crunchycookie3

This is one of the most exciting locations for a new regional. San Antonio and Austin will get another early season mash-up, and hopefully a Houston band or two will make the short trip over.

I think Bridgeland has been poised to do well at Grand Nats for a few years now. For the last three years, their achievement honestly could be considered the Prosper or SLC of Houston.

I just changed the URL to say 2426 instead of 2224

Based on a preliminary look at the map: -All 33 regions remain for this alignment cycle -Wichita Falls ISD joins region 2 -Fort Worth ISD joins region 30 -Mt. Pleasant ISD, Marshall ISD, and Texarkana ISD all joining region 21 It looks like there will not be huge shakeups in the Region/Area alignments for this year, unless different regions get grouped together for area marching, which seems unlikely given how little has changed in region composition. Otherwise, I think we will be seeing the same bloodbaths across the state at the area level as last year.

This does not seem likely. Region 31 will still contain Southlake, Coppell, Bell, Trinity, and Haltom. https://align.tmea.org/Align_2426/tmeamapregion.php?region=31

I don’t know that this has much bearing- football districts are frequently misaligned from Band regions/areas. We’ll see!

What are the odds we get Cypress Tundra

until they have to make Cypress Far North

This is great in theory but the Indiana bands still won't make the trip to St. Louis, which is closer than anywhere in Oklahoma. Too stubborn it seems

This doesn’t bode well for the chances of getting 6 or 7 to state. Hopefully the area gets redrawn this year to spread the wealth. Otherwise, this area becomes even more ridiculous yet again.

It’s official: 6a is 2275 and above. Magnolia, Magnolia West move up to 6a. McKinney North, Leander, and Aledo remain among the largest 5as in the state.

Some notable moves in the 5a/6a range based on my initial glance: -Forney to 6a -Fulshear to 6a -Foster to 6a -Fossil Ridge to 5a -Highland Park back to 5a Groups in flex right now: -Magnolia West -Rock Hill -Berkner -Magnolia -McKinney North -Leander -Aledo It's worth noting that historically UIL has tended to classify closer to 250 schools in 6a, indicating that the groups listed in flex above will most likely be 6a as well.

With 6a containing a minimum of 220 and maximum of 250 schools, Forney (204th), Fulshear (100th), and Foster (175th) are guaranteed to be 6a. Areas C and E will likely need some realignment!

Definitely not! I just think that TX band fans seem to use the eight-hour rule to point to as why they’re not as successful at Indy when-to me-it comes down to them placing more emphasis on music than the visual caption. Just giving my two-cents!

Eight-hour rule this, eight-hour rule that.... ultimately, TX groups have won in Indy several times despite the eight-hour rule. I really do not think it is that big of a hinderance to the success of TX programs. In complete honesty, the history of band in Texas seems to care more about the music. It is so true that an Indiana band never sounds like a Texas band, but Texas bands don't march or experiment visually nearly as much as Indiana bands. Visually, I think the Houston area is really starting to (finally) push the state forward. Take a look at TWHS creativity in visual and Bridgeland and Cy-Fair's achievement in the caption. Within the next couple of years, I'm thinking we'll see the strength of vis increase in Texas drastically.

Never exactly sure when they release, but I vivdly remember a few years ago they ran a “Twelve Days of BOA” campaign around the holidays where each day they revealed a little more about the BOA schedule. Maybe it will coincide with the holidays once again!

While every year state may have a negative impact on BOASA attendance, I’m thinking it may have the opposite effect on GN attendance. I’m wondering if Cedar Park will sit out of the super to attend GN?

It also wasn’t cheap when Bell did it, and likely contributed to an inability to keep up with the rest of the playing field financially. As Houston keeps growing, TWHS needs to pace themselves rather than go year after year. The true best solution is just to move Nats to a neutral state that isn’t packed with finalists (probably move it to STL) but that would be the LAST thing BOA would ever do. In the meantime, all we can do is hope that some of the Indy bands and Blue Springs decide to head down to San Antonio every once in a while.

I’m trying to make my peace with Fishers over Dripping Springs here…. I mean absolutely no disrespect to those kids who are conveying a cute theme quite well, but I felt there was an absolute different level of performance achievement from Dripping Springs. I’m very bummed for those children. Fugue State had no moments that were difficult to listen to, and the same cannot be said about Fishers’ holiday show. Maybe it is a product of teaching or the Indiana sound, but having no moments that are difficult to listen to should be the bare minimum for a finalist group. If the Saucedo thing is true, this is very disheartening and diminishes the prestige of the title “Grand Nationals Finalist”

After Pearland’s musical struggles in their opener, I think one too many groups will have passed them for them to achieve top half of finals. I was a little surprised by some of the errors I heard, not very characteristic for them! Hopefully just semi-finals jitters. What a sound though! You can tell they are filling the whole volume of that dome with pure tone. I still feel fantastic about their ability to make finals. I know they have a better musical run in them! That post show was magical! Goodnight band 😴

I have a lot to say about this Mason show, which sure is pretty! I’m unsure that it will be vying for a top half spot in finals (in fact, I think a certain other Cartwright show maybe could edge them out.) I know there has been discussion at length about this on here, it just feels like a standard Cartwright show to me Sure is pretty, but doesn’t say a lot! To me, it feels like looking at a Thomas Kinkade painting. Wherever they land, it will make sense to me. If they’re up at the top, it’s because the judges rewarded the clearly amazing performance quality. If they’re a bit lower, it may be that judges want to see something new design-wise. Very beautifully executed!

Overall, Keller’s effect is SO GOOD. Their ballad is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. A couple of musically exposed moments seemed to not go their way this afternoon, I’m worried how that may affect them, but the strength of that closer just moved me to tears, and I hope the judges too. That closer may be my favorite Mahler 2 rendition from a high school!

TWHS broke it. Too good. Current cameras cannot handle so many flags moving in sync

A TX group winning vis may actually happen this year- good lord TWHS! A repeat win after a decade may be in order :0

Now that Avon show I WOULD consider to be technically superior lol. I LOVE how they make Pictures at an Exhibition completely their own. It feels like the most artful show of the day (so far.)