TMEA Honor Band 2012

[Xenon]

  mellopwn1 said:

First of all, let me say that all of these videos are filmed on a parent's camcorder, which explains why they are by no means perfect (heck, even decent) recordings. Most camcorders have auto-leveling for volume, which means that it dynamically adjusts the recording to maintain a relatively consistent volume throughout (or at least something like that, I'm no audio expert). Usually this ends up with the camera picking up whatever is the loudest Or highest sound (that's why some of these recordings have moments of "flute annihilation" or overly dominant melody). Long story short, auto-leveling doesnt accurately represent the balance of an ensemble and often buries he embellishments or subtleties of the music. So just take each recording with a grain of salt; each group sounds much better on a professional recording or live.

 

Nevertheless:

 

I have made it quite clear that I'm a Berkner fanboy, but seriously...listen to that Hindemith. They sound STUPIDLY good on something so SO difficult. It's also incredibly refreshing that they had this transcription commissioned...a nice change of pace from the same-ole, same-ole repertoire that we hear every Honor Band cycle (*cough* *cough* Aegean Festival Overture, Varaints on a Medieval Tune, I'm looking at you).

 

Seems like Merlin Patterson's new transcription of Pictures is quite popular this year, and Duncanville does quite well with it. The piece is so demanding and, at times, so exposed! Something tells me that this isnttheirbest recording, but even if it is, D-Ville's tradition of concert band excellence (and often DOMINATION) shows through.

 

Undoubtedly, CTJ is a rising superstar on and off the marching field. They're what? 3, maybe 4 years old and they sound like that? Insane. They make Polvetsian Dances sound like child's play, which it most certainly is not. And outstanding soloists, too! Jared Lipman is doing a whole lot of right in this program, for sure... We might be seeing these guys at the state level of Honor Band this year.

 

Okay, okay, okay...WOW. The Woodlands threw down on Trittico. All around, the brass just sounds magnificent (especially Mvt. 3). I have heard COUNTLESS schools attempt to play Trittico and fall flat on their collective faces...thank you T-Dub for not letting me down. You guys achieved something very special. The march is...a march. I could care less (it's the genre, not the performance--I promise!). The Till Eulenspiegel is QUITE good. There are moments of pure brilliance where other sections lose a bit of their sheen. Still, definitely the best high school Till I've heard to date (and I have heard 5 or 6 versions, although Berkner is not one of them). It would truly be a shame if this fantastic group doesn't make it past Region tomorrow...it's never guaranteed when there is College Park, Westfield, Spring, and Dekaney to contend with.

 

Good 'ol Langham. Honestly, I'm not a fan of the selection and It doesn't showcase the talent of the group as well as it could, but the blood is most definitely still there. This is a top-notch ensemble, no doubt.

 

I feel like with Marching Band we tend to forget about the schools in the "boondocks" that aren't always in the spotlight. That's why Honor Band is awesome for schools like Lopez. They can strut their stuff (in this case playing Scheherazade, on of my all time favorites) and be on an equal playing field with the household names of the band world like Marcus and Berkner and such. Admirable performance! I just wish it wasn't an iPhone video! <_>

 

IN CONCLUSION:I get pretty fired up over the whole Honor Band process, of you can't already tell. And why shouldn't I? The depth of quality and breadth f literature present in Texas concert bands is unprecedented and honestly intimidating. No matter who comes out on top, we need to remember that.

 

P.S. excuse some minor typos or missing letters...I did this on an IPad and autocorrect is a fickle beast.

 

Fantastic post!

 

The point about the quality of these youtube/vimeo links is extremely important and cannot be stressed enough. None of these videos that were posted were done with professional equipment. The Woodlands was really nice dedicated equipment (but still not professional), but the rest seem to be cellphones or low end consumer camcorders. Every single one of these bands will sound 10x better in their professional recordings (more like they did live), not because of editing (that's against the rules), but because of the quality and balance of the recording equipment and methodologies.

 

Like I said, The Woodlands was done on really high quality equipment but still not what the professional recording would sound like. They did a fantastic job with those pieces, but you have to take a grain of salt with the recording. The equipment recording this video was very brass heavy and boomy and completely drowned out the upper woodwinds during whole ensemble portions. TW will be really strong on the State level assuming they can get past the extremely hard Region 9, and the beyond ridiculous Area D.

 

Area D..... Duncanville, Coppell, The Woodlands, TW: College Park, Spring, Westfield, Dekaney, the various Klein's, Georgetown, Leander, Round Rock ISD....... Bands that would be State Finalists (top 7) will be not be advancing (again)....... Unbelievable.

