2017 State Marching Contest (1A,2A,3A,5A)

[Mash]

  On 10/30/2017 at 2:50 AM, LeanderMomma said:

I do love me some Ranger Band!!

 

Things have changed a bit in the past few years for sure, especially with the move up to 6A.

I know for the past 4 years Vista band parents have been sitting and cheering loudly along with the Leander parents.  Even loaned instruments back and forth between the bands in pinches at competitions.  

[SamuelCulper]

  On 10/30/2017 at 2:52 AM, NTxBandMom8 said:

My 5A Predictions:

 

1.Dripping Springs

2.Cedar Park

3.Richland

4.Wakeland

5.Waxahachie

6.Prosper

——————————

7. Aledo

8. Georgetown

9. Roma

10. Birdville

That looks like a solid prediction.

[SamuelCulper]

  On 10/30/2017 at 3:05 AM, Mash said:

I know for the past 4 years Vista band parents have been sitting and cheering loudly along with the Leander parents. Even loaned instruments back and forth between the bands in pinches at competitions.

At BOA Austin, a ton of the Vista and Leander kids went right for each other when it was time to break ranks at the retreat. So cool to see that stuff.

[inmysights31]

  On 10/30/2017 at 3:04 AM, Cityscapes said:

Anyone think Rouse has a shot at finals?

 

Maybe? The area scores were pretty solid and they have an excellent program. It is honestly down to the judges that day, though I can see some other bands pushing them out of finals.

[bandlover1994]

  On 10/30/2017 at 1:09 AM, basstrumpetsnare said:

I think this is gonna be one of the toughest 5a marching state contest we have yet to see. I think most of these bands have a great chance at the top 10.

Here are my predictions for 5a State Championships (Final 10) Maybe a few Surprises.

1- Cedar Park, They are Musically Powerful. Great Show Overall. Too many great things to note here.

2- Richland, Very close to Cedar Park in regards to how powerful they are with there Music, They are performing almost a Similar show that Lawrence Central performed at BOA Grand Nationals a few years back. Great Show I think its a definite possibility that they can top Cedar Park for the top prize

3- Waxahachie, Another one of these bands you can go either way with. They sound pretty strong I'm more than confident they will be top 3, Great Solo and Ensemble sounds.

4- Dripping Springs, The have a really Nice Show and ALOT of great Brass sounds. They do have alot of beautiful articulation from the entire brass section and great woodwind sounds. They do have alot of awesome visuals packaged in with their show.

5- Wakeland, Outstanding Colorguard. Exciting movements and alot of powerful sounds.

6- Prosper, I believe they will fight for a top spot, but I dont see them any better than where I listed them. I think they sound good but I just dont feel the impact like the others.

7- Aledo, They have a very SOLID impacting Intro, Get ready to feel the power. Many great moments but the fall short by keeping it SOLID throughout.

8- Forney,

9- Southwest, They have a interesting pre-show. Alot of good moments. They are a really skilled band program great sounds from the solos to aux.

10- Bel Air, I actually just viewed their show Online but I think they will be one of my dark horse to make it in Finals. They sound really good. Another band that can come right underneath and surprise people.

Again I'm no judge or expert, its just what I predict.

I love this and can’t agree more!

[Guest]

There is a HUGE finalist bubble this year including Rouse, Birdville, Pioneer, Roma, Georgetown, Tomball Memorial, Lopez, Bel Air, and Hamks. Even with the LISD schools gone this is still a very interesting year.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 10/30/2017 at 3:09 AM, SamuelCulper said:

At BOA Austin, a ton of the Vista and Leander kids went right for each other when it was time to break ranks at the retreat. So cool to see that stuff.

We want to see Vista succeed so badly! Especially after a bit of director turmoil that they recently had. Go Ranger Band! Would dearly love to see them in finals next week.

[tmhs2019]

  On 10/30/2017 at 1:09 AM, basstrumpetsnare said:

I think this is gonna be one of the toughest 5a marching state contest we have yet to see. I think most of these bands have a great chance at the top 10.

Here are my predictions for 5a State Championships (Final 10) Maybe a few Surprises.

1- Cedar Park, They are Musically Powerful. Great Show Overall. Too many great things to note here.

2- Richland, Very close to Cedar Park in regards to how powerful they are with there Music, They are performing almost a Similar show that Lawrence Central performed at BOA Grand Nationals a few years back. Great Show I think its a definite possibility that they can top Cedar Park for the top prize

3- Waxahachie, Another one of these bands you can go either way with. They sound pretty strong I'm more than confident they will be top 3, Great Solo and Ensemble sounds.

4- Dripping Springs, The have a really Nice Show and ALOT of great Brass sounds. They do have alot of beautiful articulation from the entire brass section and great woodwind sounds. They do have alot of awesome visuals packaged in with their show.

