Visualstrm

The fall Bands of America Regional Championship schedule has been posted: http://www.musicforall.org/programs/regionals/ Sept 25 Louisville, KY - Papa John's Stadium Western PA - TBA Oct 2 Kettering, OH - Kettering Fairmont H.S. Stadium (tentative site) Arlington, TX - UT @ Arlington Oct 9 Jacksonville, AL - Jacksonville State University Houston, TX - Pearland Stadium, The RIG (tentative site) Ypsilanti, MI - Eastern Michigan University Oct 15/16 St. Louis, MO - Edward Jones Dome (Super Regional) Akron/Canton, OH - TBA Oct 23 Mid-Atlantic Area - TBA Oct 29/30 Atlanta, GA - Georgia Dome (Super Regional) San Antonio, TX - Alamodome (Super Regional) Southern California Area - TBA Nov 6 Indianapolis, IN - LOS Mountain West Area - TBA Nov 10-13 Grand National Championships - LOS

Is American Fork going to be added to the list of bands on the predictions list?

After watching BD and Cadets at Finals, I really thought it could have gone either way. Cavies, imo, were no where close to the top two. Difficulty, yes...execution, no. Was a great finals week for sure!!

I'll be there! Of course I only live 20 minutes from the dome If you want a seat on the 50 at semis I suggest you get there when the doors open. Hopefully I'll see you there! I'm probably the only one from Indiana who wants to see the Eagle go back to Texas

Probably Thursday, since prelims performances on Friday do not go that late. And to clarify, each participating band is given an approx. time that they will perform so that bands can plan and schedule, but is not solid/confirmed usually until 2-3 weeks before the actual event. This is when the times and schedules go "public." The time usually does not change, much at all, though...but will most likely be within the same block.

Revolution had an OUTSTANDING performance in Finals. They left it all out there on the field. Winning Brass and Visual...along with voted Most Improved Div3 Corps of the year and Outstanding Drum Major. Even with as many Revolution fans in the stands...everyone was into the show. They had a great season and representerd Texas in a big way!! Congrats to all of them!

There are several D2/3 corps that play and marche better than some D1 corps!!!

Whats wrong with traveling and exposing your band to different things?

Let's also keep in mind that GN used to move around and was not always in Indiana, so not really a fair argument there either. At least, in the 70's and 80's LOL Am I the only one who's seen all these TX and IN bands live?!?!? It would be cool for a group of Indiana people to travel to the SA Regional!!

I'm right there with ya! I live 15 minutes from the dome in Indy and I'm probably the only one in Indiana who wants to see the Eagle go to Texas

Based on the Lawrence Central website, GN is on their schedule. http://www.lcpaa.org/SOC%20CALENDAR%2006.html.htm

While it seems that the BOA classifications are little top heavy these days, you have to remember that they are not intended to match or line up with any State system...it is more of a nationwide sampling. Regardless, when at a BOA event, everyone is mixed up in performance orders anyway (prelims and semis), so no matter what class you are in you are judged in relation to every other band in competition regardless of class. Side note....there is much talk in Indiana about the potential record number of Texas bands going to GN this year.

Remember that BOA has to put the schedule together based on avaliability of facilities. So, even though many may not like that Arlington/Houston are back to back...I doubt there were many other options.

So drive and sleep on a gym floor.

Did you even read this forum or just randomly post after reading a couple replies?!?! The question of quality of the bands is not the issue here, but if it really where, answer me this? If Texas bands really are better than everywhere else, then why did they not take the top 3 spots at GN this year without question? I'm not trying to start an argument, but at least support what you have to say.

FYI, BOA did have some input into the design of the new stadium and Scott McCormick, executive director, was even part of the ground breaking of the new stadium. Grand Nats is scheduled to be in the new dome when it opens. It would be nice to have to roof open for the competition, but weather in Indy can be quite blustery that time of the year. Granted, it has been nice...but I'd bet the roof will be closed more often.

Wow...nice perspective on the activity. Way to support your fellow perfomers! It's attitudes like yours that give bad names to progams.

Indiana does not have/use a ton of hash marks. They use one set. The RCA Dome is a professional stadium that hosts high school, college, and pro events..all of which use different hash marks...thus the multiple hash marks in this stadium. Hosting Grand Nationals in Texas would be awesome and would definately shake the results up a bit. But, its not going to happen. BOA is based in Indianapolis and has a great usage agreement with the RCA Dome. Furthermore, BOA has stated that Indianapolis is the "center" of the marching activity with 80% of the countries competitive marching bands within a days drive of the city. There are many bands in Indiana (and within that days drive) that do not participate in BOA as all. I'd love to see it moved around, but its not going to happen anytime soon...so fundraise away, people Obviously, there are many bands that are not that close and/or do not have the funds to go every year, but that is one of the reasons for the Regionals and Super Regionals. To give more programs the BOA experience. Someone mentioned something about the rich schools in Indiana that are close to Indy...that's funny...there isn't as much money as you think...and its not all that different than anywhere else, really. Funding to schools in Indiana has even been cut with the newest Govoner. Booster organizations are really the supporters of these programs.