 

The video of a portion of Duncanville's Pictures posted here looks like it was done on an older cellphone (not even an iPhone or newer Android). The audio recording quality is just plain abysmal. Cellphones are notorious for their horrifying recordings. They specifically try to pick up on one sound source to make speakerphone and vlog recording better, but that makes it so that you can't record an ensemble because they pick up on unique sounds and drown out the rest. I was there in the audience for this concert and while not perfect at all, it didn't sound anything as horrible as this recording.

 

Berkner. Wow. Even recorded on a low end camcorder, you can tell that they have what it takes to go all the way. I can only imagine what their professional recording sounds like. If their Till Eulenspiegel is anything like these two pieces at all, then they will be likely right at the top of the list, vying for that top position.

 

I might try to take off from work next Tuesday (6/19/2012) to hear Berkner at the Area C listening in Richardson. Or do I go to downtown Dallas for the Area D listening at the same time!! Decisions!!!!!

 

 

Another thing to point out with these recordings is the concert hall. Notice that most of the videos here were shot in concert halls with lots of hard sounding boards everywhere on the stage. This makes for a louder and sometimes more rich sounding performance, but can make for some boomyness and loss of clarity. One of the things that may be leading to the horrible audio quality in the Duncanville recording is that Shine Hall is the exact opposite. It is filled with curtains in order to promote absolute clarity of sound, but the tradeoff is that you lose volume richness unless the recording equipment can pick it up properly. It's like performing in a recording booth.

 

 

(I had to write this post twice because I accidentally hit the back button on my mouse..... Immediately went "NNNnnnOOOoooOOO!!!!!")

 

Edit: And now I'm late for work....

[Xenon]

Region 26-5A:

Leander 11222

Westwood11223

Georgetown 13333

[mellopwn1]

  Quote

Area D..... Duncanville, Coppell, The Woodlands, TW: College Park, Spring, Westfield, Dekaney, the various Klein's, Georgetown, Leander, Round Rock ISD....... Bands that would be State Finalists (top 7) will be not be advancing (again)....... Unbelievable.

 

I really, really think that this area needs to be realigned for this reason exactly. Not only does it cover a ridiculous area (North Houston, Austin, AND Parts of Dallas), but it is simply just too top heavy. It's probably the hardest Area in Texas to make State for TMEA Honor Band and TMEA All-State. It doesn't make sense for Region 9 or Region 20 to be together geographically or competitively. At least to me. I think it would be better if TMEA used UIL alignment.

 

Or if they dont want to mess with the Areas, TMEA should at least revise the score sheets in some way that would allow more than two bands advance from Region or Area if they are equally outstanding (I know there is a rule for this in the event of a tie, but that almost never happens).

 

Maybe I'm being unrealistic, though.

 

  Quote

Region 26-5A:

Leander 11222

Westwood11223

Georgetown 13333

 

What happened to Round Rock?

 

P.S. do you know anything about Region 12 or 18? The hearing for both was about a week ago.

Edited June 12, 2012 by mellopwn1

[Xenon]

  mellopwn1 said:

P.S. do you know anything about Region 12 or 18? The hearing for both was about a week ago.

 

Region 12 got rescheduled for today, apparently.

 

Region 18-5A:

1&2. Westlake and Bowie advanced (order not known)

3. Anderson

[Montoya]

  mellopwn1 said:

What happened to Round Rock?

 

 

I believe since the head director retired, they were not allowed to submit a tape. But I could be wrong.

[Xenon]

  Montoya said:

I believe since the head director retired, they were not allowed to submit a tape. But I could be wrong.

 

Yes, that is a requirement in the rules.

 

Which unfortunately, makes the competition about the director instead of about the band.

[Parkwoodmom]

  mellopwn1 said:

I really, really think that this area needs to be realigned for this reason exactly. Not only does it cover a ridiculous area (North Houston, Austin, AND Parts of Dallas), but it is simply just too top heavy. It's probably the hardest Area in Texas to make State for TMEA Honor Band and TMEA All-State. It doesn't make sense for Region 9 or Region 20 to be together geographically or competitively. At least to me. I think it would be better if TMEA used UIL alignment.

 

Or if they dont want to mess with the Areas, TMEA should at least revise the score sheets in some way that would allow more than two bands advance from Region or Area if they are equally outstanding (I know there is a rule for this in the event of a tie, but that almost never happens).

 

Maybe I'm being unrealistic, though.

 

 

 

What happened to Round Rock?

 

P.S. do you know anything about Region 12 or 18? The hearing for both was about a week ago.

 

OMG! The Woodlands and Spring advanced to area!!!! Yay!