5- Wakeland, Outstanding Colorguard. Exciting movements and alot of powerful sounds.

6- Prosper, I believe they will fight for a top spot, but I dont see them any better than where I listed them. I think they sound good but I just dont feel the impact like the others.

7- Aledo, They have a very SOLID impacting Intro, Get ready to feel the power. Many great moments but the fall short by keeping it SOLID throughout.

8- Forney,

9- Southwest, They have a interesting pre-show. Alot of good moments. They are a really skilled band program great sounds from the solos to aux.

10- Bel Air, I actually just viewed their show Online but I think they will be one of my dark horse to make it in Finals. They sound really good. Another band that can come right underneath and surprise people.

Again I'm no judge or expert, its just what I predict.

Where do you expect Tomball Memorial to finish? They beat out Cy-Woods, Kempner, and Clear Falls which are all 6A, and swept finals at Area by 11 points. If they continue to improve at the rapid rate they’ve been going, I think they definitely have a shot.

[Guest]

  On 10/30/2017 at 2:31 PM, tmhs2019 said:

Where do you expect Tomball Memorial to finish? They beat out Cy-Woods, Kempner, and Clear Falls which are all 6A, and swept finals at Area by 11 points. If they continue to improve at the rapid rate they’ve been going, I think they definitely have a shot.

Definitely a strong bubble band.

[Mash]

  On 10/30/2017 at 11:54 AM, LeanderMomma said:

We want to see Vista succeed so badly! Especially after a bit of director turmoil that they recently had. Go Ranger Band! Would dearly love to see them in finals next week.

Yeah, a bit.....    It is a pretty bad situation for the kids.

 

Vista typically isn't a program that pours a lot into GE which has hurt them in the past.  I think this year is the most GE I can remember in their show over the last 6 years, which bodes well for BOA.  Musically, they are always top notch like Leander and CP.  The solos from last year were stupidly amazing.

 

As we always say we are there to cheer on all the kids and the kids from our district.  I know so many parents and youth across the bands how could I not :-)

[littlejaw]

5A Predictions:

 

1. Cedar Park - I think it’s theirs to lose.

 

2. Richland - Not getting enough y’all for how clean they are.

 

3. Waxahachie - I thought they were awesome at BOA Southlake, and their prelims placement doesn’t hurt that idea.

 

4. Dripping Springs - Can’t drop them too far from winning an Area finals over CP.

 

5. Wakeland - Really good band.

 

6. Prosper - Not huge on the show, but not enough other bands to push them down further.

 

7. Aledo - Usually a great band.

 

8. Roma - I think they have a shot of clearly making finals this year.

 

9. Tomball Memorial - Clearly won their area, so let’s see if the success translates.

 

10. Birdville - Though my next in would be Georgetown.

[LKendrick]

To me there are 8 pretty likely locks and 2 spots that are open for a lot of bands to take. I feel pretty strongly about Roma being one of the 8, this is the best they’ve sounded and especially looked in awhile to me. This show is just delicious to listen to.

[GeekyBandMom]

  On 10/30/2017 at 4:43 PM, LKendrick said:

To me there are 8 pretty likely locks and 2 spots that are open for a lot of bands to take. I feel pretty strongly about Roma being one of the 8, this is the best they’ve sounded and especially looked in awhile to me. This show is just delicious to listen to.

Anyone who has not heard Roma live is in for an absolute treat. I just can't believe the sound they generate. It's stunning, really. I also have them in the top ten somewhere- maybe even a medal, they sound too good not to be.

[littlejaw]

  On 10/30/2017 at 5:08 PM, GeekyBandMom said:

Anyone who has not heard Roma live is in for an absolute treat. I just can't believe the sound they generate. It's stunning, really. I also have them in the top ten somewhere- maybe even a medal, they sound too good not to be.

I’m just excited for music education in the Valley. Roma has a chance at Finals and Lopez is coming off Honor Band. It’s nice to see them in good competition on the state level. (I am DFW btw)

[LeanderMomma]

I don't guess FloMarching will be carrying a live feed for TSMBC??!

 

Nevermind, I found the info for the live stream. http://www.uiltexas.org/music/marching-band/state/box5media

[inmysights31]

  On 10/30/2017 at 4:32 PM, littlejaw said:

5A Predictions:

1. Cedar Park - I think it’s theirs to lose.

2. Richland - Not getting enough y’all for how clean they are.

3. Waxahachie - I thought they were awesome at BOA Southlake, and their prelims placement doesn’t hurt that idea.

4. Dripping Springs - Can’t drop them too far from winning an Area finals over CP.

5. Wakeland - Really good band.

6. Prosper - Not huge on the show, but not enough other bands to push them down further.

7. Aledo - Usually a great band.

8. Roma - I think they have a shot of clearly making finals this year.

9. Tomball Memorial - Clearly won their area, so let’s see if the success translates.

10. Birdville - Though my next in would be Georgetown.

I think this is pretty accurate except I can’t see DS getting beat musicly or visually by Richland. After watching them live they have such musicality, especially when playing October, and produce such powerful rich sounds. Nor could I see Waxahachie losing visually to Richland.

