Danpod

Texas has a very unique situation. There are tons of really great bands spread out over the whole State. It's almost impossible to create a system that will allow every single "deserving" program to advance to the State Marching Contest. Having as close to equal representation across the Areas is about as fair as you can get without going down the rabbit hole of suggesting that certain Areas deserve more opportunity than others. Again, it's a very unique situation. I promise you that other states don't have to deal with this. I do think that the changing of the Area judging system has the potential to reward some programs we haven't seen at State yet. I'm excited for the changes!

Totally agree. I hate the Eight Minute Rule. But the Football people aren't going to allow the Music people to get away with shows longer than eight minutes because that would impact the football players' performance after Halftime.

Currently, this event only has six participants fully enrolled. Perhaps a wait and see approach is being applied this year.

Let's take a look at some of the New Business (Stuff that will be discussed in May) D1: Conference 1A proposal to make their Region Contests point based rather than, "You got a 1 rating, please advance to State." Unsure if this sets up a future Area Contest for 1A programs. Budgets and travel are a major deal for that, but the UIL has been consistent in giving programs these opportunities if they want them. D2: Proposal to eliminate "accomplishments" from field exit scripts. Logic here is that judges might be influenced when hearing about a band's accolades. Judges are usually waaaayyy too busy at the end of a show with writing comments and finishing up audio commentary to pay attention to that stuff. D3: The adults on Facebook (also known as Nega TikTok) are extremely vocal about this one. This proposal would advance an additional program to State if your Area had a medalist at State Finals the previous year. The sentiment is felt. I'm sure there are some programs that feel like the cards are stacked against them because their Area has a lot of successful programs in it. If this passes (it won't), you can basically throw UIL/TMEA Realignment out the window. The whole purpose of creating an Area J for Conference 6A, and the reason for realignment as a whole, is to give equal representation to Areas across the State as possible. Creating rules for a few programs doesn't serve the activity as a whole. We have to think about an entire State. D4: Medals going out to State Finalists would mimic what Bands Of America does for their Grand National Finalists. I can tell you that the UIL has really upped the pageantry game on State Finals in recent years which I am very grateful for. Back when I was doing my State Finals thing, the retreat felt very transactional and sterile. Would giving every State Finalist participant a medal water down the experience of receiving a Bronze, Silver, or Gold one? Hard to say. I think caption awards at State Finals needs to be a thing first before considering this. D5: Changing the timing penalty at Region Contest has been a topic circulating for the past few years. Currently, the penalty for going over the eight minute performance time is a lowering of division rating (If you got a 1, the penalty would give you a 2 across the board). Some proponents feel that the penalty is too harsh and that a written reprimand is sufficient enough. However, the Eight Minute Rule in UIL will likely never change. There's a reason Halftime performances are only allotted so much time and why there are specific penalties in place when the band/spirit groups go over. D6: Moving to an indoor venue would be challenging to say the least. Not everyone has those facilities available on short notice. Area I last Fall was one of the most wild marching contests on record. Multiple weather delays, restarts, announcements during performances to pull students off the field, damage to set pieces, and much more. There's only so much that can be done during Area Saturday aside from moving the contest back a day or two. D7: Fun Fact. UIL used to release full State Prelims rankings publicly right before State Finals. Those were some crazy times in the press box! One reason that this proposal may be on the table is to prevent State Finalist programs from knowing where they have placed before heading into the most stressful performance of their lives. With that being said, State Finals already has a top half/bottom half performance draw so you already have a ballpark of where you currently rank. Trust me. It's difficult to ignore those recaps when they start circulating throughout social media.

Good morning! Enjoy today's contest!

Regarding group photos in the stands: Taking the group photo in the stands is the safest and most efficient way to get it done. Setting up the metal stands outside takes up a lot of room in the parking lot and that space is definitely limited. Also, doing the photo in the dome eliminates any possibility of weather-related issues that may come up. The same thing is done at contests that have the stadium space including the Grand National Championships. No process is going to be perfect. I understand the concerns, though.

Quick heads up: The recap for yesterday's Prelims contest is NOT publicly available. I deleted the links because if they are found on here, you all are gonna get me in trouble with my Dad and he is gonna yell at me. Seriously, we have a great relationship with the UIL and we don't want to jeopardize that. Thanks for understanding.

Good morning.

Hello folks. Hope you all are enjoying the end of the year! Do us a massive favor and don't reveal show concepts/titles/imagery/announcements unless your program is cool with it. And a major hint would be that they posted it on all the socials! And please don't spoil things for programs who like to keep these announcements under wraps. Always treat others with respect. Can't wait for the Fall!!!

Hi friends! Activity around here definitely picks up around Area Saturday. This is great and also not so great at the same time. See something that may be spam, abusive, or infringing on copyright? By all means, report it!!! We'll look at it and take appropriate actions. Trust me. We have some neat moderating tools that I am hungry to try out!!! Also, please leave a reason why you flagged it. The Report function is NOT used to downvote someone's prediction because you don't like it because they didn't pick your band and that's totally sus because we're really good this year HONEST! Don't abuse that reporting tool. It slows my day down, especially when I am eating. Good luck to everyone this weekend!

If you are attending this event in ANY capacity, please eat well and drink plenty of water before this contest!!! Although there is a chance of rain tomorrow and Prelims will end before the temps get too crazy, do your best to take care of yourselves so that the outside elements don't impact you that much. Have fun at the contest!

Good morning!!! Hope you all are doing well and enjoying your season. Let's go over some quick guidelines for sharing videos on this forums. 1. Links to ripped marching band videos from streaming sites such as BOX5-TV, FloMarching, NFHS, and so on will be removed. This includes links to the BOA Educational Copy of the performance which are intended for the instructional and educational purpose of that program. We need to be respectful of these copyright holders and distributors of these videos. 2. Links will be removed if a copyright holder messages us and wants it taken down. Other than that, have fun!!! I'll jump back on here if anything needs to be updated or addressed

Hello! Just in case you didn't know, there's a silly show I do about Texas marching band stuff. The link below will get you on the way to listening. Get subscribed because there's plenty more coming this season! THANKS! The Danpodcast

Hi folks!! I have reached out to several people regarding the status of this contest. Once word comes along, I'll update the AREA RESULTS LIVE BLOG!!!! UIL 5A/3A RESULTS Live Blog

Hi. Yeah. I have access to all sorts of information on here. Most of those screen names were made on the same day within minutes of each other. I would appreciate the attempt to raise "credibility" on the Predictions for your current/former program or an attempt to intimidate/troll one of our members be stopped IMMEDIATELY!! Otherwise, I'll start banning accounts, IP addresses, email addresses, and whatever I need to do to keep the integrity of this awesome place intact. This thread is to remain on topic. Thanks.