tubapop

VISTA RIDGE!!! I'm putting them at #1 right now. Big, beautiful sound, extreme precision in a drill that doesn't allow marchers to hide, and most marchers are playing a majority of the time. Great impact moments.

Did Tomball memorial really mimic a suicide of their price is right contestant? Or did I misunderstand it?

This is on the directors, not the uil and certainly not the kids.

Will they actually do it though?

I agree 100% with this ranking and I've sat here from the morning. Not sure where I would put Reagan and ctj but probably not at the very top...I though bell's show was that good. And I'm a sucker for bands that play a lot and play most of the time they're on the field. I might rank Coppell 2nd after bell.

Really visually dazzling! Great sound!

Ld Bell brought the brass!!! Wow

It's the theme from Lost, my favorite show

This is a good point. For any kids reading, any negative comments are nitpicking in what is an amazing show. Everyone here deserves to be here.

Had the exact same thought. I saw a few visual flaws in Reagan's show especially near the end zone toward the end of the show, and musically there were notable issues. Loved the opener though.

Interesting, thanks. Why do they do it that way?

What does top and bottom half mean?

Here we goooooooooooooo!!!!

Any thoughts on Vandegrift's show (it's on youtube) this year? I am in love. They're taking a different tack than what you typically see. The tone and mood is dark, mostly quiet, introspective. Quiet rain instead of rainbows and flowers. Impeccably executed.

I saw the Woodlands show in person and didn't see a dog.

I used the search feature and didn't see this topic having been discussed before, although I'm sure it's on the forums somewhere. To what extent do you think the prestige of a band influences its ranking in a given contest? I don't think a Vandy can come in, bomb their show, and expect to take first, but do you think that at some subconscious level, a judge "knows" what the final ranking should look like, more or less? Maybe they want to be conservative and not be totally out of the norm/usual expectations when coming up with their scores? Maybe if you're a judge and you find yourself scoring a newcomer higher than a perennial finalist, you think twice about that before you submit your scores?

Shocked cedar ridge folded...what happened?!

I don't know that I'd consider Bridgeland's win a shocker. (Full disclosure, I'm a BHS parent.) I don't think they executed as well as in other recent contests, but in my biased view, it's a dazzling show and was well-executed relative to most of the other bands. But I'll concede that I was a little surprised at the first place ranking. CyFair's show is incredible and really creative, with some deeper commentary on the human condition than what you typically see on the field. I've never heard the spectating band kids "ooh" and "ahh" as much as they did at CyFair's performance. I expected CyFair and Bridgeland to rank 1 and 2, but I didn't know which would be which. If I had to venture a guess - and this is my own pet peeve - there seems to be a trend in recent years for some of the elite bands in the state to go light on the music and heavier on the choreography and props. You'll see many top bands' shows feature tradeoffs between brass and woodwinds--one marches while the other plays, and vice versa. There are a LOT of musical rests in modern shows, which disappoints me (I'm a 90s band kid whose school used to compete at the TX state finals level consistently--old timers would recognize the name). Marching band should primarily be about music, and not just quality of music, but quantity, also--each marcher should spend the majority of their time on the field playing music. Maybe that's an outdated view, I don't know. I'll comment a bit on the other bands, too. Tompkins was very clean and engaging, and I'm a sucker for Stravinsky - I had them missing state by one, but they made it, and deservedly so. Cy Ranch continues to struggle a bit with cleaning up forms and music, but it's still a really solid show, and the fact that they placed last in the finals is a testament to the growing muscle of Area I. I was surprised at James E. Taylor's show - it seemed a step down from last year, and I know they are an excellent band and was fully expecting them to make state, so I was disappointed for those kids and I know they'll bounce back next year strong as ever. I was really impressed with 7 Lakes' show - they cleaned it up a lot from prior performances, and the "thousand paper cranes" concept was unique and interesting. Musically, I think I liked them the best, but honestly it was probably the score I liked the most. I found myself liking Jordan's show quite a bit, but then I started second-guessing myself--is it the glittering uniforms that are distracting me? Should I rank them lower? I really think they should tone down the uniforms - they're shiny to the point of being distracting from the performance, which was otherwise very strong. Cy Woods had me nervous, probably because they were so incredibly clean, and I loved their choreo and props, and also because they historically have done well against us. My own final ranking for the finals was: 1. Cy Fair 2. Bridgeland 3. Seven Lakes 4.-5. Tie-Jordan, Cy-Woods 6. Tompkins 7.-8. Tie - JET, Katy 9. Cinco Ranch 10. Cy-Ranch I wasn't too far off, but I'm glad I was wrong about #1!