vrhsbooster Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 Vista Ridge Marching Festival October 15, 2011 LISD Gupton Stadium Cedar Park, TX http://www.vrhsband.org/marchingfestival.html Quote
bchorn Posted June 27, 2011 Posted June 27, 2011 So am I right that there will be four straight weeks of marching contest in Central Texas, correct? September 24 USSBA Central Texas Preview October 1 Capital City Marching contest October 8 Westlake Marching festival October 15 Vista Ridge marching festival Quote
takigan Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 Yes . But considering there are only 6 total Saturdays during a typical "marching" season between late September and early November, the ones you pointed out are the busiest Saturdays for invitationals and the fact that there are probably somewhere between 40 and 70 total marching band invitationals in Texas each year that fall on one of these 6 Saturdays, the fact that you're pointing this out is kind of redundant. It's pretty much like that every year. Quote
bchorn Posted June 28, 2011 Posted June 28, 2011 (edited) takigan said: Yes . But considering there are only 6 total Saturdays during a typical "marching" season between late September and early November, the ones you pointed out are the busiest Saturdays for invitationals and the fact that there are probably somewhere between 40 and 70 total marching band invitationals in Texas each year that fall on one of these 6 Saturdays, the fact that you're pointing this out is kind of redundant. It's pretty much like that every year. Yeah, I know it's marching season. I just didn't know there was that much demand in Central Texas for another marching band invitational. That's great! Edited June 28, 2011 by bchorn Quote
slw13 Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 bchorn said: So am I right that there will be four straight weeks of marching contest in Central Texas, correct? September 24 USSBA Central Texas Preview October 1 Capital City Marching contest October 8 Westlake Marching festival October 15 Vista Ridge marching festival Also on October 8 - USSBA DeMoulin Challenge, Kyle (Hayes ISD) Quote
dstbone Posted June 30, 2011 Posted June 30, 2011 It's a drumline contest, but on September 17 - 3rd annual Dripping Springs High School Drumline Contest Drumline Contest Quote
Rocktapus512 Posted August 15, 2011 Posted August 15, 2011 This contest is practically an Area D preview. Minus Vista Ridge who is hosting, Drip, Hays, and LBJ. Registered 4a participants: Cedar Ridge Cedar Park Connally Vandegrift Hendrickson Canyon Lake Travis McCallum Quote
longhornsax Posted August 17, 2011 Posted August 17, 2011 I thought the exact same thing when i saw the lineup...should be a really interesting contest Quote
Abbie123 Posted October 9, 2011 Posted October 9, 2011 Comments from previous competitions included (From TXBands live) Class 3A Giddings HS Giddings, TX Lampasas High School Lampasas, TX East View High School Georgetown, TX Liberty Hill High School Liberty Hill, TX Class 4A Cedar Ridge High School Round Rock, TX Cedar Park High School Band Cedar Park, TX Cedar Park - Mahler - Loving how the body and horn choreography compliments Cedar Park's iconic drum-corps-esque sound wall in the opener. Lime green flags superimposed against the band's greens look awesome. The visual poise of this band is matched by few. A very likely finalist, top half possible. (BOA Conroe) Connally High School Austin, TX (8th at Westlake) Vandegrift High School Austin, TX Vandegrift - Visionary - Vandy playing Shosty . Their opener is a throwback to Phantom's iconic 1996 show and it sounds nice and gooey. Really crisp trumpet playing in the follower to the opener. Like Sfa high, they use a dance team instead of a guard and they look awesome with the silky purple in their dresses scattering the rays of the sun that is now starting to show its face from behind the clouds. Awesome brass sounds in the closer....and loud too, especially for a smaller band. Their drill rocks and is quite clean and I'd say they too have a finals caliber show, though I'm having trouble pegging their placement, especially this early in the day. (BOA Conroe) Hendrickson High School Pflugerville, TX Hendrickson - Cathedral - a huge organ prop sits in the center of the pit, with 3 organists showing off their skills, leading into the opening hit. 2 brass ensembles take it from the with some beautiful technique. Some very fun moments in this show! Woodwinds have a very balanced sound, full of color. The cathedral windows in the background serve as a nice backdrop to set the theme. (Westlake) Canyon High School New Braunfels, TX Lake Travis High School Austin , TX Missed lake Travis unfortunately, but they sounded great from the parking lot! (Westlake) McCallum High School Austin, TX Rouse High School Leander, TX Lehman High School Kyle, TX Clear Falls High School Band League City , TX Elgin High School Elgin, TX Marble Falls High School Marble Fall, TX Class 5A Leander High School Leander, TX Leander - Russia - welcome back to Westlake, Leander! The show opens with a beautiful trumpet solo before the band hits you in the face with a clinic in articulation. Clean and confident! This