Area D Marching Contest

[blue92]

wow bowie won by a landslide! They've never won Area D before...does anyone think they have a good chance at state?

[just_a_texas_girl]

It seems in finals the music judges were in basic agreement but it was the marching judges that didn't seem to agree.

 

Bowie 1-1-1 (Music) 4-1 ( Marching)

Reagan 2-2-2 (Music) 5-8 (Marching)

Westllake 5-10 (Marching??)

 

Who knows what was going on. Three places I can deal with...but 5?

Edited October 24, 2010 by just_a_texas_girl

[Xenon]

3A Area D Finals Results:

 

Dunn, Hadderton, Klett, Brannon, Eakins

 

1. Burnet 1-1-1-2-5 [10]

2. Kennedale 2-3-2-1-3 [11]

3. China Spring 4-4-7-4-1 [20]

4. Robinson 6-5-4-3-7 [25]

5. Taylor 5-8-6-5-2 [26]

6. Burleson Centennial 3-7-3-8-10 [31]

7. Gatesville 7-2-8-10-4 [31]

8. Glen Rose 8-6-10-7-6 [37]

9. Giddings 9-9-5-6-9 [38]

10 Wimberley 10-10-9-9-8 [46]

[mrwood69]

It seems in finals the music judges were in basic agreement but it was the marching judges that didn't seem to agree.

 

Bowie 1-1-1 (Music) 4-1 ( Marching)

Reagan 2-2-2 (Music) 5-8 (Marching)

Westllake 5-10 (Marching??)

 

Who knows what was going on. Three places I can deal with...but 5?

 

 

A discrepancy of more than 3 places between judges imo is absolutely inexcusable, and unacceptable. I understand the whole nature of the situation that judges will see different things than the others, but being the professional, educated musicians that they are, it should almost always and nearly be a unanimous decision as to which band was better than what other band in whatever area the judges are scoring. Subjectivity should only come into play by how many points you award or take away from a band (which should be proportional to how many you award or take away from other bands), however there should generally be an objective reasoning as to who was better than who in what category. When it gets close between bands, it's completely understandable to have a 121-212, 545-454 situation, whatever the placements may be, but you know it's a problem when judges are having 4, 5, or 6 placement discrepancies with each other. Anyone who disagrees is welcome to try and justify this.

Edited October 24, 2010 by mrwood69

[Nope]

.

Edited October 24, 2010 by Nope

[longhornsax]

Ha, I love this week. Dozens of posts congratulating bands, dozens of posts questioning the system, and dozens of first time posters who think they have everything figured out.

 

I will say congratulations to all the finalists bands, especially those advancing. Big props to Anderson, who I was rooting for this year. Also good to see Reagan back, along with newcomer Johnson. Not only did they just advance, they almost got second! Looks like the NEISD is back at full force, besides Churchill missing. Looks kind of like the Leander ISD of 2008?

 

Moving past the controversy here (although I see little to complain about, as these scores are pretty consistent compared to many years in the past) What does everyone think about these bands heading into state? I don't think Area D will have 4 in finals again like it did 2 years ago, but I could be wrong. Just don't think it's the strongest group of advancers. Definitely think the top 3 will make solid finals runs. Bowie could threaten for a medal too.

[MaverickBand15]

I was at area D and here are just a few of my quick thoughts about all the bands

 

1. Bowie - Awesome music and awesome drumline....deserved first.

2. Reagan's show isn't as good as people make it out to be, but their oboe solo was really good in finals. I would't have ranked them as high as they were but i would have them advancing to state.

3. C.T Johnson - in my opinion they were awesome and deserved second! Their drumline was lacking though.

4. Anderson - Same comment as CT, i would have put them at 3rd place

5. Westlake - very good! I do think they would have been 6th in my rankings though

6. Round Rock - Awesome Percussion! Easy drill and easy music though....i would not have advanced RR

7. Churchill - Best Drumline of the night (Actually moved during the drum feature)...i think they deserved to make state over Round Rock.

8. Akins - They had some tempo issues in finals....i would have ranked them about 9 or 10

9. McNeil - Rough finals run through...trumpets sounded really tired...there was a collision or 2....musically i still they they were better than Akins. I think if they had performed a better show than prelims they could have jumped a few spots.

10. Westwood - they won a tie breaker with Pflugerville because one judge ranked them 2nd musically. I think pflugerville deserved the finals spot but westwood deserved last in finals. They are good, but they just didn't compare with the others. Drumline was a bit off to.

