2016 Nationals

[akinez]

Leaving tomorrow! We had a really great final rehearsal in this amazing weather. Everyone is super excited!!

[Imagine]

Reagan getting some love from Jennifer Morrison of Once Upon a Time. Learned some stuff I didn't know about their show:

 

https://www.facebook.com/JenniferMorrisonOfficial/posts/10154785076918689

[crossblue82]

Question...will preliminary scores/rankings for today be released this evening or do we have to wait until tomorrow night to see both days?

I know in a way even though they both are in place to create semifinals and finals they are kind of viewed as different competitions to themselves so I thought there was a chance that may be shown this evening, can anybody answer this?  Would just be fun to see some information thus far...

[principalagent]

You have to wait until Saturday night to see anything except for the 35ish semi-finalists that are announced tomorrow night.

[dylan123]

is there a rewind function on the live stream?

[BandG33k73]

No rewind function

[LKendrick]

My list of potential finalists has actually grown, not shrunk like it usually does.

 

O.o

[principalagent]

I'm at Lucas Oil and I've seen every finalist caliber band in person. I gotta say, and I hate to say it, but I'm having serious doubts about #TeamTexas. I want all of them in, but the bubble bands are stepping it up big time. Union and Owasso put on amazing performances while Vista Murrieta came out of almost nowhere and probably put on the performance of the day. Homestead is as strong as ever, and Castle and Dobyns-Bennett are giving Cedar Park a serious run for their money for class placement in 3A. Marian Catholic also cleaned up a lot and will likely earn #33 - one of the stronger overall designs and concepts here, per usual.

 

Leander had a stellar run this morning is in the thick of the eagle conversation in the stadium. Johnson's choice to skip state was correct. They have shaped up nicely and are a crowd favorite - they'll be between 4-7, I believe. Reagan has had their best performance of the last week this morning and should place around Johnson. I could see a last minute surge as well into the medal table.

 

Cedar Park and Bowie are executing better than most bubble bands (except maybe Homestead and Union and VM and DB), but the overall design of their shows may not hold up in the long run. Like I said, I want them both in and I want to be wrong. It's absolutely the toughest year in a long while to get into finals. And perhaps for the eagle too, seeing that no one band is leading the charge, and about five have a legitimate shot.

[thebashful15]

Is it true Whitesboro didn't make it to the Semifinals? 

[thebashful15]

Oh now I see, Whitesboro did not advance. 

[LKendrick]

To add on to what was said above, I'm watching online though so take with a grain of salt, no Texas bands are not weak at all.  The country REALLY did send its best this year.  Vista Murrieta would probably finish well into finals at BOA San Antonio.  One of the best California bands I have ever heard and that color guard is WOW, similar things about their in state peer Ayala.  Wando shrugged off last years weaker season and not only do I think they'll make finals, but I could see them pushing the top half.  Union and Owasso were both FANTASTIC, Unions show is stunning and Owasso performs the crap out of theirs.  Marian Catholic has a phenomenal show that came together last minute, per usual from them.  Homestead has a STUNNING visual program.  Dobyns Bennett, Castle, Bellevue West, and O'Fallon Township round out what I think is the best top 20 in BOA history. 

 

So yeah, more than a few VERY good bands will miss finals.  This is the hardest I've ever seen it to get into finals, pretty sure all of those would make it most other years. 

 

But also, I agree with the buzz that Leander is in the hunt, and Ronald Reagan and Claudia Taylor Johnson can muscle their way well into the top 6.  James Bowie and Cedar Park can make it in, just gotta have the show of their lives. 

 

Tomorrow is going to be incredibly stressful, but also INCREDIBLY exciting. 

[akinez]

Aside from results, I just wanted to say that this Grand Nationals venue is out of this world. It is unlike any music convention out there. It's similar to TMEA All State in San Antonio during the month of February - countless numbers of aspiring musicians performing their hearts out, composers lurking out and about, various booths (You can get a lot of free stuff at the booths!!), and so much more. Seeing the iconic Lucas Oil Stadium, in person, is surreal. Performing in it, that experience is unmatched.

 

It's also incredibly inspiring to see bands from all parts of this country like California, Ohio, Tennessee and be able to converse and understand what band is like for them. 

