Chryco4

If the directors have found a way to manage the band in a way that the students (and parents) enjoy then that's great. Nothing else matters. It sounds like this band is just one big happy family and is a very enjoyable experience to play in or watch. Being able to come up with an effective way for the directors to manage the gigantic group is quite an impressive feat in leadership. I just have one question. Does the band have 76 trombones yet? I remember a few years that the director said that they would add that song to their repetoire if the section got that large. Haha.

This conversation comes up every year, but the Honor Band process needs to become way more open to the public. Being able to listen to a variety of competing bands is not easy, especially if you try to hear them live. It ought to become prevalent enough so that Honor Band is something that people can actually get really hyped about, like with marching band. Currently, the whole Honor Band process is an afterthought for most band students. Some don't even know about it! Anyway, I haven't been able to hear anything, but I doubt that Spring will make it past Area this year. It's always a hard Area, but drama within the top group has caused a sizable setback. Advancing to state in 2012 was honestly a miracle considering the attendance problems we were having at the time.

So there's this one band that I'm fairly sure is going next year. They would really hope to make finals and if they do, it would mark their first finals appearance at Grand Nats in 20 years. Hopefully, I'm not being too painfully obvious...

Well at retreat for BOA San Antonio this year, I got in a group with kids from the Woodlands, CTJ, Round Rock, and Reagan. We all got in a circle, placed our shakos in the middle, and put our arms on each other's shoulders. Then we did the Hokey Pokey. I think that at that point, we didn't really care about the rankings, we were just glad to be there. That's what BOA is all about, right? It's also what I love about retreat.

We have another early performance just like last time when we went on 3rd. Good thing we have two days off between BOA and UIL because it's going to be one of those mornings...

I'm not trying to sound biased for defending my school, but that logic is VERY flawed. Friendswood got 11th at Conroe and 1st at LSP. Morton Ranch got 19th at Conroe and 4th at LSP. Brazozwood got 12th at Conroe and 7th at LSP. College Park got 6th at Conroe and 6th at LSP. Clear Brook got 14th at Conroe and 5th at LSP. Clear Falls got 22nd at Conroe and 10th at LSP. All of those placements only show that a lot can change in just one week, and it's been two weeks since LSP. It's a moot point. Anywho, this weekend will be fun because we're on the eve of that big week in San Antonio. It's what I love about Area weekend!

1. Marcus 2. LD Bell 3. Hebron 4. Flower Mound 5. Richland -------------- 6. Haltom 7. Plano East 8. Colleyville Heritage 9. Mansfield 10. ??? Bam.

We are indeed. This weekend is going to be fun. Enjoy the show.

At BOA Houston, there was a tie for 10th place that would've allowed Pflugerville to advance to Finals, but they messed up the scoring and Pflugerville never got the message that they were supposed to be in finals. It's embarrassing for BOA to mess up with USSBA on the rise, so they had to give them a chance to perform.

I really appreciate the support for our show and our chances of making finals Grand Nats. Since we placed 7th at San Antonio for the past two years, we were a bit shocked when we found at that we made 13th. Most of the band wasn't in the best mood for a couple days afterwards, but the excitement for Indy is pushing us on from that and well...I can't wait Congrats to The Woodlands for kicking butt this past weekend plus I give my greatest thanks to them for their kind gesture towards us. Congrats to Claudia Taylor Johnson as well and their show will very likely be my favorite of this year because Lincolnshire Posy happens to be my favorite piece ever. I'm looking forward to seeing both bands at Indy We leave tomorrow after school! GO TEAM TEXAS!!

Spring and Westfield are in the same school district so obviously we're rivals but not for contests because we're quite a bit ahead of them. This year I'm feeling a rivalry between Spring and the Woodlands because of Grand Nats. LD Bell isn't going so it's like we're competing for at least the number one Texas rank.

It'll be a good year for a lot of bands