2012 Conroe BOA

[vacon3`]

who will do well this year at Conroe?

[Abbie123]

Only time will tell!!!

[Rubisco]

I'm most eager to see Dripping Springs and Stephen F. Austin. The top spots will probably be divided between The Woodlands, Cedar Park, and SFA, like usual, as long as SFA hasn't taken too much of a hit with the director changes. If the TX Bands predictions are any indication, The Woodlands is going in as the overwhelming favorite to win. It's hard for me to say at this point who will win, since the only band I've seen a decent amount of is Cedar Park.

 

Supposedly CTJ is no longer attending/was never actually going to attend. That's really disappointing and will make the competition near the top a little bit duller, but it is what it is. I had CTJ predicted for second place. But not all is bad, since this frees up some finals space for another fine group. Who will it be? Here are my new predictions:

 

1st The Woodlands

2nd Cedar Park

3rd Stephen F. Austin

4th Ronald Reagan

5th Dripping Springs

6th Spring

7th Winston Churchill

8th Brazoswood

9th Pflugerville

10th The Woodlands College Park

 

Music: The Woodlands

Visual: The Woodlands

GE: The Woodlands

 

The last two spots are the ones I think bands on the bubble will be scrambling for. Also, if SFA is as good as they've been in the past, I might change my predictions to give them second place (maybe even first) and the visual caption.

[mellopwn1]

Is SFA 3A or 4A?

[Rubisco]

  mellopwn1 said:

Is SFA 3A or 4A?

 

I think they were 4A last year. If they falter a bit this year, there's a very real chance that each class will be swept in prelims. The Woodlands in 4A, Cedar Park in 3A, and Dripping Springs in 2A. I'm not sure about 1A. What this means is that we really won't know who is on top going into finals. I suppose that's always the case, but last year, did anyone really doubt Marcus was on top?

[mellopwn1]

  Rubisco said:

I'm not sure about 1A.

 

I don't think a 1A band is on the schedule.

[Rubisco]

I have to say... I think this group sounds and looks significantly better than usual. A very real shot at finals. Sure, the concept may be a little cheesy to some, but you can't deny that saying the pledge of allegiance halfway through your show is gonna make the judges remember you. Also, I adore the swing section. Some really great playing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL13XKVMAgA

[mellopwn1]

  Rubisco said:

I have to say... I think this group sounds and looks significantly better than usual. A very real shot at finals. Sure, the concept may be a little cheesy to some, but you can't deny that saying the pledge of allegiance halfway through your show is gonna make the judges remember you. Also, I adore the swing section. Some really great playing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lL13XKVMAgA

 

They DEFINITELY sound better than usual. I'm still not sold on drill design/execution, but I think it can get them into finals.

 

Hopefully both TWCP and TWHS will rock the house in finals at Conroe this year!!!

[Rubisco]

  mellopwn1 said:

They DEFINITELY sound better than usual. I'm still not sold on drill design/execution, but I think it can get them into finals.

 

Hopefully both TWCP and TWHS will rock the house in finals at Conroe this year!!!

 

I think visually the biggest thing I notice is that the guard is working better as an ensemble. In the past, they've been sort of distracting. This year it looks much better. Yeah, the drill could be cleaner (and maybe more interesting in parts), but it's early. I haven't seen any group yet that I didn't think looked really dirty. That includes Cedar Park and The Woodlands.

[mellopwn1]

(double post)

Edited September 26, 2012 by mellopwn1

[mellopwn1]

Sorry for the double post, my computer is stupid. And the edit button isn't working...? Cant figure out how to delete it.

 

I agree that everyone is dirty at this point, but there are different kinds of dirty. In some cases you say "wow, that curve/box/circle is really dirty!," while in other cases (like a few moments in College Park's show) you are left asking "wow, what is that supposed to be?"

 

There are still two weeks to go, though. That's a lot of time to clean everything up. As most bands are finishing up drill and coming out of "learn show as fast as humanly possible" operating mode, they can focus more on fine line detail. They'll be much better come October 6th.