 

And to top it all off, the weather is spectacular. Texas really needs to chill with the mid 80 degree temperature in November 

 

I really wish more of Texas HS Bands are able to experience what #TeamTexas is experiencing right now. It is a huge shame Grand Nationals is not closer. 

 

I'm super excited for what adventures tomorrow holds! Wish us and everyone else luck!!

[whitewing09]

  On 11/12/2016 at 4:14 AM, akinez said:

Aside from results, I just wanted to say that this Grand Nationals venue is out of this world. It is unlike any music convention out there. It's similar to TMEA All State in San Antonio during the month of February - countless numbers of aspiring musicians performing their hearts out, composers lurking out and about, various booths (You can get a lot of free stuff at the booths!!), and so much more. Seeing the iconic Lucas Oil Stadium, in person, is surreal. Performing in it, that experience is unmatched.

 

It's also incredibly inspiring to see bands from all parts of this country like California, Ohio, Tennessee and be able to converse and understand what band is like for them.

 

And to top it all off, the weather is spectacular. Texas really needs to chill with the mid 80 degree temperature in November

 

I really wish more of Texas HS Bands are able to experience what #TeamTexas is experiencing right now. It is a huge shame Grand Nationals is not closer.

 

I'm super excited for what adventures tomorrow holds! Wish us and everyone else luck!!

Know that the Texas pride is strong! Every Texan cheers for every Texas band with such enthusiasm! I sat in a block of CP/Leander/Bowie people and it was lit when the Texas bands came out. Some CP parents even brought Texas flags

[principalagent]

Schedule: http://www.musicforall.org/resources/fall-results/2016/2016-grand-national-championships-semi-finalists

 

James Bowie placed between 23-30th in prelims overall. The rest of #TeamTexas scored in the Top 22.

 

The finals pre-draw is also out. Leander will likely perform 7th or 8th in finals, depending on CTJ making the top 6 or not.

[LKendrick]

(James Bowie should be WAY higher).

[crossblue82]

How would you know this placement info for Bowie for instance?

Is there something you can infer from semifinals draw?

Please explain...

[principalagent]

If you look at the schedule, you can infer it. It always follows a pattern.

 

To advance to semi-finals:

- The top 11 placing bands from each day advance.

- Then the next 8 highest score bands regardless of day advance

- If not enough bands advance to satisfy the condition that two bands per class per day are represented in semifinals, then the highest ranking bands in each class advance. 

 

With these conditions met, you can use the rules of semi-finals scheduling to tell where a band is ranking, groupwise.

- The first bands are always class qualifiers. Because the first two rules advance 30 bands, then the first x bands (# of bands that make semis - 30) are the class qualifiers. So this year, there are 6 qualifiers on class representation.

- The next four bands are half of the bands ranked 23-30 overall from the combined prelims scores from both days.

- The next 22 bands are the top 22 ranking bands from combined prelims.

- The last four bands are the other half of the 23-30 bands.

 

With this, you can tell that there are some surprises, like Ayala and Bowie only placing in the 23-30 range.

 

My personal hunch here is that there was bad score management on both days. Thursday started off with weak bands, which inflated the scores of stronger bands. Friday started off with a high bubble band for finals, which probably made the judges conservative and kept scores deflated across the board. This, then creates a problem when you combine both days, as the bands are scored on effectively different scales. 

[Xenon]

Yup, it very much looks like a score management issue that caused Thursday to have scores that were significantly inflated compared to Friday. The plus side for Bowie is that they got the best possible next-8 performance slot, right after the top-22.

[peinewood]

How much do you guys think Reagan's mic problems will affect them?

[principalagent]

  On 11/12/2016 at 2:40 PM, peinewood said:

How much do you guys think Reagan's mic problems will affect them?

Not enough to take them out of finals, if at all

[peinewood]

I guess that is comforting to here. We'll see what happens though.

[dylan123]

what happened to reagan? I just started watching so i didn't catch Reagan or CTJ.

[peinewood]

For the first couple of minutes of their show, none of the mics were working, but they got them back fairly quickly.

[principalagent]

Their mics didn't work for the first few minutes of their show. The vocalist's mic was the last to come back on, about halfway through their opener (so it luckily did not mess up their ballad).

[dylan123]

how was CTJs run?