BOA classifications are NOT based on band size, but on school size as followed: Bands are classified by school enrollment, grades 10-12 only. Class A is 600 students and less, Class AA 601-1149, Class AAA 1150 and above.

Mr. Video?!?!?! I'd rather use my moms camcorder from 1985......

You might be surprised at who watches these forums *grin*

and the entry fee was less than normal.

Okay...being from Indiana I would like to clarify a couple things... I dont know of any Indiana band that "relaxes" after State finals, unless that happens to be the end of the season for your band. The BOA Indianapolis Regional is usually between state finals and BOA Grand Nationals. Plus there are other competitions to attend and/or full rehearsals. Regardless of what state you come from, I think the ultimate goal is to be at your absolute best at the very end of the season. That could be state finals or BOA Grand Nationals. Obviously, you want to be the best you can at your state finals, but if your season does continue...there are 2-3 weeks (in Indiana depending on the schedule) to keep pushing along until your season does end. The Indiana Class A State Champion was Avon....and by the time BOA Grand Nationals came around...Lawrence Central came out on top. Lots of factors and changes can happen in a couple weeks. Regardless of participating in State Finals or not....there's no relaxing until the season is complete. As for Center Grove, remember that Indiana takes the top 5 scores in each class from the North Regional and the top 5 scores in each class at the South Regional into State Finals (not always resulting in the top 10 scores overall). The south regional has been much tougher recently compared to the North in Class A. Thus, CG getting left out of finals with their "slightly off" season, but had they been in the North....it would have been a different story.

Yes, they were scored and judged the same as any other regional. I was not questioning that aspec....but the finalists were not based on normal criteria since not everyone in the finals competition were all top 10 bands. I know that the BOA Regional sign-up sheet had different explanations on it, I just don't have one of those sheets. I was just curious if anyone knew if they were doing the same thing this year.

In regard to the School size classifiaction vs. Band size... this could be a totally differnt discussion thread...and has been brought up many times in several parts of the country. There are so many factors to consider and each state has different situations. But, some thigs to ponder....below is a copy of one of my postings regarding this matter from IndianaMarching.com from last fall. Obviously, it would be hard to make any system totally "fair" for everyone, but lets think about a few things. School size has been the most common classifiaction for marching band. The argument that larger schools have a larger "pool" of students to choose from as well as more resources really is an "old school" way of thinking and really doesn't work as a blanket situation. One example... there are so many more activities for students to choose from (more than in the past) that the "pool" is much smaller than it used to be. Students are also encouraged to be diverse...which may not allow for one to be totally dedicated to just one or two activities. As far as resources ($), here too, you will find a vast range from band to band....without even thinking of the size of the school. Regardless, the fact is, there are many small and large bands in every class as well as a wide variety of talent and performance levels. Is it "fair" to have a band of 200 compete in the same class as a band of 75?? I guess it depends on the angle we look at this. There are always many excpetions to every rule. For example, Jackson Academy from Mississippi only has 25 members in their marching band this year....yet, they are able to perform at such a high level that they outscore many bands that are MUCH larger. I believe it was 1994 when they made finals at BOA Grand Nationals (the smallest band ever to be in finals) and placed just above Duncanville, TX (the largest band ever to be in finals). We could even go the other direction, which is more common, where larger bands do place/score higher than smaller bands. But is it due to pure size? Honestly, no matter how well a small band performs....larger bands have an easier time producing "effect." More musically than visually, in my opinion. One may think that small bands have less options than a large band in regards to drill....I say that is false and you just need better design/creativity, becasue there a many things a small band can do that a large band could never do...but I digress... As a judge, one might expect a smaller band to execute visually and musically at a higher level than a larger band!! WHY? Because there are less students or work with...so the instructor/student ratio is different. It "should" be easier to get a smaller band to perform at the higher level . And it is true...on the band size classifiaction, there ARE [and could be more, possibly] bands that would limit the number of students in marching band to control the class they would be competing in. How do they do this?? Have auditions for positions....or only march upper classmen...while the under classmen are alternates/shadows...or the underclassmen do football game shows. I'm not sure I agree with that from an educational stand point, but it does happen. So, the band size idea may not be the best either. And with such a wide variety of performance levels of bands in any school size based classification...I can't be convinced that the school size system is the best either. I just wonder if an achievement/experience based system...similar to WGI...would be a benefit to the overall marching band system. Becasue school size and/or band size, in my opinion, isnt the best answer.