[JeremiahW]

  On 10/30/2017 at 6:27 PM, LeanderMomma said:

I don't guess FloMarching will be carrying a live feed for TSMBC??!

 

Box5 will be streaming it. Different pricing structure than Flo, but from what I've heard, it's a much higher quality product.

 

https://www.box5tv.com/uil/

[drsnowshoe]

My predictions are

1. Cedar park/dripping springs

2. Cedar park/dripping springs

3. Wakeland

4. Richland

5. Waxahatche

6. Prosper

7. Roma

8. Georgetown

9. Rouse

10. Southwest/Mcallum

11.southwest/Mcallum

But the last 2 spots in finals are up for grabs by many other great programs

[drsnowshoe]

My predictions are

1. Cedar park/dripping springs

2. Cedar park/dripping springs

3. Wakeland

4. Richland

5. Waxahatche

6. Prosper

7. Roma

8. Georgetown

9. Rouse

10. Southwest/Mcallum

11.southwest/Mcallum

But the last 2 spots in finals are up for grabs by many other great programs

[LeanderMomma]

  On 10/30/2017 at 6:50 PM, JeremiahW said:

Box5 will be streaming it. Different pricing structure than Flo, but from what I've heard, it's a much higher quality product.

 

https://www.box5tv.com/uil/

Looks like $10 per session or $18 for both prelims and finals. I'll probably just watch 5A finals on Wed night for $10.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 10/30/2017 at 6:50 PM, JeremiahW said:

Box5 will be streaming it. Different pricing structure than Flo, but from what I've heard, it's a much higher quality product.

 

 

OK now that you've said it, can we have a conversation about how bad the FloMarching camera angles are? Do they hire these people right off the back alleys of these superdomes or what??!! I find myself wanting to fling my laptop out the window or throw things at the TV when I'm watching FLO. The cameras either stay much too long on one tiny aspect of a show, fail to capture the big hit moments completely, or they walk around with the camera pointed to the ground for 5 to 10 seconds while still filming. It's so frustrating!!

 

OK, rant over. Carry on.

[Nny14]

  On 10/30/2017 at 7:07 PM, LeanderMomma said:

OK now that you've said it, can we have a conversation about how bad the FloMarching camera angles are? Do they hire these people right off the back alleys of these superdomes or what??!! I find myself wanting to fling my laptop out the window or throw things at the TV when I'm watching FLO. The cameras either stay much too long on one tiny aspect of a show, fail to capture the big hit moments completely, or they walk around with the camera pointed to the ground for 5 to 10 seconds while still filming. It's so frustrating!!

 

OK, rant over. Carry on.

Yup, clearly people who have no idea what marching band is and what viewers want to see in a show. People want to hear a soloist, not look at them for 30 seconds.

[LKendrick]

  On 10/30/2017 at 6:50 PM, JeremiahW said:

Box5 will be streaming it. Different pricing structure than Flo, but from what I've heard, it's a much higher quality product.

 

https://www.box5tv.com/uil/

It was really quite good last year, excited to see they’re doing it again.

[Danpod]

  On 10/30/2017 at 6:50 PM, JeremiahW said:

Box5 will be streaming it. Different pricing structure than Flo, but from what I've heard, it's a much higher quality product.

 

https://www.box5tv.com/uil/

 

Box5 knows what they are doing.  I highly encourage everyone who cannot make it down to San Antonio to watch from home.  We will absolutely have a link put up via the Txbands.com Blog next week!

[littlejaw]

  On 10/30/2017 at 7:07 PM, LeanderMomma said:

OK now that you've said it, can we have a conversation about how bad the FloMarching camera angles are? Do they hire these people right off the back alleys of these superdomes or what??!! I find myself wanting to fling my laptop out the window or throw things at the TV when I'm watching FLO. The cameras either stay much too long on one tiny aspect of a show, fail to capture the big hit moments completely, or they walk around with the camera pointed to the ground for 5 to 10 seconds while still filming. It's so frustrating!!

 

OK, rant over. Carry on.

I was actually talking to the flo people about their service and what I would like to see improved. Lots of people complained about the audio quality last year and that has drastically improved. This year hopefully they improve on their Multicam shots. I can say it is nice that they are trying to frame smaller groups of performers, because when kids see themselves or parents see their kids the product has a more intrinsic value. Now they just aren’t reading the groups and making the right switching calls just yet. It’s easier in DCI where they are able to learn the shows and in WGI where the groups are way smaller and it’s easier to get it right. Over the years we will see some improvement, hopefully.