Statebound

Has anyone seen a BOA San Antonio Prelim schedule yet? There is still nothing posted on the Music For All website.

Am I right in saying that LDB has not played in a contest yet? I saw a post saying that they were going to play BOA St Louis and then straight to UIL Area and BOA San Antonio. Now that's confidence! It doesn't mean that it's right or wrong--their past success speaks volumes. It's just interesting. Most schools have already played in 2-3 contests and pretty much know where they are.

The quality of the musical programs are very close. Hebron had two big disruptions that they need to fix and have had the same problem for two consecutive contests. To be fair, Marcus also had a big tear this week which is very atypical for them. Marcus simply has a different level of finish and detail that others (other than perhaps LDB) can't touch. Also, Hebron also appears to be marching their entire show where Marcus has not yet completely put in their 3rd set and that will make it more comparable. There is still a lot of time to tweak these programs. I still haven't seen LDB yet. Can't wait to add them to the mix.

I guess we needed a cold misty night to remind us it was fall. I was surprisingly impressed by the finals bands and left thinking the next few weeks are going to be really fun. Big compliments to the Creekview and particularly, Lewisville who have shown huge maturity and improvement over past years. I do not know who is over the Lewisville ISD Fine Arts programs, but the band programs at those schools (Marcus, Hebron, Lewisville, Flower Mound) are outstanding and seem to be improving every year to the point where I've come to assume it's district driven. There was no question that Marcus, Hebron, and Haltom were the top tier and there was little question that Marcus was the top show. Their music is so clean and their visuals are so engaging that they captivate you. Marcus only played for 6 minutes so there is obviously more to come. What surprised me was that I did not think there was huge gap between Marcus and Hebron to the point where I think UIL is going to be interesting. One thing for sure, UIL Area B is going to be a beast. I'm not sure if they'll take 3-4 bands to state from that Area, but Marcus, Hebron, and LDB are likely going to be in the middle of it. Let's hope they take 4 so another deserving band will have a shot.

Wow--fantastic post! I saw the shows live and you've talked me into going back and watching Bowie and CTJ again. I thought the Bowie show was a little "tricked up" and I need to listen to their instrumentation a bit closer. With BOA contests, I'm always a little worried about the "reputation" factor, although Flower Mound was able to break into the sacred realm last year. Their are several top bands playing at the Plano East contest this weekend (Marcus, Hebron, Haltom, Mansfield, etc) and I think we'll know more from that.

The first finalist goes at 7 PM. Awards are planned for 10:30 PM. There is a PDF of the schedule available at www.planoeastband.com/

It looks as if the majority of the 5A bands in this competition are in the same UIL Area B group which will compete next month to see who goes to the state contest. I also believe that LD Bell is in that same group though not in this competition. This will be a good early indicator to see who the major players are going to be for those 3-4 spots. It's actually a shame that PESH is hosting the event and can not compete. That would give them a chance to see where they rate against their main competitors. They had a strong show two years ago and nearly made state. I think I'll try to make it to this one.

All the kids and directors get extra kudo's today-particularly the Cedar Park folks. I was there for all but the first set of bands and it was tough day. This can be another topic for another day, but BOA judging is becoming a mystery to me. I thought that CTJ obviously had the best performance of the day and I have had no affiliation with that organization. How can the same bands win every category in every classification? It sure looked like CTJ, Marcus, Hebron, and probably Bowie have state caliber shows. It's going to be a fun season!

I was able to take in the new $60 million Allen football stadium Friday night and saw both the Allen and Hebron programs. Allen is still early in their show but their sound is improving each year. Their is certainly no problem with volume. It was a bit intimidating to see what looked like over 200 alternates lining the end zones but it has definitely cleaned up the field for them to have a a little more of a sophisticated drill. To their credit, they are perhaps the best game band that I have ever seen. They play a lot of fun music and the kids seem to have a great time. Did I mention that they are really loud!?! Their bull fight version of "Macarena" is awesome. Hebron has a great deal of their program already put in and played for roughly 7 minutes. The show is called "In Concert" and appears to be constructed from several different composers. Hebron is always one of the strongest bands musically, but I detected a change in the style of drill and a considerable upgrade in the visuals and colorguard. In fact, at one point during the middle portion of the show, it reminded me of something I would expect to see from LD Bell. They are already well ahead of the curve and I expect this show to play well during contest season.