 

So my rankings would have been.

1. Bowie

2. C.T Johnson

3. Anderson

4. Reagan

5. Churchill

6. Westlake

7. Round Rock

8. McNeil

9. Akins

10. Westwood

 

But of course alot of my opinions factors in difficulty of shows and things...good showings by all the bands!

[Nope]

LISD will be back just you wait

Once the area grows into all the schools splits, look out at area D haha.

Ha, I love this week. Dozens of posts congratulating bands, dozens of posts questioning the system, and dozens of first time posters who think they have everything figured out.

 

I will say congratulations to all the finalists bands, especially those advancing. Big props to Anderson, who I was rooting for this year. Also good to see Reagan back, along with newcomer Johnson. Not only did they just advance, they almost got second! Looks like the NEISD is back at full force, besides Churchill missing. Looks kind of like the Leander ISD of 2008?

 

Moving past the controversy here (although I see little to complain about, as these scores are pretty consistent compared to many years in the past) What does everyone think about these bands heading into state? I don't think Area D will have 4 in finals again like it did 2 years ago, but I could be wrong. Just don't think it's the strongest group of advancers. Definitely think the top 3 will make solid finals runs. Bowie could threaten for a medal too.

[Centex_band_mom]

I thought it had been a little quiet since Saturday, but I had missed a page of your comments. I didn't care so much for the Reagan show and was surprised they got 2nd, but a number of you picked them. I actually liked Johnson better than Reagan, and thought that Bowie was really great and deserved 1st!

 

I agree with some of you regarding the Round Rock show. It is very pretty to watch, beautiful colors and effects, and beautiful electric solo and great percussion, but it feels light on marching and music other than solos or spotlights. Also, it seems like when they are marching they are not playing very much. I think someone did a great job of creating a pretty show that focuses on their strengths, but if strong music and marching are also strengths, it does not show them off. I am guessing they will do fairly well at BOA and not so good at State.

 

I know a number of people were surprised that Churchill did not make it. I think maybe they should have been 6th and was expecting their name to be called Saturday night, but it didn't happen.

 

Which judge is the questionable one (J?) and is it the same one who will also be at State? I see that one of them is judging marching at State.

Edited October 25, 2010 by Centex_band_mom

[skill]

A discrepancy of more than 3 places between judges imo is absolutely inexcusable, and unacceptable. I understand the whole nature of the situation that judges will see different things than the others, but being the professional, educated musicians that they are, it should almost always and nearly be a unanimous decision as to which band was better than what other band in whatever area the judges are scoring. Subjectivity should only come into play by how many points you award or take away from a band (which should be proportional to how many you award or take away from other bands), however there should generally be an objective reasoning as to who was better than who in what category. When it gets close between bands, it's completely understandable to have a 121-212, 545-454 situation, whatever the placements may be, but you know it's a problem when judges are having 4, 5, or 6 placement discrepancies with each other. Anyone who disagrees is welcome to try and justify this.

 

Sadly enough pretty much all the bands in the final ten were fated with the judge that didn't seem to be on the same page as all of the other judges and could have potentially been the cause of some of those bands being placed below the state qualifier mark.

[skill]

I was at area D and here are just a few of my quick thoughts about all the bands

 

1. Bowie - Awesome music and awesome drumline....deserved first.

2. Reagan's show isn't as good as people make it out to be, but their oboe solo was really good in finals. I would't have ranked them as high as they were but i would have them advancing to state.

3. C.T Johnson - in my opinion they were awesome and deserved second! Their drumline was lacking though.

4. Anderson - Same comment as CT, i would have put them at 3rd place

5. Westlake - very good! I do think they would have been 6th in my rankings though

6. Round Rock - Awesome Percussion! Easy drill and easy music though....i would not have advanced RR

7. Churchill - Best Drumline of the night (Actually moved during the drum feature)...i think they deserved to make state over Round Rock.

8. Akins - They had some tempo issues in finals....i would have ranked them about 9 or 10

9. McNeil - Rough finals run through...trumpets sounded really tired...there was a collision or 2....musically i still they they were better than Akins. I think if they had performed a better show than prelims they could have jumped a few spots.

10. Westwood - they won a tie breaker with Pflugerville because one judge ranked them 2nd musically. I think pflugerville deserved the finals spot but westwood deserved last in finals. They are good, but they just didn't compare with the others. Drumline was a bit off to.