[mellopwn1]

*DRUMROLL*

 

BOA Conroe

October 6, 2012

Woodforest Bank Stadium

 

8:45 TBA

9:00 Texas City H.S., TX

9:15 Clear Falls H.S., TX

9:30 Oak Ridge H.S., TX

9:45 Waller H.S., TX

10:00 McNeil H.S., TX

10:15 Ronald Reagan H.S., TX

10:30 Winston Churchill H.S., TX

10:45 Morton Ranch H.S., TX

11:00 Alvin H.S., TX

11:15 Friendswood H.S., TX

11:30 Cedar Park H.S., TX

LUNCH

12:30 William B. Travis H.S., TX

12:45 Cy-Fair H.S., TX

1:00 James E. Taylor H.S., TX

1:15 La Grange H.S., TX

1:30 Cedar Ridge H.S., TX

1:45 Dripping Springs H.S., TX

2:00 The Woodlands H.S., TX

2:15 Stephen F. Austin H.S., TX

BREAK

2:45 Clear Brook H.S., TX

3:00 The Woodlands College Park H.S., TX

3:15 J. Frank Dobie H.S., TX

3:30 Seven Lakes H.S., TX

3:45 Brazoswood H.S., TX

4:00 Kempner H.S., TX

4:15 Hendrickson H.S., TX

4:30 Pflugerville H.S., TX

[clarineticorn]

I believe CTJ is doing a USSBA competition in New Braunfels that weekend. I wish I could go watch Conroe this year but college football is on Saturdays (of course!). Ah, well, at least I can make BOA San Antonio!

[Drummantx]

Cedar Park doesn't look quite as strong to me this year, good, but a little weaker IMO.

[Rubisco]

(A recent one, great quality)

 

(So short almost not worth posting)

 

(Only worth posting for the music)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZwv3L4bghI&feature=plcp (Good quality football game vid of a potential finalist)

 

(Recent, good quality football game vid of a perennial finalist)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WvrwCW3vOI&feature=plcp (Good quality football game vid)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgV49Xv9QO8 (More recent vid of the same group, more bells and whistles, horrible filming)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3OSIpra0E4 (First football game vid, not even going to Conroe, but my oh my, if they aren't pushing for a national finals spot in a few years I'd be surprised-- especially after last year at SA!)

[mellopwn1]

More and more I'm starting to think that Cedar Park will take this regional.

 

As usual, it seems like The Woodlands is taking its own sweet time cleaning everything up. They have that fat, dark "Texas" sound to their brassline (albeit not in certain spots, it seems) that Cedar Park simply doesn't have (CP is very bright sounding to me), but TW just is nowhere near as clean musically or visually. At least in these videos. Who knows how they'll look next Saturday.

 

I'm interested to see how CP stacks up against the competition in Denton this weekend.

[longhornsax]

  Drummantx said:

Cedar Park doesn't look quite as strong to me this year, good, but a little weaker IMO.

 

I disagree actually. I like cedar park's show a lot actually, especially the visual package, maybe even more than last year. I think theyll continue to be dangerous this year.

[Rubisco]

  mellopwn1 said:

More and more I'm starting to think that Cedar Park will take this regional.

 

As usual, it seems like The Woodlands is taking its own sweet time cleaning everything up. They have that fat, dark "Texas" sound to their brassline (albeit not in certain spots, it seems) that Cedar Park simply doesn't have (CP is very bright sounding to me), but TW just is nowhere near as clean musically or visually. At least in these videos. Who knows how they'll look next Saturday.

 

I'm interested to see how CP stacks up against the competition in Denton this weekend.

I'm not sure I'd say nowhere near, although certainly I think CP's show is cleaner. Also, the video where you can actually judge TW's ensemble visual is a week older. Musically, I pretty strongly prefer CP to TW. TW has a few somewhat strident balance issues, with people sticking out of the ensemble sound. In that first video, the first trumpet part sounds like it's being played by one person! It's very distracting, especially when that one person totally messes up in parts. That said, TW's show does have its nice bits musically. The big hit of the ballad is top notch. Also, if TW's show is inferior to CP's show performance-wise, I still think TW wins in the design department. And by a lot (even with the beyond-cheesy narration). The drill is much more elegant, and the music has a better sense of flow. But yeah, I'm not leaning quite so strongly in TW's favor at this point. Maybe just another early-season-flop-late-season-dominance cycle. That'd be good news for CP! (Or maybe SFA, don't forget about them!)