band has a huge forte, and then they hit you with even bigger fortissimo. But they also show a delicate side in the ballad. A Russian style march and huge russian flag colored flags and banners complete the theme. Leander is back at full force! (from Westlake High Marching Festival) Westwood High School Austin, TX Westwood - Harvest - A relatively new face on the BOA scene, Westwood comes out guns ablazing to a Respighi show centered around the theme of harvest. The guard wields what looks like wreaths of grain in the opener....perhaps they represent shrine maidens praying to the Gods of harvest. Loved the gorgeous open chords in the ballad driven forward by a very pretty oboe solo. They're a well rounded group but I could have used more dynamic contrast. (From BOA Conroe) Del Valle High School Del Valle, TX Westlake Austin, TX Round Rock High School Round Rock, TX Round rock - beautiful design, beautiful guard, beautiful playing. Oh, and I seemed to notice that all while I couldn't take my eyes off that drumline. The show started with a sunrise and ended with a sunset on the opposite side of the field. Lots of beautifully designed suns and rays through out the show.The defending champs brought it this evening! (from Westlake High Marching Festival) Ronald Reagan High School San Antonio, TX Spaces - Aaaand more Beethoven 7 and Shostakovich but with Debussy and Holst thrown in. This of course is a good thing . Lightsaber sounds accompanied by body choreography, w00t! Reagan loves their synths and they're used effectively on Engulfed Cathedral....which btw sounds NAILS! Really cool show and a likely finalist. (BOA Conroe) W. Charles Akins High School Austin, TX Akins - Earth 2.0. - The pre-show starts with the woodwinds playing some highly dissonant chords, and then the brass joins in. Pretty sure the announcer missed his cue though. This show is HARD with lots of very dissonant brass runs that Akins plays quite well. As the ballad starts the theme changes from black to white, as the black backfield panels are turned to reveal white panels and the guard makes a uniform change! I think there was also a plume/hat change? Really challenging show! (from Westlake Marching Festival) Harker Heights High School Harker Heights, TX Please share your thoughts and questions... Quote
longhornsax Posted October 12, 2011 Posted October 12, 2011 Schedule Prelims: 10:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. Class AAA Performance Time Liberty Hill High School Liberty Hill, TX 10:00 AM East View High School Georgetown, TX 10:15 AM Lampasas High School Lampasas, TX 10:30 AM Giddings HS Giddings, TX 10:45 AM Class AAA Awards Ceremony 11:00 AM Class AAAA Marble Falls High School Marble Falls, TX 11:30 AM Elgin High School Elgin, TX 11:45 AM Lehman High School Kyle, TX 12:00 PM Rouse High School Leander, TX 12:15 PM McCallum High School Austin, TX 12:30 PM Canyon High School New Braunfels, TX 12:45 PM BREAK Hendrickson High School Pflugerville, TX 1:15 PM Vandegrift High School Austin, TX 1:30 PM Connally High School Austin, TX 1:45 PM Lake Travis High School Austin , TX 2:00 PM Clear Falls High School League City , TX 2:15 PM Cedar Park High School Cedar Park, TX 2:30 PM Cedar Ridge High School Round Rock, TX 2:45 PM Class AAAA Awards Ceremony 3:00 PM Class AAAAA Harker Heights High School Harker Heights, TX 3:30 PM W. Charles Akins High School Austin, TX 3:45 PM Round Rock High School Round Rock, TX 4:00 PM Ronald Reagan High School San Antonio, TX 4:15 PM Westlake High School Austin, TX 4:30 PM Del Valle High School Del Valle, TX 4:45 PM Westwood High School Austin, TX 5:00 PM Leander High School Leander, TX 5:15 PM Class AAAAA Awards Ceremony 5:30 PM Want a preview of Area D finals? Just show up to this thing between 12:30 and 2:45 and you'll get a pretty good look (minus a few bands). Quote
drummerjoe Posted October 12, 2011 Posted October 12, 2011 longhornsax said: Want a preview of Area D finals? Just show up to this thing between 12:30 and 2:45 and you'll get a pretty good look (minus a few bands). I'd say show up at 2:30 for a preview of the 4A state champion. Quote
TxRaider13 Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 drummerjoe said: I'd say show up at 2:30 for a preview of the 4A state champion. Little bold don't you think Quote
mellopwn1 Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 TxRaider13 said: Little bold don't you think Agreed. Quote
drummerjoe Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 TxRaider13 said: Little bold don't you think It's about as bold as saying Marcus is gonna win BOA San Antonio. It's just a prediction. Quote
TxRaider13 Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 drummerjoe said: It's about as bold as saying Marcus is gonna win BOA San Antonio. It's just a prediction. Just wouldn't of put it like that, thats all Quote
Bandlover Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Dont bet money on it, Cedar Park is no way a shoe in as state champion, Quote
Xenon Posted October 14, 2011 Posted October 14, 2011 Bandlover said: Dont bet money on it, Cedar Park is no way a shoe in as state champion, It is always a competition. Anything can happen and there is tons of time left before State comes around. There are always surprises and bands always have a chance to make things happen. Quote
