2014 Show Announcements

[Euph-oria]

I know it's really early but anyone want (if allowed) to share their show for next year?

[Sorge]

Title is Heart and Soul, only composition that I remember being in there (It was announced a while ago and I can't find any info about it online) is Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain. It'll easily be the hardest and hopefully the best show we've done.

[rtrezza]

Who is Playing What

[takigan]

Moved to "Everything Music"

[Rubisco]

I just heard all of Hebron's show on YouTube. There are three separate videos of the Opener, Ballad, and Closer. Cinderella-themed. There is no drumline, but there are the winds and the pit. I watched a similar video from Hebron last year. While I was impressed by that video, this year's video just absolutely blows me away. If I were a director that wants to win state or BOA San Antonio, I'd be pissing myself. The show is absolute magic. The technical demand is insane, but they sound absolutely amazing. Of course, sounding great standing still in an auditorium isn't the same thing as sounding great while marching, and I definitely think this show could be a bit rough early on due to the high musical demand, but by end season, if they get it together like they usually do (and if the visual matches the music), they're going to be in that tip top group again. For me, Hebron is pretty obviously the heir apparent to the old Reagan. With the Kevin Nix visual influence and the well-executed sentimentality, they just scream classic Reagan. I will say this, though: Reagan never sounded this good, even when they were on top. I absolutely can't wait to see this show on the field, along with all their nearest competitors.

[Statebound]

Thanks for the heads up on the Hebron show.  Great video quality.  I'm a little concerned about how the kids are going to hold up through that closer. It reminds me a lot of the LDB "Bitter Earth" show a couple years ago where the closer was very aggressive (fantastic flute solo) but the kids were exhausted and it became very chaotic.  Hebron always marches difficult shows so there's no reason to believe they won't pull it together.  Also, the ballad seems to be more abbreviated than normal.  The Hebron ballad, Marcus props, and CTJ pre-shows are some of my favorite parts of marching season. 

[~ME~]

Well it took me forever to find the videos you guys were talking about, but I finally watched them and holy cow! That is one difficult show Hebron is playing! I agree with Rubisco, if the show translates well onto the field and if they can manage to get it clean by the end of the season then Hebron is going to be a freaking MONSTER at San Antonio. The high level of difficulty could potentially backfire on them, but if they can pull it off I will be blown away. Gosh, now this makes me super excited to see what the other groups like The Woodlands, Marcus, Bowie, CTJ, and COUNTLESS others have in store! Only heard one show so far and this year is already off to yet another great start!

[Rubisco]

Just saw the "trailer" for CTJ's show. It's called Chameleon. Wagner's Tannhauser Overture plays in the background. I'm not sure if that means they're playing it, but it's a strong possibility. It looks like they have some strange stack of neon orange and blue boxes in the middle of the field that band members can stand on. Looks like something that dropped out of cyberspace. I wonder if they change colors. That would be appropriate.

[Rubisco]

I agree that Hebron's ballad isn't as affecting as a stand-alone ballad this year compared to last year, but it does fit seemlessly with the rest of the show. The thing I like most about what I heard (besides the insane level of musical accomplishment) is how seamlessly everything flows, one idea to the next. It all seems to fit together. That's going to get them some big music GE scores down the road at BOA. I also like that they seem to have more power in their sound this year.

[Rubisco]

I think it's important to note that listening to a band playing their entire show standing still in an auditorium is like reading the screenplay of a movie before the movie has been made. You can see that there's a lot of awesome stuff to work with, but the end result can be vastly different depending on how the director envisions it and how well he works with his actors.

[Rubisco]

LD Bell's show is supposedly called Vertical Meditations. No idea what it's about or what they're playing. Unfortunately, Marcus no longer seems to post little pictorial clues on their website. (I'm still waiting to see a snake or key or something.) No idea what The Woodlands is doing, though I did read a comment by somebody on YouTube that incorporated a bunch of their old show names. They talked about feeling "uninvited" and "letters to home" and blah blah blah. They end by saying that they hope this year is successful and "a little bit chaotic." That stuck out to me. Can anyone confirm that The Woodlands' show this year has anything to do with chaos? Hahaha.

