2018 6A State

[A Testing Trumpet]

After placing 26th place at BOA San Antonio, It would be a lie to say I wasn't concerned for Round Rock. Yet here they are, 13th place at UIL State Prelims. I can tell that they gave it every single ounce they had, and I am so proud of them tonight.  At the exact same time, I am feeling furious at UIL for the one judge that had them so far out of finals. They have been through one heck of a season this year, and they deserve to know that at the end,  at this one last performance, they proved that they still have it them to kick some major butt. Great Job!!!     

[herbaflerb]

I know a few people already touched on this, but I am so upset with J5. I’m not a huge fan of Round Rock (go CR!!) but wow. They were Round Robbed tonight.

[Drum Alumni]

It was told to me that when you have a large number of Bands such as we had today, the chance for this happening is great. CTJ got a 24th position a couple of years ago.   The source said something like this is not as prevelent in Class A-AAAA due to the smaller number of Bands. Class AA will only have 17 Bands to compete and only 7 will advance tomorrow. The problem with throwing a High Score and a low score out is that if you add two more judges do you then go to 4 Music and 3 M&M. What if the High and Low rating judges are in the same discipline, IE Music, or M &M.  I know that each of the Judges for today and tomorrow have taken their Bands to SMC before. Most have judged BOA and DCI events along with other circuits  Most are directors of University Bands.   It is not any easy solution.  If Round Rock had not gotten the 34th place position from one Judge, another Band would have been knocked out. Usually if you look at the Ordinals, the top 3 Bands are pretty consistently rated the same by all the Judges.  UIL looks at this every two years. 

I agree that there are challenges, but there has to be some sort of fail safe here. It's true Round Rock could have knocked someone out, but who's to say that they didn't knock them out because they played better? And even if the top three bands are scored consistently, there are still 30 to 40 other bands that deserve a fair score that is representative of their performance. Especially those bands on the edge of making finals or not. For some of these bands that know they likely wont challenge for a medal, making finals is like winning the whole contest! I say add the two judges and drop the lowest and highest, or potentially move to a more BOA style of judging. Either way something has to change to keep what happened today from happening.

[Omega]

Looking at the judges for all the days the only one that I know has never done BOA or DCI is Steve Wessels. Yet he has been head director at Cedar Park for God knows how long and is responsible for training all marching band judges in the state. These judges are all highly qualified, yet UIL gives judges a large amount of room to allow their tastes to dictate what wins. When you asked who sounds better, it depends on what a judge likes in their own sound. Marching the only way I can ever explain those oddities is the fact that the judges are put on the 30s so they really do see completely different shows.

[CharpieAg]

And if a judge simply doesn’t like the design of your show, you’re toast

[LeanderMomma]

I've loved him since the day he was born. #prouddad

Awwww, he was terrific! I watched the directors cam so I could see the kids faces and their joy. Your son looked so pleased when he was done with his solo, as he should!! I so wish Round Rock had had a better season. They are so very good.

[Danpod]

Good morning.

[LeanderMomma]

It was told to me that when you have a large number of Bands such as we had today, the chance for this happening is great. CTJ got a 24th position a couple of years ago. The source said something like this is not as prevelent in Class A-AAAA due to the smaller number of Bands. Class AA will only have 17 Bands to compete and only 7 will advance tomorrow. The problem with throwing a High Score and a low score out is that if you add two more judges do you then go to 4 Music and 3 M&M. What if the High and Low rating judges are in the same discipline, IE Music, or M &M. I know that each of the Judges for today and tomorrow have taken their Bands to SMC before. Most have judged BOA and DCI events along with other circuits Most are directors of University Bands. It is not any easy solution. If Round Rock had not gotten the 34th place position from one Judge, another Band would have been knocked out. Usually if you look at the Ordinals, the top 3 Bands are pretty consistently rated the same by all the Judges. UIL looks at this every two years.

You’re absolutely right. There are just so many bands. I do not envy the judges one little bit and I know that their job is not an easy one. The system is flawed in some ways for sure, and I am not sure that there is a perfect system out there for any kind of event that is judged by subjective human beings.

[LeanderMomma]

Good morning.

I hope it’s another great day in the dome.

[Danpod]

I hope it’s another great day in the dome.

Everything will be everything!!

