HardCorps

I can't find this anywhere... Does anyone know the start time for 3A & 5A SMC Finals?

Nope, not a Plano grad (not affiliated with Plano - the school or the city)... not even originally from the DFW area. I went to HS down around Houston. As for 20th place... well, so many of the bands were so good... there really is not much separating the vast majority of the bands. You could very easily swap 11th with 21st and still have an acceptable outcome. I bet you could send any one of the bands that placed 8th - 21st in this region and they would beat at least 5-7 of the bands at State this year. I'd venture to suggest that Plano would probably beat even more than that! On Plano's show... I've seen Firebird performed by many bands and drum corps. This is a very difficult piece of music to pull off and make sound acceptable, even more difficult to make sound good or great. I felt Plano made this music sound wonderful. Maybe a bit more emotion in the performance and more widely varying dynamics would have put ya'll over the top. Great marching performance and overall great show. The cold early morning performance time probably did not work in your favor I would venture to guess. Good luck on next year and keep up the great work! By the way, for all those that question your placement or some other bands placement, try to rate and rank 30 bands with only one viewing of each show throughout an entire day where you have to sit on a really uncomfortable seat in the cold of morning and the burning sun of midday. It is quite the ordeal and a suprisingly difficult task! It's much harder to do than you could ever believe, especially when so many bands are so evenly matched. I still enjoyed every minute of it, though!!

I watched all the prelims and finals shows... (boy, was my bottom sore from sitting all day!) I used a simple way to rate and rank the prelims performances: Division 1, 2, 3 etc. except I added -, --, +, ++ to each divisional rating which allows for 5 degrees within each division. I placed music ahead of marching in determining order. If there was a tie, I simple picked the show and performance I preferred. Here are my prelim results along with judges' outcome: School Music Marching My Order J Order Finals Result Marcus 1++ 1++ 1 1 Yes State LD Bell 1++ 1++ 2 2 Yes State Plano 1++ 1+ 3 20 Mansfield 1++ 1+ 4 18 Summit 1++ 1 5 7 Yes Alternate Richland 1+ 1++ 6 4 Yes State Hebron 1+ 1+ 7 5 Yes State N Smith 1+ 1+ 8 10 Yes Alternate Tmbrvw 1+ 1+ 9 17 Haltom 1+ 1+ 10 3 Yes State Allen 1+ 1 11 9 Yes No Lewisville 1+ 1- 12 11 Cllyvll Hrtg 1 1+ 13 15 Wylie 1 1+ 14 13 Plano East 1 1 15 6 Yes No Flwr Mnd 1 1 16 12 Creekview 1- 1+ 17 8 Yes No Paschal 1- 1+ 18 23 Martin 1- 1+ 19 14 Carroll 1-- 1 20 16 N Crowley 1-- 1- 21 21 Plano West 1-- 2 22 25 Granbury 2++ 1 23 29 Grapevine 2+ 1 24 19 Arlington 2+ 1- 25 26 Bowie 2+ 1- 26 22 Lamar 2+ 2+ 27 24 Burleson 2 2 28 28 RL Turner 2-- 2-- 29 27 This system was surprisingly close to the judges outcome with a few glaring exceptions. Plano, Mansfield and Timberview didn't make finals. Notice however, the 3 bands I didn't pick for finals (Allen, Plano East, Creekview) were the only 3 finalists that didn't advanced to state or didn't get picked as alternates.... hmmm. My picks: Best Musical Performance - Marcus (prelims & finals) Best Marching Performance - LD Bell (finals) Favorite Show - LD Bell Favorite Music - N Smith Funnest Show - Marcus Most Powerful and Impressive Sound - Allen (how do they attack, release and articulate so cleanly?) This is the first time I truely enjoyed this musical book performed by any band or drum corps. Congrats! Great Guards - Richland, LD Bell, Creekview. (sorry if I left anyone out, I was not meticulous making notes about the guards.) Some criticize Marcus' show as being gimmicky... I usually hate props, but everything they do enhances their show. Marching is not challenging at all (not a negative comment) compared to their closest competitors, but extremely polished...perfect to be precise. This allows them to easily be head and shoulders above the rest in music. Very challenging music played with perfect tone, intonation and balance. Great dynamics and nuance. [LOL!! Thanks for the edit heads up, Xenon.] And, LOTS OF FUN TO BOOT! Awesome soloists! Prelims and finals were equally consistent and well performed. LD Bell's prelims performance lacked the polish one expects from them; however, there finals performance was intense and smokin'. This show and performance will score much higher at BOA SA and GN. I like the new uniform, but the dark pants do not highlight the frenetic marching that this talented unit displays. Much more impressive marching "look" at BOA Arlington in light colored pants. I really like the new tops and VERY WHITE shako and tall plum. The whole unit now looks very TALL and much trimmer. Plano East and Creekview really turned in great finals performances which in my mind validated their presence in finals. I really got into their shows! Lots of energy and emotion! Great jobs! Richland's finals performance was head and shoulders more intense and emotional and flat out better than their prelims effort. Congrats! I thoroughly enjoyed all the shows and appreciate all the hard work that went into them. Thank you for giving me the privilege to witness this wonderful spectacle. UP! DOWN! LEFT! RIGHT! (Anyone know what show this is from?) Everyone get ready for STATE!!