CPbass Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 drummerjoe said: I'd say show up at 2:30 for a preview of the 4A state champion. Pretty nice to see this from a Senior from Round Rock, I'll admit. I hope you guys have a great show today, I'm really excited to see what happens tonight especially with Reagan and Vandegrift attending. Quote
CPFrntEns Posted October 15, 2011 Posted October 15, 2011 (edited) A source from this contest told me that Vandegrift just won the 4A division, taking the Music, Marching, and Auxillary Captions. CP took Percussion and General Effect. I don't have full results, just this. Edit: Beaten to the punch by the TxBands live stream. Apparently it went 1. Vandy 2. CP 3. Lake Travis Edited October 15, 2011 by CPFrntEns Quote
takigan Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 You never know what to expect from Vandegrift.....they keep jumping back and forth from "one of the pack" to "dynasty and legend". Quote
longhornsax Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 Some observations from these reuslts: -Yet another strong showing from the Centex 4A bands. 6/10 finalists were 4A. -Vandegrift and Lake Travis are for real. Will be interesting to see the scores to this, but these bands definitely seemed to prove themselves. I was very surprised that Vandy missed Conroe finals last week and it seems they made up for that here. I had my doubts about Lake Travis, as I was curious to see if they could keep the momentum rolling after early success. It looks like they're leaving no doubt that they are making a strong charge at state this year. -The bubble spot(s) of 4A area D will be interesting. Looking more and more like CP, Vandegrift, Dripping Springs and Lake Travis will take the first 4 spots, but who will take the (assumed) 5th spot? Hendrickson and Connally have been back and forth this season. Amazing that one of these two bands will most likely (barring a 6th spot) miss state. Of course this is all speculation. Still a few weeks before all this has to be settled. Quote
CPFrntEns Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 (edited) longhornsax said: Some observations from these reuslts:-Yet another strong showing from the Centex 4A bands. 6/10 finalists were 4A. -Vandegrift and Lake Travis are for real. Will be interesting to see the scores to this, but these bands definitely seemed to prove themselves. I was very surprised that Vandy missed Conroe finals last week and it seems they made up for that here. I had my doubts about Lake Travis, as I was curious to see if they could keep the momentum rolling after early success. It looks like they're leaving no doubt that they are making a strong charge at state this year. -The bubble spot(s) of 4A area D will be interesting. Looking more and more like CP, Vandegrift, Dripping Springs and Lake Travis will take the first 4 spots, but who will take the (assumed) 5th spot? Hendrickson and Connally have been back and forth this season. Amazing that one of these two bands will most likely (barring a 6th spot) miss state. Of course this is all speculation. Still a few weeks before all this has to be settled. And if you assume this, that means that Hays HS, a 2009 4A state finalist, will also miss state. No question about it, Area D is stacked this year. Edited October 16, 2011 by CPFrntEns Quote
drummerjoe Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 Well I was wrong, Vandy has a very good chance at winning state, and Cedar Park was defeated. Wow, the results were truly surprising, especially some of the 5A bands. I'd say the 4A bands had little change from prelims to finals, but the 5A results were pretty crazy. 1. Reagan received 3 captions, but took third place. 2. Round Rock placed first in prelims and 5th in finals. 3. Westlake beasted it up and took 3rd. I watched their show from the rear, it was a darn good show. It undoubtedly deserved its placement, Westlake performed the heck out of that show. Quote
jmj Posted October 16, 2011 Posted October 16, 2011 This was a great contest! Great venue and near perfect weather for marching band! Vandegrift - Wow! Truly impressive! We did not get there in time to see their prelims performance, so when they did the Class 4A awards, I thought it would be a given that Cedar Park would win that portion, so I was shocked at that point. But when I saw them in finals, I understood. They sound and look amazing! There is just a polish and refinement to this show that was a cut above everyone else. They play all this great Shostakovich with just a kind of relaxed and well balanced effort. The brass display ample power and subtle nuance with ease. Additionally, the exposition of their woodwinds is excellent. Beautiful balance by the woodwind ensemble during the technical portions of Festive Overture. I agree with the above poster - I could easily see this show doing very very well at 4A state. Cedar Park - Also, very impressive! Talk about intense! Their drill is marched very nicely with lots of exposed triangles and rotated blocks and I love the 4-to-5 pass through during the beginning of