Coppell surprises me -- either in a good or bad way -- every year. The 2008 show had a fantastic slow march drill that got better as the year went on and peaked at state. Very involved and dynamic male drum major. I believe they finished in the top 5 that year. 2009 was very disappointing and I don't believe they even made finals at BOA Arlington. 2010 was a very creative show with retro music and visuals and very strong solos. Started the season rather sluggish and again peaked in San Antonio and again finishing in the top 5. 2011 - I'm not even recalling it right now. Interesting. No predictions here. When Coppell decides to play the game, they can obviously do it.

I just learned that Hebron has brought in a new colorguard instructor from out of state to upgrade that group and a new asst band director that will concentrate on visuals. I will also be interested to see what Hebron does this year with their drill. The Hebron drill is typically so fast and so difficult that I have often thought that it gets in the way of their music. I was reminded recently that Hebron has made 3 straight 5A state contests so they are setting the bar high.

There has been a lot of talk about bands that are "Locks" for BOA SA finals this year. It seemed like a good time to take the emotion out of it and cut to the chase. If you look at BOA SA past results, you will find that these bands have made the finals each of the past 5 years: LD Bell Cedar Park Churchill Hebron Marcus Reagan Bowie and Woodlands have made finals 4 of the past 5 years. It is probably not a coincidence that nearly all these bands made UIL 5A State finals last year (Cedar Park is 4A so they get an extra kudo) If anyone is looking to place a friendly wager, you may want to start by knowing that half the finals spots may well be taken. Please feel free to discuss and I hope everyone has a great time in San Antonio!!

I'm still looking for performance times for BOA SA. There is nothing currently posted on the Music for All web site. I assume everyone knows what time they are supposed to play. Any idea where's that posted?

This is a great post and I can't disagree with much of it. I was able to get over to Carrollton for the TOC finals and you can add Mansfield and Haltom to your "locks" for BOA SA, particularly Mansfield who I believe will be in the top tier. Both shows are tailor-made for BOA judging and quite impressive. Haltom's "grim reaper" program should play well the week of Halloween. On the other hand, Hebron finally put in their 3rd set and they have a long way to go. The muscial performance is typically strong (they received 1st in music caption) but the show has no buzz and I have no idea where manequins and break dancing fit in. Actually, I need to give the break dancer kids some love because they were very entertaining:) I was gently informed by a Hebron parent that they have not missed a finals in any event they have entered in over 5 years, so they have 3 weeks to pull it together.

The Bowie show is the best show I've seen this year and I would put them on the same tier with Marcus going into San Antonio. Bell's show is typically strong, their guard dominate the performance and the colors are brilliant. Their music is technically stronger this year than the past couple, which I think is what has been keeping them behind Marcus. However, I've now seen the show twice and it's not quite on par with the first two. Those people certainly know how to turn it on and they've got nearly 3 weeks to do it. The world is a better place with a strong LD Bell show so here's hoping they prove me wrong. Lastly, your sleeper for BOA finals this year is Flower Mound. Frankly, I have no idea where it's coming from because I have never even seen FM makes finals in the past, but they have a very creative show that will get attention. In fact, they finished 4th at Arlington and won Birdville last week over Mansfield and Hebron so they should not be a surprise. Fun as always!

I'm not sure of your regionality, but I get to see the Northern Dallas bands almost every weekend and I've become impressed with how attentive the crowds and often the students are to the bands performance at halftime. I think part of it is that many of these bands have done well at the state level so they seem to get quite a bit of respect from the attendees. If you were to attend a Marcus football game, you would notice that almost everyone is back in their seat before the band plays. Also, I think it has to do with the enthusiasm of the specific band parent community. Anytime you're at an event with the Allen, Hebron, Plano East, Marcus (insert others here) bands, those parents are very organized, very vocal and make a lot of noise when their bands come onto the field and during performances. In fact, last football season I remember two football dads standing and talking in the stands at halftime and roughly 10 parents yelling at them to sit down and be quiet while the band was playing. I don't think I've ever seen those two standing and talking again. It's all about the expectations that the respective band communities set.