[Rubisco]

  Alvin said:

OMG! The Woodlands and Spring advanced to area!!!! Yay!

 

Yes, and probably only one (or neither) will advance to state. Kinda sad, but that's the way it's set up.

On a side note, Reagan and Johnson advanced from region 12!

[Xenon]

Region 12-5A:

Reagan 11123

Johnson 11233

Churchill 22334

New Braunfels 24444

[mellopwn1]

I'm very interested in the ordinal results from Region 9, if Anyone has them. My guess is that the results were all over the place (rightfully so). Westfield and College Park were both probably right up there with TW and Spring.

[Xenon]

Here is the order for Region 9, but no ordinals yet:

 

Spring

The Woodlands

College Park

Westfield

Dekaney

Klein Oak

Oak Ridge

Klein Collins

[Rubisco]

Spring 11122

The Woodlands 22211

 

I really hope we hear about the rest soon. This does indicate that all the judges had Spring and The Woodlands advancing. It was close at the top! Area should be interesting, and probably depressing.

Edited June 13, 2012 by Rubisco

[Xenon]

For anyone that is wanting to attend the Area D listening, it will be starting at 10am on Tuesday 6/19/2012 at Highland Park HS.

[mellopwn1]

  Rubisco said:

Spring 11122

The Woodlands 22211

 

I really hope we hear about the rest soon. This does indicate that all the judges had Spring and The Woodlands advancing. It was close at the top! Area should be interesting, and probably depressing.

 

Wow, that is close! Really, with only one judge tipping the scale in Spring's favor, the two could completely flip flop at the Area D hearing.

 

I really have nothing to base this off of, but I am going to predict that one school from Region 20 (Duncanville, probably) and one school from Region 9 (who knows which one) will be advancing to state. I just have a feeling.

[Rubisco]

I was curious, so I looked up the repertoires of the region 9 and 20 ensembles.

 

Coppell

 

Commando March

Symphony in Bb

Symphonie Fantastique: Dream of a Witches' Sabbath

 

Duncanville

 

Overture to School for Scandal

Pictures at an Exhibition

The Cross of Honour

 

Spring

 

March to the Scaffold

Lux Aurumque

Belkis, Queen of Sheba, 4th Mvmnt.

 

The Woodlands

 

Invictus

Trittico

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

 

 

To be honest, I'm sort of surprised/not entirely surprised that Spring is doing Lux Aurumque. It's a great piece to show off the musicality of an ensemble, and it's stunningly beautiful. At the same time, though, it seems a bit on the easier side for a group of Spring's caliber. Still, this may be compensated by the difficulty of the other two pieces.

 

Edit: *sigh* iPhone formatting...Should be fixed now.

Edited June 14, 2012 by Rubisco

[Rubisco]

  mellopwn1 said:

Wow, that is close! Really, with only one judge tipping the scale in Spring's favor, the two could completely flip flop at the Area D hearing.

 

I really have nothing to base this off of, but I am going to predict that one school from Region 20 (Duncanville, probably) and one school from Region 9 (who knows which one) will be advancing to state. I just have a feeling.

 

I really can't imagine Duncanville failing to make it out of area D. If it happens, it would be the first time in decades. Then again, I would have said the same thing about Coppell before they got 3rd at area in 2010. Still, I expect Duncanville to make it out of area this year, and probably in first place. I've heard great things about their recording, although I have not heard the recording itself.

 

As for the other spot, yeah, no idea, really. I think if it were business as usual, I would say Coppell, but after last time, I don't know. I haven't heard anything from Coppell or about Coppell. Also, I don't like the 3rd place vote that they got at region. That rubs me the wrong way, mainly because that's essentially what happened last time they didn't make it out of area. Could it be an omen? Is it just politics? A maverick judge? Who knows?

 

I, too, think the region 9 groups could flip-flop; the scores are just too close. This is, by the way, what happened last time. College Park was second at region to Spring, and then College Park got first at area and Spring got fourth, I believe. I don't know how close their ordinals were at region, but they couldn't possibly have been closer than The Woodlands and Spring this year.

 

Anyway, Daniel, I hope you check out the area D listening. I live in Houston, so I definitely won't be making the trip. You're obligated to your alma mater! (And I want those results ASAP!)

[Xenon]

  Rubisco said:

As for the other spot, yeah, no idea, really. I think if it were business as usual, I would say Coppell, but after last time, I don't know. I haven't heard anything from Coppell or about Coppell. Also, I don't like the 3rd place vote that they got at region. That rubs me the wrong way, mainly because that's essentially what happened last time they didn't make it out of area. Could it be an omen? Is it just politics? A maverick judge? Who knows?

