utee94

That's an interesting idea. Give the Area champion their choice of available slots already assigned to that Area throughout the sessions at State, and then all other Area participants are randomly assigned to the remaining slots.

Just got back from SA, what an amazing afternoon/evening. Congrats to all the finalists, and to the Leander Three for sweeping the medals. I really like the Leander and Rouse shows and of course I'm very familiar with them. But my favorite that is not from Leander ISD, is definitely Lone Star, such a pretty show with just beautiful moments. I also really enjoyed Argyle and Aledo shows. And of course my favorite that did not make Finals is still Lake Belton. I'll be watching all of the above in the future, no doubt they'll continue to improve and impress.

Yeah my kids at CP believe they have a better run in them for today. But I have no doubt all the other bands are going to step it up for Finals. Should be a lot of fun to watch. Time for me to go load the trucks and get moving to San Antonio. Everyone enjoy the shows, and best of luck to all that are competing!

Watching 1A State Prelims right now, I really love watching what these bands do with their shows, given their size and often-times financial constraints, compared to the massive 6A and 5A powers. It reminds me a lot more of what my high school's marching shows were 30 years ago, even though we were a decently-resourced 5A school. Times have certainly changed. They work hard, just like all the kids at bigger schools, and I love seeing them get to show their stuff in the Alamodome.

Best of luck to all of the 5A Finalists, gonna be an awesome afternoon of marching band!

Y'all sounded awesome, thanks for spending your time to put on a show and entertain the masses.

I enjoyed their show so much! Was really disappointed for them for being so close. I don't know who I would have omitted to put them in, but it's still tough that they were first out.

As a parent of two of these kids I'm less concerned about "form" and more concerned about my kids getting enough sleep and getting their homework done. Luckily today and tomorrow were holidays for Leander ISD but they'll be missing Friday at school due to BOA-San Antonio and 2 days next week due to BOA-Grand Nationals. They'll be spending enough time in hotels over the next 2 weeks, so I'm more than fine with ALL of them coming home today.

Early performance time this morning so they stayed overnight last night. Wasn't in the budget to stay twice so the whole band came home this afternoon.

Finalists will be announced after they finish recognizing all State participants.

I think the photographer hollering over the band that is currently performing, just to get a picture, is a lot worse. Many reasons they should move this process somewhere else, outside of the dome's grandstands.

Yup it's UIL's schedule. The picture actually took our band so long this morning, that they couldn't get back to the truck to load their instruments quickly enough and we almost missed our parking lot mandatory exit time. They need to change the UIL schedule, because this current process doesn't work. My suggestion would be to take the pictures somewhere else.

Lake Belton is the most pleasant and unexpected surprise for me today so far. I enjoyed all aspects of their show-- very good music and drill, and beautiful visuals with zero props or front screens or other added elements. The color guard costumes were perfectly utilized for added visual impact.

Me three. Multicam won't load at all but high cam is fine.

Great show! I'd heard it was good and wasn't disappointed. I loved the interplay with the band and the props/stages. So energetic and entertaining.

Just got home from SA, will be watching on NFHS for the rest of the day while trying to get some actual work done. Didn't get a chance to sit in the stands and watch anyone, but Lone Star went just before us so we were waiting in the wings and at field level they sounded fantastic. Cohen's "Hallelujah" gets me every time and they performed it beautifully.

Good friends at CR, texting me late last night worried about the wind and all of their crazy pendulum and wrecking ball swinging props! Apparently everything stayed put, though. Strong finish for the Raider Band, congrats to the them and all the other finalists advancing to State!

Welcome back, txbands forum. Guess there was a little too much site traffic yesterday, with all of the 4A and 6A Area comps, plus all the weather drama. Speaking of weather drama, tomorrow's San Antonio forecast has rain chances peaking at 54%, right at 8 AM, which is our scheduled unload time in the Alamodome parking lot. Ugh, really hoping the rain stays away.

Pretty sure it does and for our Area competjtion they didn't clear the stadium between Prelims and Finals.

I'm not familiar with the geographical extent of this Area, but for anyone more than 60 miles or so, it makes sense to give them as much of a heads-up as possible. Waiting until the day-of, the furthest bands could already be on the road.

Probably, everyone, except for the old faces that like to make it to San Antonio.

I've seen Leander's show several times now, it's got plenty enough to make finals at all upcoming competitions. Their kids are also gracious and fun to hang around, our kids are definitely looking forward to the trip up to Grand Nationals alongside them. Although I personally think they missed a bet by omitting Corey Hart's "Sunglasses at Night" from the musical book, but hey, that's just picking nits.

Yup, they did it for our 5A Area competition last weekend. And I didn't recall them doing it before, so it makes sense if this is the first year.

Yeah I've seen it done both ways. The way our band INTENDS it, is the former. The electronic pre-show is timed to consume the final minute or so of the setup time, and then the first real instrument entry should occur right as it switches over to the 8 minutes. Nothing in the pre-show is supposed to be judged. I've also seen the 2 minute post-show timer occasionally not run at all, at both Region and Area. At State I assume it's running but I'm always so focused moving props and equipment off the field, I never even look for the timers at State.

I think the CP kids are starting to take it as a challenge. 11:00 AM performance time at BOA-Austin, 9:45 AM performance time at UIL Area Prelims, and now a 10:00 AM performance time at UIL State Prelims. My own kids actually prefer early performance times, they feel fresher and they like to knock it out early and then just wait for the results.