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Agreed on Hebron! That was the cleanest I’ve seen them. Mellos and woodwinds on fire as per usual.

Gold - LD Bell 2000: King of Kings Silver - Flower Mound 2015: Surreal Bronze - Cedar Park 2004: Universal Expressions

She helped the Leander Band achieve some absolutely amazing shows in the late 90s/2000. This includes one of my all-time faves: The Music of Rimsky-Korsakov in 2000 when Leander got 3rd in prelims (performing 1st!) and then 6th in finals in 5A state finals (then the largest classification). The way that the tarps were integrated into the drill in that show was so cool. It also featured (in my opinion) the finest rendition of Dance of the Tumblers ever brought to the marching field.

Re: Box5, yes the audio has been iffy all day. Plus, it’s just really disappointing that wherever the field mics are placed, they are not really picking up the mic’d soloists AT ALL.

Hebron!!! So difficult and so amazing! And bringing the blue fire at the end!?!! I am all in all the time for that show!!

Vista Ridge!!! The music GE! Jaw on floor!

Yes! Keller! That was phenomenal! What a glorious ensemble sound and such demand on the move! I am generally affected! agreed that the long note with the panels changing behind is simply WOW! Bravo!

Watching via FloMarching today and then there for finals tomorrow - it's the most wonderful time of the year!!

Flower Mound's sky blue with the clouds uniforms from '15 and '16 are my absolute favorites of all time.

Just saw a video of Coppell from Area B finals and wow wow wow! This show is 1000% better than when I saw it in Bedford... nice top to bottom balance, gorgeous woodwinds, lots of demand while on the move, and the sliding is so fun! Also some great percussion including the tenor feature. I was fist pumping a lot while watching this! If they can just calm a couple of eager brass players in a couple of spots and polish the drill in the last minute, then this will be really special. Excited to see what they can do on Monday.

That’s great to hear! They are getting scary good! I’m not there today, but the video from last night’s game was sensational. They give goosebumps to my goosebumps. Haha!

Yes, where is that video? The sonorous punchy brass hits over the glorious woodwind run in the first movement is still one of my all-time favorite moments in Texas marching band. The saxes are doing the lord's work in that run. That was also the year of Churchill's Blueprints show which I thought was incredible. I really thought that was the show of the year and that they would win state and was pretty surprised when they weren't even a medalist.

Looks like the Area G schedule is now up: https://www.uilmusicregion14.org/uploads/1/0/0/8/100843358/area_g_6a_schedule_2018.pdf 5 will advance. Solely based on what I saw at McAllen, I’d say Alexander is a strong contender to advance. Beyond them, I really don’t know- it’s a nice opportunity for perhaps some bands that haven’t gone to State before.

I will also add that I was extremely impressed with Lake Travis yesterday. It’s probably the best they’ve ever looked. They are getting great depth of sound. I also think that the show is very engaging and has some great touches to evoke Coco Chanel and Stravinsky. Plus they are including some Petrushka which is one of my faves.

I believe Region 6 splits their contest into zones and the zone that Abilene is in has their contest on Monday night.

Probably on Wednesday since Region 18 does not have their contest until Tuesday evening.

The larger classifications were all amazing at Region 32 today! I do agree that Vista Ridge was especially incredible - they blew me away!

The only lock is Keller. Would not be surprised if they have 1st place ordinals across the board. Everything else is up in the air. And, as usually happens at Area, I imagine we'll see some big changes in placements between prelims and finals.

Agreed. That place is where sound goes to die. I've been there for a high school playoff game, sitting in the lower bowl and could barely hear the bands on the field. It was like listening from the receiver end of the phone.

Here we go! Panel 1: -Reagan -Hebron -Keller -Cedar Park -Leander Panel 2: -The Woodlands -Flower Mound -Vandegrift -CTJ -Vista Ridge Next 4: -Marcus -Cedar Ridge -Seven Lakes -Prosper

Seeing now that Region 30 has also moved their contest from Oct. 16 to Oct. 22, as well.

Also to mention, the students get exposed to these great works of art and their artists that they otherwise might not be. We, as the audience, also get exposed to a bit of culture that we maybe haven't seen before or have perhaps forgotten about. All the while the students are continuing to play and march at the highest level, while entertaining us and conveying the theme "generally effectively" which is of course what this whole grand activity is all about. The Surreal show from 2015 is one of my top 5 favorite shows of all time. Keep doing what you're doing, FloMo! I LOVE IT!

From the stadium... WOW Keller! Jaw on the floor and still have goosebumps. Incredible sounds and completely enthralling!! Best Keller show ever.

Agreed on Westwood- I think they’ve got a great shot to move on. I really like the show and actually had them a good bit ahead of RR in my personal rankings from Sat.

If I am remembering correctly, I think it was 5A State in 2006 which was a bit of a blip. I adored that Shostakovich show (incredible woodwind run during the closer while the brass was faced backfield playing the Fire of Eternal glory melody over the top of it). They had done pretty well that season, including 8th in finals of BOA SA, but they had a very early prelims time and probably the worst run of their season that morning. They ended up around 20th. Consistent lofty trajectory since then.