 

In 2008, Duncanville got a 4th (last) place vote from one of the Region judges and went on to eventually win the State level, so I wouldn't read too much into the one 3rd place Region vote for Coppell.

 

I have not heard the Coppell recording myself, but from what I hear they have amazing soloists and individual players, but that if they have any downfall at all in the recording it is in the full ensemble. Still supposed to be a great recording, but this is Area D and ANYTHING can happen..... Just the tiniest of things can make a huge difference with this level of competition.

 

Tons of people loved Spring's 2010 recording too.

[Xenon]

  Rubisco said:

Spring 11122

The Woodlands 22211

 

I really hope we hear about the rest soon. This does indicate that all the judges had Spring and The Woodlands advancing. It was close at the top! Area should be interesting, and probably depressing.

 

The judges for Region 9 were (not necessarily in the order of the ranks above):

 

Tom Shine

Scott McAdow

Bill Watson

Larry Matysiak

Brian Merrill

 

 

That is one heck of a panel!!

[Rubisco]

  Xenon said:

The judges for Region 9 were (not necessarily in the order of the ranks above):

 

Tom Shine

Scott McAdow

Bill Watson

Larry Matysiak

Brian Merrill

 

 

That is one heck of a panel!!

 

Wow, yeah. They've literally all produced honor bands of some kind in the past. They certainly know their stuff!

 

Edit: Also, is it a conflict of interest that Bill Watson taught at Spring back in the 90's? Is this considered during judge selection?

Edited June 14, 2012 by Rubisco

[mellopwn1]

  Rubisco said:

Edit: Also, is it a conflict of interest that Bill Watson taught at Spring back in the 90's? Is this considered during judge selection?

 

I mean, the band world is so incestuous that it's hardly possible to get a totally impartial judging panel. Every director knows each other or has some affiliation with other schools, whether it be from a convention, college, or tutelage. Besides, I'm pretty sure that the region votes on the judges so it's obvious that the directors did not take issue with his tenure at Spring. In fact, Region 9 seems to like Bill Watson a lot--he has also judged their UIL Marching contest in recent years.

[MrMusic5002]

  Rubisco said:

I was curious, so I looked up the repertoires of the region 9 and 20 ensembles.

 

Coppell

 

Commando March

Symphony in Bb

Symphonie Fantastique: Dream of a Witches' Sabbath

 

Duncanville

 

Overture to School for Scandal

Pictures at an Exhibition

The Cross of Honour

 

Spring

 

March to the Scaffold

Lux Aurumque

Belkis, Queen of Sheba, 4th Mvmnt.

 

The Woodlands

 

Invictus

Trittico

Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks

 

 

To be honest, I'm sort of surprised/not entirely surprised that Spring is doing Lux Aurumque. It's a great piece to show off the musicality of an ensemble, and it's stunningly beautiful. At the same time, though, it seems a bit on the easier side for a group of Spring's caliber. Still, this may be compensated by the difficulty of the other two pieces.

 

Edit: *sigh* iPhone formatting...Should be fixed now.

 

 

*Spring's recording used El Salon Mexico by Copland instead of Lux Aurumque. Also they played all of the Belkis, Regina di Saba, not just the 4th mvt.

[Rubisco]

  MrMusic5002 said:

*Spring's recording used El Salon Mexico by Copland instead of Lux Aurumque. Also they played all of the Belkis, Regina di Saba, not just the 4th mvt.

 

That makes more sense. Thanks!

 

I would like to point out that I have full faith in Bill Watson's impartiality-- in this case, particularly, because he taught at Spring so long ago and the connection has probably, to some extent, withered. That said, typically, I would argue vehemently against the notion that a judge knowing the director of a group he is judging is the equivalent of a judge judging a group he has taught. Definitely not equivalent.

[Xenon]

  MrMusic5002 said:

*Spring's recording used El Salon Mexico by Copland instead of Lux Aurumque. Also they played all of the Belkis, Regina di Saba, not just the 4th mvt.

 

I love El Salon Mexico! They must have both an awesome Trumpet and Clarinet!

[Rubisco]

Does anyone know how Marcus sounds this year? We haven't heard much about them besides the fact that they're going to Midwest again.

[mellopwn1]

  Rubisco said:

We haven't heard much about them besides the fact that they're going to Midwest again.

 

Although that right there says a whole lot about how they might sound this year, I am equally curious. Ms. Drinkwater has been zeroing in on the top spot of this contest for several cycles now, and she certainly doesn't seem to be letting up.