[jmj]

I really enjoyed listening to Hebron. That is just a ridiculous (amazing) ton of notes. The more notes you play, the happier you make me. I am excited to see this progress through the season. Already gorgeous clarity and balance in the WW's. Exciting!

[Rubisco]

Here's a stand-still performance of Part One of Round Rock's Arabian Nights (no pit). Sounds like some Aladdin stuff in the beginning, but then it quickly starts to sound like Lassiter '98 (The Wind and the Lion). Lots of exciting stuff, though they don't have quite as much focus or control in their sound as groups like Hebron.

 

[Rubisco]

Oh my goodness! Bands practice 9 1/2 hours a day during August?!

 

What rock have these people been hiding under? Hahaha. Unfortunately, you can't hear any show music in this video.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-21vyjrjPow

[scoobydoo]

This was RR from their bandathon. They stopped and played after marching through the neighborhood behind their school. Referring to Rubsico's video. The preview was the night before.

[slowbrass]

  On 8/23/2014 at 3:01 AM, Rubisco said:

LD Bell's show is supposedly called Vertical Meditations. No idea what it's about or what they're playing. Unfortunately, Marcus no longer seems to post little pictorial clues on their website. (I'm still waiting to see a snake or key or something.) No idea what The Woodlands is doing, though I did read a comment by somebody on YouTube that incorporated a bunch of their old show names. They talked about feeling "uninvited" and "letters to home" and blah blah blah. They end by saying that they hope this year is successful and "a little bit chaotic." That stuck out to me. Can anyone confirm that The Woodlands' show this year has anything to do with chaos? Hahaha.

You're spot on. It's entitled "Descending from Chaos"

[Rubisco]

Yay! See, sleuthing does work, sometimes. I'm wondering what sort of visual motif they're going with this year. I guess it could just be a lot of scatter forms congealing into geometric shapes, but I have a feeling it'll be something a bit more involved. Any cool music selections?

[knoxisawesome348]

Could somebody please post the videos of Hebron? I'm unable to find them.

[Rubisco]

That's because the person who posted them has since taken them down. Apparently they know we're on to them. Haha. Rest assured, they sounded fantastic.

[Rubisco]

The scimitars! Hahaha.

 

[knoxisawesome348]

Cedar Park is looking very solid

 

[Rubisco]

I already like Cedar Park's show way more than last year's. It's way more interesting visually, to say the least. It also looks quite a bit cleaner than what's typical for them at this point in the season. Strong music as always.

 

There's another video on YouTube that I won't post here after all the Hebron videos were taken down. (I was sort of surprised by that, because Hebron has never struck me as a group that cares about videos on YouTube.) This group's musical selections (as announced in the video) are The Canyon by Philip Glass, Everything in Its Right Place by Radiohead, Garbage Concerto by Jan Jarvlepp, and Piano Concerto No. ? by Prokofiev. This is all information that will be available in the program booklet before the group performs, so I don't see the harm in posting it. No guard uniforms yet, no props yet, no movement yet. Still, this might be the strongest performance I've seen from them this early.

[jmj]

LOVE the use of the hymn from 1812 Overture in Cedar Park's opener. That's my favorite part of the whole work- it's so lovely. It's fits in nicely with the bells theme here.

 

I happened upon the other video referenced and WOW! Very impressed by them. Ensemble sound is bold and gorgeous and the marching is quite good already. But they've never really had a show that I didn't love! (and I've seen them in person every year since 2000).

 

Also, I got to watch CTJ in person last week at the Cedar Ridge football game. I was incredibly impressed for this early in the season. They had a woodwind run that had me on my feet and cheering gleefully. I think it will be a fun ride!

[knoxisawesome348]

I'm very impressed with James Martin so far. I think making finals in St. Louis could be a reality for them.

 

[Rubisco]

It's a professional quality vid. (You can hear more of the pit stuff and see individual marching.) Without a doubt, this is the strongest I've ever seen them this early, musically and visually. Then again, there's still quite a bit of movement and whatnot to add, which could add some dirt. I don't know what comes after this drill-wise, but if this is any indication, and if they clean exponentially, like they usually do, the show will probably be unequaled in visual performance (and maybe visual effect) in Texas by the end of the season.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYQQYkB8KaM