rwhite54

Nice job by the bands in Regions 13 and 23 especially Westside, Lamar, and Bellaire from HISD and Hastings and Elsik from Alief ISD. Congratulations to the kids and directors from those bands! It is nice to see the hard work paying off for those involved in the band programs in those districts. (Full disclosure: my wife is a former drum major of Bellaire HS from the late-80s.) I am also glad to see that 8 bands will be advancing from this Area. There are 11 bands in this new Area E that made State in either or both 2014 or 2012 so there are high expectations for many of these bands. My final opinion for the 8 bands to advance are: 1) Austin (State: 2014) 2) Cy-Fair (State: 2014 and 2012) 3) Brazoswood (State: 2012) 4) Taylor 5) Clements (State: 2014 and 2012) 6) Clear Brook (State: 2012) 7) Friendswood (State: 2014) 8) Cy Falls (State: 2014) Others in contention: Seven Lakes (State: 2012) Langham Creek (State: 2012) Dickinson (State 2014 and 2012) Jersey Village Tompkins It seems that most agree that the bands above are the most likely to advance. Are there any others that you think could advance? Saturday will be a long day but it should be a beautiful day for an all-day band competition. By my estimates, there will be over 8000 kids involved in the band programs represented at the Berry Center (Sorry: Cy-Fair FCU Stadium). Good luck to all of them and their directors!

There is an interesting update to Area E after the Region 27 and 17 UIL contests. Region 27 had 12/14 qualify for Area and Region 17 went 9/9. With Region 13 likely to go 8/9 and the Katy bands in Region 23 likely to go 7/7, Area E will have at least 36 bands. That makes it a lock to get 7 bands to State. Here is the most interesting part. HISD has 4 bands performing tomorrow in Region 23: Westside, Bellaire, Lamar, and Reagan. Alief ISD has 3 bands performing in Region 23: Hastings, Elsik, and Taylor. There is a possibility that 4 out of the 7 could qualify for Area. Hastings received a 1 in 2015 and Westside received a 1 in 2014. (The other five all received 2's in 2015.) Assuming Hastings and Westside receive 1's this year, Area E needs 2 of the remaining 5 bands to receive 1's. If that happens, Area E will qualify 8 bands to State! Good luck to those 7 bands and all of the others performing tomorrow!

Here is my analysis of Area A for what it's worth: There are 46 6A bands which could potentially advance to the Area E competition. 32 of the bands got a 1 at UIL in 2015 including 5 in 5A last year which have moved up to 6A this year. 7 more received a 1/2/2 in 2015 and, of those, 4 received a 1 in 2014 and advanced to Area. Based on this data, I think it is a lock that Area E will advance 6 bands to State and likely to advance 7 if all 32 bands from last year receive a 1 again and 3 of the 7 who received a 1/2/2 receive a 1 this year. That being said, here are my thoughts on the most likely bands to advance to Area E finals based on recent history and competitions so far this year: (1) SFA (1st at Friendswood this year; 5th at BOA Conroe in 2015; 2nd at Area E in 2014/26th at State in 2014) (2) Cy-Falls (Will perform at Battle of Berry this Saturday); 6th at BOA Atlanta in 2015; 3rd at Area E in 2014/24th at State in 2014) (3) Cy-Fair (7th at BOA Conroe this year; 17th at BOA San Antonio in 2015; 4th at Area E in 2014/14th at State in 2014) (4) Friendswood (3rd at Texas Music Classic in Round Rock this year; 15th at BOA San Antonio in 2015; 1st at Area F in 2014/15th at State in 2014) (5) J. E. Taylor (8th at BOA Conroe this year; 13th at BOA Conroe in 2015) (6) Brazoswood (11th at BOA Conroe this year; 15th at BOA San Antonio in 2015; 8th at Area E in 2014) (7) Clements (7th at Friendswood this year; 11th BOA Atlanta; 1st at Area E in 2014/22nd at State in 2014) (8) Clear Brook (2nd at Friendswood this year; 3rd at Friendswood in 2015; 13th at Area F in 2014) (9) Seven Lakes (14th at BOA Conroe this year; 6th at Area E in 2014) (10) Langham Creek (15th at BOA Conroe this year; 5th at Area E in 2014) Other possibilities: Dickinson Tompkins Clear Lake Jersey Village October 29th at the Berry Center will be suspenseful as there many solid bands fighting for the 6-7 spots. Good luck to all the Area E bands! Thoughts?

I'll play... Finalists: Austin*, Cy Woods, Langham Creek, Taylor, Clements*, Cinco Ranch, Cy Falls*, Cy-Fair*, Morton Ranch, Seven Lakes *Advance to State

Will be there for finals. Prediction for finals: Langham Creek*, Clements*, Cy Falls*, Cy-Fair*, Dulles, Cinco Ranch, Taylor, Cy Woods, Seven Lakes, and Travis *Advance to State

Area E schedule is up now. Alief Elsik also qualified bringing the total to 22. http://www.uilforms.com/regions/23/2010-AreaMarchingInfo.htm