Liam Allen

Me, a saxophone major, obsessed with DCI lol

I don’t really care. If that’s the direction that the corps want to go then they are allowed to do that. It’s one featured soloist. The end of drum corps is not nigh. All the stuff about tradition being broken doesn’t really make much sense to me. The tradition is being the best in the marching arts. One dude ripping on sax is not going to change that. Also it’s not just woodwinds; it’s anything. I suspect that this will function basically like BD’s violin in 2019. Now to what I’m sure is the big controversy: full woodwind lines. When it happens(and it will sooner or later), I still won’t much care. The argument for not doing this seems to be along the lines of “you can’t hear them over the brass, you’d have to mic them”. My response to that is what are we already doing to the brass? Micing them. No difference whatsoever. In addition, all you have to do is look at bands such as Hebron to see that you can certainly hear woodwinds through brass. Just adds texture. Personally I don’t see any reason why we should be preventing half of eligible wind players from participating in high level music making. The obvious response is they can just learn brass. I think that while that’s good for expanding brass knowledge and pedagogy, it also reduces woodwind pedagogy that could be acquired. While these players may know some high-level woodwind techniques already, the same can be said of brass players and brass technique. They may also not be high-level woodwind players just as some brass members may not be great brass players. I see no reason to keep them out of marching music’s major league, especially since it has always been marching music’s major league(except for woodwinds, you nerds can take your wood planks and go somewhere else).

High school bands: Man this is a hard one. Of course Hebron 21 is the undisputed god-tier show. On a combination of skill and just my preference, Hebron 22 is still my favorite. Keller 19 is another absolute banger and I’ve stolen a lot of that source music. Broken Arrow 21 is a work of art. The last 30 seconds of Hebron 23 induces the holy goosebumps. Managed to see Hebron 24 live and almost fell over. DCI: Personal champ pick is Down Side Up. Babylon, Change Is Everything, E=mc2 are other great gold winners. To prove that I’m not a fan of just the last decade, I really like We Are the Future. A hot take is that Felliniesque is not a good show. Stupidly well performed though. Some favorite non-winners include Exogenesis, Live! From the Rose, SCV 88, Into the Light, In ABSINTHEia, and Tilt.

A reminder that this realignment isn’t for next year but the year after. This would, however, send tremors through 4A. Suddenly CS, SS, and Davenport would be fighting for the medals.

Panther Creek in the winners circle. Celina narrowly behind. Davenport still narrower behind. CS and SS still battling it out for fourth. I want to see Krum make it out of Area B. Thought they’d get it this year.

Oh this is a year old lol nevermind

Technically CS has 5 if you count 2020. Got 10th.

Got home at 2 am and slept for 15 hours Satisfying

Oh buddy I’m gonna tell you right now switching to an ex and a concept does not automatically make you a good player. Have to have good fundamentals especially with the concept since it’s a slightly more open mouthpiece facing. I’m on a 62III and concept(just switched to concept a few months ago) and it took some work to get used to even at my college level.

Thank you

I hate to say it but being an alum of the program I can say from experience that at least a few people are definitely saying that. People said that back when I was there. They are certainly entitled to their opinion(I thought Panther Creek was more deserving of the gold this year), but there are definitely a small number that go beyond the scope of rational disagreement. I think that the kids thought they had the best performance of all time when they did not. They’re on the field doing all the things, and judges are sitting in the box. Heck, I was in the stands, and you can go back and see exactly where I put them in my finals prediction despite my obvious bias toward them. It’s unfortunate that a few are making the program look bad, and it happens when you don’t get the result you wanted. They’ll come back next year with a score to settle, and hopefully will be all the more bought-in to the process because of it.

Hurt by Trent Reznor. However it’s based on the Eric Whitacre choral arrangement.

Oh my god yes

Clean and boring will always beat clean and ridiculously hard. To be honest I almost think that they refuse to let that difficult of a show win because of what it would do to 4A. The standard would be through the roof and most bands would be left in the dust. Again just my opinion. You can and probably will disagree.

Panther Creek

And bands can now break ranks and end the season. It’s been awesome to commentate on the many BOA and UIL events this fall! I will be back next year with even more negativity and Hebron glazing!

Celina gets the threepeat

1. Celina

2. Panther Creek

3. Davenport

4. Sulphur Springs

5. China Spring

6. Calallen

7. West Plains

8. Gatesville