 

So my rankings would have been.

1. Bowie

2. C.T Johnson

3. Anderson

4. Reagan

5. Churchill

6. Westlake

7. Round Rock

8. McNeil

9. Akins

10. Westwood

 

But of course alot of my opinions factors in difficulty of shows and things...good showings by all the bands!

 

 

Thanks for that really detailed observation. It was nicely said. And I do agree with you.

[NickRC]

The thing with Round Rock is that thier performance was well executed, although I agree the music sounds incredibly easy... I only saw the youtube show, I was at 3a area D though, not like it matters

Edited October 25, 2010 by NickRC

[bchorn]

I went to Area D Saturday night and finally had some time to record my thoughts from what I saw.

 

1. Bowie

[Zurflu]

Hm, I have a few things to say about the bands at Area. Keep in mind I'm currently a band member at RRHS, so my opinions might be a bit biased, but I'll try my best to keep it fair.

 

Bowie- great show, great impacts, completely deserved what they got. Their band must clean in a very talented way, because they caught up to and beat Round Rock by a long shot in only a few weeks. Congrats to them on their first Area win!

 

Reagan- I did not get a chance to see their show, considering my band performed directly after them in both prelims and finals. I've heard from people that they aren't all that, but considering that isn't my opinion, it will not be regarded in this. Also, I have been hearing rumors that they use an amp for their entire band? If that's true, it's a little foul. Obviously a good band based on their placement in finals.

 

C.T. Johnson- wow, I had never even heard of them before Saturday! Wonderful show!

 

Anderson- another great show. Congrats to this band (sorry I don't have much to say on this one ): )

 

Westlake- geez I really enjoyed this show. They have an outstanding drill, but their execution of said drill might waver a little bit. Music was alright, but I honestly couldn't keep my eyes off of them! Jazz running pass through at the end of the show was spectacular.

 

Round Rock- I feel like we didn't perform as well as we could have, and definitely weren't focused. The announcement of bands advancing to finals was delayed by about 15 minutes, but the first band's (us) performance time at finals, however, was not. We were a little crunched for time (buses were hellish, ;P ), but that's no excuse. Some people have said we don't play much while we're moving, and to be honest, I don't really understand where they got that. We have all of one 16 count hold in the opener, and it's at the very end. We were all shocked at the news of us dropping to 6th after getting 3rd in preliminaries, but we're thankful for the opportunity to go to state for the first time since 85.

 

Churchhill- hhhmm, I'm not really sure what to say here. Musical impacts were strong, and I was surprised with their outcome in the finals. Personally, I felt like the props they used (black swirly things) were a little too much, but hey, I guess I'm just a bit more of a traditional band-er. Colorguard was good.

 

Akins- I'm not sure if I saw this show. I'm very sorry that I think I might be confusing the shows of Akins and Churchhill ):

 

McNeil- their show is pretty cool in my opinion. Definitely a step up from past years. Their band has improved a great bit, and I'm looking forward to seeing how they do next year. They had a good rank at BOA, and I feel like they're on a road to success (:

 

Westwood- hhhmmmmm. Their music was alright, but marching was definitely sub-par. It was nice having 3/4 bands in my district advance to area finals though (:

 

Oh geez oh my I just typed a ton. I'm sorry if anybody doesn't agree with any of this, and none is meant to offend. I agree with everyone about the music judge, Judge 1 in prelims if I remember correctly. 1st, 5th, and 21st? Ouch. He certainly hit Round Rock the hardest in prelims. There were some strange scores for all the bands from all judges, and I hope the judges at state better know... what they're doing? Idk how to word that. I know one of the judges from area D is going to state, let's just hope it isn't music judge 1!

[trombane]

Reagan only used an amp for the low brass ensemble so that they could play as comfortably as possible and they used a mic for the oboe solo because it would be a little hard to hear an oboe without one (I would be impressed it someone could on an oboe) but they definetly didn't use an amp for the entire band.

Edited October 28, 2010 by soccer17

[shmeh]

Westlake- geez I really enjoyed this show. They have an outstanding drill, but their execution of said drill might waver a little bit. Music was alright, but I honestly couldn't keep my eyes off of them! Jazz running pass through at the end of the show was spectacular.

 

 

Jazz run pass through was in CT Johnson's show, not Westlake's. You FOOL.

Edited October 28, 2010 by shmeh

[Zurflu]

Jazz run pass through was in CT Johnson's show, not Westlake's. You FOOL.

