CosmicLimbo

Final prediction 1-2 (interchangeable): Wakeland, Keller 2-5 (interchangeable): Timber Creek, Prosper, LD Bell 6-9 (interchangeable): Southlake, Keller Central, Henny train, Waxahachie Bloodbath for the last 3 spots: Forney, Dville, Lake Highlands, McKinney, Boyd, Lake Ridge, Berkner, Rock Hill Great job to all the bands though this is already proving to be an amazing contest. Can’t wait for finals!

Darn I’m nervous lol

Halfway and these are the shows that’ve really popped for me are Southlake Carroll Dville Waxahachie: this group always plays with so much finesse and professionalism and this is no different. Keller: God I loved that that Mahler 2 closer. I’ve seen a lot of criticism towards Keller but I genuinely really like this show and believe it’ll do well in Indy come November! Rock Hill: Such a fun show and that shouting section had me hype. This show is packed with GE and I’m hoping they break into finals. Prosper: didn’t get to watch their show but heard they did very well. Wakeland: easily the winner for me of these first 2 blocks. Kept me on my toes the whole show with how powerful and cleanly they perform. Strong sections all around and man those mellos! Wonderful wouldn’t be surprised if they sweep captions!

And Duncanville! Brass ensemble sound and volume was top notch and definitely woke me up! Uniforms create a nice visual effect and the way the guard took up the field during the Team ballad was such a cool moment. Great job!

Thoroughly enjoyed that first block. Loved Berkner’s themes and their woodwinds were throwing down! The Bassoonist from Sachse was so cool and the smoke during the 1812 Overture was a nice touch as well.

Lovely stuff from Southlake Carroll. The color palette is super satisfying to look at and the chariot (I think that’s what you call it?) is simply chefs kiss. Also, the flute soloist at the beginning was wonderful and really blew me away!

As a Dville band alumni and someone who grew up in Duncanville I’ll chime in a bit. Dville is not a bad place to live at all however it’s nowhere near as well off as some of the other parts of the state and money can prove to be an issue for many. Consequently, many students (myself included when I was there) required financial assistance in some way shape of form. Thankfully, the program has an INCREDIBLE booster program, culture/traditions, and a high standard of education/teaching. Rather than using the money raised to go to a bunch of competitions every season, it is invested into the students themselves so that any student can have private lessons despite their situation and to ensure that no student ever has to pay a “band fee” just to be a member of the band. Despite the circumstances, Dville has 3 state championships to their name, a music caption at Grand Nationals, and one of if not the longest streaks of any 6A band for consecutive advancements to state going every cycle from 1984-2018 (missed it in 2021 but returned in 2022). Although Dville is not at the peak of where they used to be, they’ve always stuck around and are a program that can never be counted out. (I am extremely biased towards this program so sorry if this comes across as a little preachy 😭)

Anyone catch any of the performances at any of the regions?

Ahhh chill I wasn’t pretending I just genuinely thought some of the other groups like Wakeland and Coppell were gaining significant ground and could shake up the top 3 a bit.

Jesus an LISD sweep 😳

Duncanville is so tricky for me to predict here. They always seem to do well in UIL but then for some reason it doesn’t translate when they do BOA events. In 2018 they got 17th at BOA DFW and then the next week got 5th and advanced to state in Area B. While I could see them making finals, recent patterns make it difficult for me to put them there just yet.

I’ll take a stab (I haven’t seen anyone yet) 1) Wakeland 2) Keller 3) Waxahachie 4) Bell 5) Southlake 6) Hendrickson 7) Timber Creek 8. Prosper 9. Keller Central 10) Rockhill 11) Forney 12) Lake Ridge 13) Duncanville 14) Sachse

Do we know what any of the Lewisville schools are doing?

Only bands I would personally consider locks are Keller, Coppell, and Waxahachie but even then nothing is a guarantee.

Oh no I believe you lol I just haven’t got a chance to familiarize with all the rule changes. I like this rule as the bands who’ve lost tiebreakers in the recent years of this area (Southlake Carroll, Bell, and Timber Creek) were very deserving of going to state that year as much as the band that won the tiebreakers (Duncanville twice and TC once).

Sorry I may be a bit out of the loop but what is the new rule?

Hoping they can start translating their UIL success/consistency onto the BOA stage as well. If TagTeam is as fun and cohesively designed as Downtown was (if not better), I think they have a good shot at making a statement here.

Duncanville has “BOA San Antonio (tentative)” on their calendar. Pretty interesting as I don’t think they’ve ever gone before.

I don’t know if their uniforms really hurt them or not. Looking at the judges sheets, the visual judges liked them more than the music judges (apart from brass).

Honestly super happy for Duncanville. I hope they make use of this momentum and continue to grow and hopefully return to the heights they were once at. Visually they've improved tremendously and if they continue to produce great designs, and can start challenging themselves more on a musical front, they will be a force to be reckoned with. Congragulation Dville!

I mean what more can I say. Like with Dville, I'm a little biased towards them since I used to compete with those kids at region and was really good friends with a lot of them. With that said, Waxahachie carries themselves with so much proffesionalism and elegance with their show (Building Paris) this year being a prime example of that. They consistently play difficult music all while making it sound easy and they're able to do that because of how well the fundamentals are taught over there. Their soloists are also consistently stellar and they move incredibly well as well. Waxahachie is a program I'd keep my eye on as they won't be going away any time soon and they're only going to get better from here.

I know this is more state related but 3 out of the 6 area b bands perform in the first block at state 😭 (Duncanville, LD Bell, and Timber Creek)

Man gotta give props to Waxahachie. To jump up to 6A in an area as hard as this and borderline dominate year in and year out is incredible. What Armstrong and his staff are doing for this program is awesome.

Duncanville winning a tie breaker to advance 😳 deja vu to 2018

DUNCANVILLE AND LD BELL BACK IN STATE. That makes me so happy.