the final movement. Lots of great visual touches by this band executed very well. The show is full of those classic Cedar Park moments where the brass just blows your face off, which I think that the dissonance of Mahler certainly calls for. The woodwinds have a very nice little technical run towards then end, but I wish we didn't have to wait so long to hear them do their thing. And giant M formation for Mahler at the end is just a wonderful stamp at the end of great show. It will be lovely to see how these 2 fine programs progress through the end of the season. Westlake - I can't recall the title of the show, but it has a great amount of voiceovers from famous people saying famous inspirational quotes. I thought this show was big and bold and a little more in your face that what we normally see from Westlake. My only regret is that the tarps that they ran out at different points of the show that also had the quotes on them kept me too distracted, though! I kept watching them to make sure no one tripped (which someone did during prelims) and then during finals the stadium lights reflecting on the shiny tarps obscured the writing anyway. I just feel like I could have appreciated this great show even more without them. Lake Travis - This is, without any doubt, the best show that Lake Travis has ever done. Truly, they have come to play this year and are seriously eyeing a spot at the state marching contest. Their show is called The Silk Road and has an Eastern/Arabian theme which they convey wonderfully. They play with a great balance, achieve nice power, and their marching is clean, clean, clean. I also love the red plumes - looks fantastic! I loved the flute solos on the Scheherezade parts. Great job! Round Rock - This band is enormous! As always, their drumline is smoking! The guard looks resplendent in their yellow dresses and I thought they had some very nice impactful moments with the blue flags at the beginning and the golden sun flags during the middle that really elevated the GE of this show. The band moves so well and achieves some great set pieces with all of the sun sets (sunsets?) LOL. I just felt like musically their level did not match their marching level in some parts, which may have held them back in finals a bit. Ronald Reagan - I have always been a huge fan of the Reagan band and this year is no exception. I absolutely loved it. The show is called Spaces and I love the way the guard does a great job of catching your attention in the empty spaces the band creates. The little brass quartet at the beginning to start us out on Beethoven's 7th is quite nice and their musical moments do not disappoint. My highest goosebump moment of the day was during their ballad (Debussy's Engulfed Cathedral). Virtually the entire band comes to the front with most of the brass in 2 lines on a raised platform. Their gorgeous sounds just blew me away. What a stunning ballad. All the while the guard is doing some great work with purple flags on a white tarp. The show ended on a bit of an odd place musically, but I think that there are probably a couple of more minutes to the show that we'll see at BOA SA. This contest was on a strict 8:00 clock. Leander - Russia! Featuring the music of Tchaikovsky 4 and 6. This is the best Leander show I have seen in a long time! The woodwinds are the MVPs of this show, throwing off technical run after technical run with great volume and clarity. I loved the French horn solo, too. The marching was very tight and well executed and I thought the whole band block formation during the high step marching section was very Russian and very well done. It was an exciting show and the ending with the band members pulling out the blue, white, and red flags to make the Russian flag was brilliant! Connally - Their show is called Arabesque and is kind of similar in theme to Lake Travis. They did a great job, but it's hard not to compare the shows with similar themes and these 2 bands performed back to back in finals. I just found the Lake Travis show to be just a bit tighter and bit more polished at this point. Hendrickson - This band has gotten huge also! Great to see! I loved hearing A Mighty Fortress on the field during their finale and they brought great power and control to it. McCallum - Swan Lake - The entire show is Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Loved the couple of sets meant to appear as the sitting swan. As for not being in the finals, I was disappointed not to get to see Westwood again. I thought that they had a wonderful show. The title is Harvest and I found the theme to be conveyed extremely well and they even had a plume change switching from black to orange plumes for their harvest moon set in their ballad. Overall, a fantastic night of marching band and a great little preview of some of the top 4A bands in Area D. Also, don't forget about Vista Ridge - I think you have to consider them in the Area D mix. Their show has cleaned up 1000 times in the last few weeks and they are sounding great on some beautiful pieces. The Enigma Variations sounds tremendous and the clarinet soloist gave us a darn-near perfect Flight of the Bumblebee. Quote
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