Legacy has improved each year I've seen them and I was especially impressed with their guard last year. I always think they are going to place higher than they actually do and I believe it is because their drill tends to be a little more simplistic than the big boys. It appears to me the door might be more open than normal this year and maybe this is their chance to move into the top tier.

I've been looking forward to Arlington, but its sounding like it's going to have a completely different feel this year. I've grown to enjoy the North Dallas rivalry between Marcus, Bell, Hebron, and Coppell but my understanding is that neither Marcus or Coppell are going to be at Arlington and we were told by our Hebron friends this past week that the Hebron show is in bad shape with only half the drill put in for Arlington. Let's look at the bright side. Maybe this is a chance for some new bands to get in the mix.

Just received info from a Hebron parent that they have pulled out of Grand Nationals. The feedback I received is that they got off to a late start organizing and that they have had color guard issues. I saw nearly all of the North Dallas bands last year and thought Hebron CG had taken an exponential step forward. There must be more to the story--interesting.

This is my first chance to look at the fall schedule and a few things caught my eye. First, it's good to see bands going in different directions this year to mix things up and compete against different programs. It makes for a better measuring stick than seeing the same bands every week. Second, I'm happy to see Coppell going to BOA SA this year after not going the last couple years--they are a strong program and were missed. Third, I had to do a double take when I saw Hebron going to Grand Nat's. That seems like a big step for them. They are doing it in a year where Marcus and Bell do not appear to be going so perhaps their timing is good. To their credit, they had a very strong program last year. I'm already starting to look forward to the fall!

BTW -- they really need to change the way they handle the final annoucements. Only announcing the top 3 is an incredible buzz kill and horrendously anti-climatic. These kids earned their way into the final 10 in the state and deserve to have their moment. It would only take an extra 3 minutes to announce all 10 bands in reverse order of finish and give the kids some closure. Very short sighted by UIL.

Great summary by JMJ. People are always going to moan about judging but I personally thought the finals judging was pretty close. I sat with a group of MS and HS directors and not one of them had Duncanville in the top 5 BUT they all had the other 5 in the nearly the same order (Coppell/Hebron flipped). There was something about the Duncanville show that played better to the finals judges than the prelims group, but in the end the bands placed pretty much where they should be.

UIL website says that 5A finals start at 8:15 pm on Tuesday 11/2. That means everything will be done and announced by 11pm-ish on Tuesday night. This is consistant with how it went two years ago.

Crazy day today at Area B. I saw almost every show and a few thoughts: -Bell apparantly cut off the entire first part of their show today to get within time. They started at a different point today than at BOA Arlington and the show simply didn't have the same flow. -Plano East probably got the short end of the stick today. The storm/tornado came in halfway through their show and they fought through it. I personally had them ahead of Haltom and on par with Hebron and I'm certain they make state if not for the storm. -I was also very impressed with Mansfield's show and had them ahead of Haltom. Their drill has some very unstructured portions and I pondered at the time if that would hurt them. Haltom's show is more traditional and that evidently worked well for them today. -Hebron's music and drill are so technically challenging that the schools going before and after them look like they are moving at half speed. They certainly were rewarded today for their ambition. Musically, they are very strong and that plays well at the UIL level. 5A Honor Band indeed. -My compliments to Richland for a very creative show that certainly stretched the boundries. They had some breakdowns toward the end that obviously hurt them, but the show is very enjoyable.

I hate to oversimplify but Bell, Marcus, and Richland are in. Hebron, Legacy, Haltom, and Colleyville will fight for the last spot and I've seen all but the Haltom show and have heard from others about it. I'll give Hebron the advantage, but their show is extremely technical and they will be feast or famine. I personally like the Colleyville show, particularly their guard, and they could sneak in. Their show is not nearly as technically challenging as Hebron's but is visually better. Lastly, my compliments to the LD Bell group. They have taken a show that could have been a fluffy, over the top, patriotic mess and turned into a very tasteful, if not restrained tribute. Well done!