[legendia1994]

  Drummantx said:

Cedar Park doesn't look quite as strong to me this year, good, but a little weaker IMO.

 

I sorta have to say, I can possibly see why you say that. Watching the most recent video of Cedar Park's marching show, I saw that there were a lot of mental mistakes after the first movement. Some marchers were moving when everyone around them were standing still, the lines weren't straight, and horn angles weren't all the same at some point. And comparing that to their state performance last year, they sorta looked weaker. So I can see why you would say that. But don't get me wrong, Cedar Park is still exceptional! I have just been trained to pick out a lot of the little things in marching.

Edited September 26, 2012 by legendia1994

[mellopwn1]

  Rubisco said:

Also, if TW's show is inferior to CP's show performance-wise, I still think TW wins in the design department. And by a lot (even with the beyond-cheesy narration). The drill is much more elegant, and the music has a better sense of flow.

 

Agree 100%. When designing their show, it seems CP asks themselves "what awesome music should we play this year?" and chooses four loosely connected pieces. The transition between each can sometimes feel jerky and abrupt, and their drill is sometimes stale and uninspired. I can't even think of a show of theirs that is considered to have a coherent "theme" or story.

 

Cedar Park is an A+ band that performs the snot out of B- shows, which is why they tend to do better in UIL than in BOA, and why CP tends to not score as high at SA and GN (limited GE). Give CP a Marcus/Bell/Bowie/Woodlands show, and I think the sky's the limit.

Edited September 26, 2012 by mellopwn1

[Drummantx]

  legendia1994 said:

I sorta have to say, I can possibly see why you say that. Watching the most recent video of Cedar Park's marching show, I saw that there were a lot of mental mistakes after the first movement. Some marchers were moving when everyone around them were standing still, the lines weren't straight, and horn angles weren't all the same at some point. And comparing that to their state performance last year, they sorta looked weaker. So I can see why you would say that. But don't get me wrong, Cedar Park is still exceptional! I have just been trained to pick out a lot of the little things in marching.

 

Exactly! I think they are still good, but it just seems a little behind where they were last year and in 2010 at this time. Visually, I'm not a fan. It's not awful, but I feel like there are some staging and form clarity problems in the design, I feel like the guards staging at the end is not very effective, I get that they are a small guard compared to the band, but last year and the year before the staging was fine. Other times I'm just not sure what I'm looking at, I'm not 100% sure if this is a design or cleanliness problem. Musically, they're fine, but watching, I'm just not getting the vibe I would like to from them. I'm confident they'll get there though.

[Danpod]

Anybody know why that first block is substantially larger than the others? That seems odd.

 

Might have to make the second block the Block of the Day. Stephen F. Austin and The Woodlands back to back. Plus, based on what I saw last year, Cedar Ridge might be a dark horse for Finals.

[Bandlover]

I'm sure that Cedar Park will do just fine; last season they took their time, polished their show then nailed it in the end. Its hard to predict a winner in early October, so many bands are still working things out, making changes, gaining confidence ect, its still wide open. I have not had a chance to see Cedar Park or Dripping Springs shows this year; I'm very interested in the outcome of this contest...

[vacon3`]

The Woodlands seem a bit behind this year, but you never know what can happen. I think Brazoswood could have a better than usual showing this year. They are doing Bach and Holst, and they have extra confidence being the 2013 5A HONOR BAND. Im hoping to see them place in the top 5-6 bands this year.

[mellopwn1]

  vacon3` said:

The Woodlands seem a bit behind this year, but you never know what can happen. I think Brazoswood could have a better than usual showing this year. They are doing Bach and Holst, and they have extra confidence being the 2013 5A HONOR BAND. Im hoping to see them place in the top 5-6 bands this year.

 

After being so, so close to finals at 5A State in 2010, I think they might be looking for redemption this time around. Although it is beneficial, determination alone doesn't ensure success.

 

5A Honor Band has me hopeful, though. Last year the band had an overblown, rip-roaring quality to its sound that comes from allowing good players to recklessly play past their best sound. It was flat out blatty and uncontrolled in some spots. Their concert success will HOPEFULLY encourage students and directors to refine their sound this year and get back to the classic "big and bold" sound we have grown accustomed to hearing from Brazoswood in the past.

 

You're right, they do have some lurking potential.

Edited September 28, 2012 by mellopwn1