it makes me wish in a vacuum that Texas was a little smaller or that transportation technology and expense was better, but Texas must be big to fit as many HEBs and Buccees we can lol

COVID literally killed the band, at least for a while, they did move themselves further away from last place last year but they still need to find their foundation and keep improving in order to reach where they used to be in 2018, I feel for those directors that watched the band crash because of something completely out of their control, because a simple director change doesnt make you go from the size of McKinney Boyd/Sachse along with being a state qualifier to barely having a percussion section and being near last in the area in a year

I really like the lineup that MMI has this year, none of the schools really feel far ahead of the others, and there's a large amount of participation compared to the local competitions also occuring this day, hopefully this competition could get moved off from the BOA Bedford weekend we could see this contest grow as a sort of "pre-UIL" style of judging and competition, since the sheet is much closer to how UIL judges compared to BOA

When you type these responses out and being blatantly rude and disrespectful to people on these forums trying to help, understand that you represent the Cedar Park band with your presence online, and especially in these band forums, and you should not post anything you wouldn't want the directors or the district to see, since you hurt the perspective people have with yalls program with responses like this.

I will say prop wise its purely budgetary, McKinney North is generally less well off than Boyd and even High, and that prop was one they made in 2022 that they are kinda forced to use until they can have enough people to properly fund for more, so unless they still ONLY have that prop by 2026, they should definitely be cut some slack on the prop scene Music wise they do need some variation, the intro kinda feels like a mashup between the last 2 jazz shows in a way, and the ballad feels like 2023 2.0, which isn’t inherently bad, but as a viewer Id like to see more distinction between the shows musically since this year is gonna cause some identity fazing between the past few years Although Im extremely happy aboutt their recruitment, they are a much bigger size WITH an alternate block, which they havent had in a long time

If its not on youtube it was likely a leak, which for LISD is gonna be hard to come by unless you know people lol

Yes, unless I think 2 bands get a second division, which realistically only the newly 6A groups (Princeton, and the new Denton school) are in danger of receiving, but I find that scenario very unlikely 4 bands to state is the current situation, unfortunately

Bad news: my videos just refuse to send to my google photos and both of them are multiple gigabytes, so I cant reasonably send them Good news: the guy next to me had a MUCH better setup and posted them on youtube, so all the McKinney bands up to the 4-5 minute mark are now posted lol https://youtu.be/NuJUXxdhkQA?feature=shared

I saw Emerson from a few days ago, legitimately didnt notice the colors and thought I was watching LT, lol. They have a very strong chance at area I feel like personally

Just saw McKinney North, if anyone would like the recording dm me, I honestly really like the show since it feels like a natural evolution from the past 2 years, here's my prediction having heard a decent chunk of the area: 1. Wakeland (sweep) 2. Lone Star 3. McKinney North 4. Lebanon Trail/Emerson 5. Emerson/Lebanon Trail 6. Argyle 7. The Colony 8. Walnut Grove 9. Centennial 10. Anna

Id like to see it if that is all good

And very loud as well, Lone Star is gonna perform very well at BOA Prosper for sure, honestly theyll be competitive in the 6-9 range which is extremely solid given the depth we have there

I’ll have one of McKinney North next Wednesday, Ill send in DMs like the Lone Star guy lol

While I can respect the logic of having more geographical representation, the way it has been implemented has come to the detriment of many bands in the affected areas (primarily B, C, and J), where now we see overall less representation across multiple districts and the areas, where realistically, theres only a single state slot in area J that can be claimed other than the big 3 for LISD being constant top 10 at the SMBC, and the same applies to area B with only Keller Central and maybe another group having the realistic ability to counter the Coppell, L.D. Bell, Timber Creek, and Keller, which in fact, is all the state slots comprised of 2-3 state finalists, which leaves area C who are the only area who benefits in terms of more diversity and healthy amounts of competition in the finalists, as besides Forney and Waxahachie the last 2 slots could go to essentially anyone. The current competition at the DFW area (which is the only area really affected by this change in 6A) is unhealthy, we are forcing 4-8 state qualifier worthy programs PER area to compete for 1 (or less haha) slots for the sake of geographical diversity, but weve now created 2 district monopoly areas where only 1 program that isnt LISD and maybe even no other programs could realistically beat the current top 4 at area B can be represented at the SMBC besides MAYBE a complete staff or zoning change, and that is a problem. If they are going to remove slots from these already competitive areas to introduce another area, they should have looked at the process as a whole and changed it to accommodate the creation of a brand new area in the most populated area of DFW, I dont like what UIL is encouraging in area B and J with the hyper competitiveness of a single slot, the overall quality of bands from top to bottom has dramatically increased since the 90s and 2000s, and the SMBC should reflect the changes in environment we have been experiencing the past 20 years. Also, just gonna say Im not ranting/yelling at you lmao, you are explaining the thought process UIL was making and I respect you for explaining it as well as you did. I have a fundamental issue with the logic and how it was executed and Ill argue against it all day, but Im not going to shoot the messenger lol

Thats crazy they took it down, but Im glad I got a chance to look at it lol. The show honestly feels like a pretty decent step down in difficulty overall, but considering the dirt they had last year its for the best. Visually it already looks so much better and will be a UIL beast for sure, but Vandegrift will most likely beat them at BOA and the SMBC, unless the rest of the show is up to Vandegrift difficulty with cleaner everything

Ill be the 3rd on that one lol

I feel the same way, it feels kind of crappy to leave out like, 2 bands at a competition for the sake of a traditional finals setup, having all bands perform twice for their families and spectators just feels better considering how small the competition is, either that or only take 10 bands if they are going to have a finals Quick prediction, I dont know how this competition leans being BOA or UIL, so Im absolutely wrong: 1. Marcus 2. Wakeland 3. Coppell 4. Forney 5. Timber Creek 6. Waxahachie 7. McKinney North 8. Keller Central 9. Haltom 10. Aledo 11. Azle 12. Martin 13. Eaton 14. Krum

99% I wouldn't add Bowie or Trinity until we get an area schedule, the individual districts switching to other regions is more common on the lower As but is less common in 6A, and I don't see why they would add Bowie/Trinity to this area at this point in the season It's most likely a typo since there isn't anything listed on the TMEA alignment site that says this would be the area Bowie and Trinity participate in For fun though I'll make a prediction based on the bands I've heard and including the 2 area B schools lol: 1. Marcus 2. Hebron 3. Flower Mound 4. Prosper [TIE] (no particular order since both would advance regardless) 5. Boyd [TIE] 6. Wylie East 7. Wylie 8. McKinney High 9. Trinity 10. Rock Hill 11/15: Little Elm, Plano West/East/Sr., Braswell