 

There's one in Westlake's too. It wasn't as big as CTJ's, but it still impressed me

[Kamo]

I find it strange that no one else has posted anything about Pflugerville...

 

They tore it up at Arlington, placing fourth under only Bell, Marcus, and Berkner. Many people have them placing in the top half of the super-regional...yet, they didn't even make area finals. I feel like a bad time slot and questionable judgement really hurt them at Area, and that it can't just be a difference between BOA and UIL thing because when I've seen them, they have played really clean and musically, and their marching wasn't suffering either.

 

Oh well. That's just the randomness of marching band sometimes. It will be interesting to see how they place on Saturday.

[drummerdad]

I find it strange that no one else has posted anything about Pflugerville...

 

They tore it up at Arlington, placing fourth under only Bell, Marcus, and Berkner. Many people have them placing in the top half of the super-regional...yet, they didn't even make area finals. I feel like a bad time slot and questionable judgement really hurt them at Area, and that it can't just be a difference between BOA and UIL thing because when I've seen them, they have played really clean and musically, and their marching wasn't suffering either.

 

Oh well. That's just the randomness of marching band sometimes. It will be interesting to see how they place on Saturday.

 

You are so right. Pflugerville was awesome at BOA Arlington. It seems, by experience, that being an early season surprise doesn't always translate to being a late season contender when it comes to UIL Area. Once again, judging at area, especially 5A, is remarkably unpredictable. I am shocked and sorry that Pflugerville did not make state, much less area finals. I truly thought they were a shoe-in.

[kdnblue142]

I find it strange that no one else has posted anything about Pflugerville...

 

They tore it up at Arlington, placing fourth under only Bell, Marcus, and Berkner. Many people have them placing in the top half of the super-regional...yet, they didn't even make area finals. I feel like a bad time slot and questionable judgement really hurt them at Area, and that it can't just be a difference between BOA and UIL thing because when I've seen them, they have played really clean and musically, and their marching wasn't suffering either.

 

Oh well. That's just the randomness of marching band sometimes. It will be interesting to see how they place on Saturday.

I am sorry but I do have to point out that Reagan marched before Pflugerville and it was raining during their performance and they got second in the finals. Many people had predicted that Churchill would be in the finals also, and they had a very good time slot-but they certainly just did not happen for them.

I guess we can blame it on the judging .

As you said, it's just the randomness of marching band sometimes....and life in general. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose....

[bchorn]

I find it strange that no one else has posted anything about Pflugerville...

 

They tore it up at Arlington, placing fourth under only Bell, Marcus, and Berkner. Many people have them placing in the top half of the super-regional...yet, they didn't even make area finals. I feel like a bad time slot and questionable judgement really hurt them at Area, and that it can't just be a difference between BOA and UIL thing because when I've seen them, they have played really clean and musically, and their marching wasn't suffering either.

 

Oh well. That's just the randomness of marching band sometimes. It will be interesting to see how they place on Saturday.

I'm not so sure it's randomness. Pfulgerville marched placed 6th at Westlake behind Bowie, Round Rock, Anderson, and Akins. Westlake performed as exhibition and Westwood placed 9th. Throw in the three San Antonio bands and McNeil (who were all at BOA Woodlands that weekend) at Area and you can see how Pfulgerville dropped to a tie with Westwood at 10th place.

[drummerjoe]

I'm not so sure it's randomness. Pfulgerville marched placed 6th at Westlake behind Bowie, Round Rock, Anderson, and Akins. Westlake performed as exhibition and Westwood placed 9th. Throw in the three San Antonio bands and McNeil (who were all at BOA Woodlands that weekend) at Area and you can see how Pfulgerville dropped to a tie with Westwood at 10th place.

 

You know score-wise they actually beat Westwood. Honestly they just got screwed by a bad performance time with unpredictable judges.

[mrwood69]

You know score-wise they actually beat Westwood. Honestly they just got screwed by a bad performance time with unpredictable judges.

 

 

They tied....

[whitewing09]

What happened with Georgetown? I remember them doing really well when I saw them in 2007 at Westlake, but I haven't heard much about them lately.

[drummerjoe]

They tied....

 

Each of the judges gave each band individual point scores, and these scores were then ranked among all the other bands judged by each specific judge. Then the ranks from all 5 judges were added together, and that was the UIL score. In this way, Pflugerville and Westwood tied, but by adding up the individual scores that the judges, Pflugerville scored higher.