[Danpod]

http://live.txbands.com

 

We're here at The Alamodome for the 2A Prelims, 6A Finals, and 2A Finals contest!  Please join us for live reviews and commentary all day long!!

https://box5tv.com

 

If you want to watch the contest from the comfort of your own home, you can purchase a stream from Box5 Media!!! 

[Dband2018]

Good luck to all the bands performing today!

[mmbandfan]

As a long time Area C parent I continue to marvel at the progress of John Horn, and I really want to know more about their story. 22nd at State, and ahead of Pearland, Hendrickson, and Cy-Fair! Two years ago they were 21st...at Area! Having seen them live this year I can say it was deserved - such a powerful sound and masterful playing of some challenging John Mackey music. Congratulations on a fantastic season!

[LHSax]

This will be almost every single band's 4th performance in the dome in 5 days. Everyone should be relatively rested and ready (yay making this a 2 day competition!) I expect a lot of maxed out performances this afternoon! This lineup makes me think we'll have some clooooose results at the top at the end of this.

[Danpod]

This will be almost every single band's 4th performance in the dome in 5 days. Everyone should be relatively rested and ready (yay making this a 2 day competition!) I expect a lot of maxed out performances this afternoon! This lineup makes me think we'll have some clooooose results at the top at the end of this.

 

Truth.  The kiddos are being asked to be warriors.  Today will be special.

[Rudedog34]

I agree that there are challenges, but there has to be some sort of fail safe here. It's true Round Rock could have knocked someone out, but who's to say that they didn't knock them out because they played better? And even if the top three bands are scored consistently, there are still 30 to 40 other bands that deserve a fair score that is representative of their performance. Especially those bands on the edge of making finals or not. For some of these bands that know they likely wont challenge for a medal, making finals is like winning the whole contest! I say add the two judges and drop the lowest and highest, or potentially move to a more BOA style of judging. Either way something has to change to keep what happened today from happening.

Judging must have accountability and the system is flawed.

Just glad I'm done with all this.

 

Good luck to the bands who made it.

[SewTallSoprano]

The main difference is that UIL is 60% Music and 40% Marching and Man.  Visual is not a caption under UIL.  The fact is that a Non Corps style Band could not be judged fairly in BOA contests. In 2016 Spring Hill and China Springs both made the 4A Finals at UIL. In the Finals they received higher M&M Scores than most of the Corps Style Bands.   This made many Corps style Directors angry.  It seems that they did not like having a Band that did precision drills get a good M&M Score.  If you watch the DVD of the Contest, both Spring Hill and China Spring were crisper in their drills than the Corps Style Bands. While most Bands in TX are Corps style, UIL is tasked to judge all types of Bands fairly. The current BOA way of judging clearly discriminates against, Military Style, Show Style and Big Ten Style Bands. For those who disagree, please look at the fact that in 2016, the Florida Marching Band Coalition agreed that the scores for Show Bands under the criteria they had in place was unfair.  They now have different score sheets for Show Bands in Contests. That is an honest appraisal.  When BOA first started their was a variety of Bands that entered. Once they saw that unless you were corps style, you could not win. They walked.  UIL has a responsibility that BOA(which is a Private Organization does not have) of making the playing field as equal as possible. 

Unfortunately, we see more and more of the BOA stuff being rewarded in UIL. The top two bands this year have half the marching of Vandegrift and Hebron and Marcus. And if the judges are in the boxes, they also reward amping, totally BOA thing. We lived through DCI this summer as our daughter marched Crown. Shows have gone the way of broadway musicals. Anything goes, and the crazier the higher the score. I would like the see the playing field leveled at UIL to showcase pure talent in marching and music, rather than the amount of props and decibels on the field.

[Band_dad_of_2]

As a long time Area C parent I continue to marvel at the progress of John Horn, and I really want to know more about their story. 22nd at State, and ahead of Pearland, Hendrickson, and Cy-Fair! Two years ago they were 21st...at Area! Having seen them live this year I can say it was deserved - such a powerful sound and masterful playing of some challenging John Mackey music. Congratulations on a fantastic season!

 

Their progress has been very impressive!!  I had some concerns about Horn after their percussion director left...that was such an unbelievably strong part of their program.  Good grief, was it strong....

 

Good to see them do so well!!!

[xxneontreesxx]

 

Unfortunately, we see more and more of the BOA stuff being rewarded in UIL. The top two bands this year have half the marching of Vandegrift and Hebron and Marcus. And if the judges are in the boxes, they also reward amping, totally BOA thing. We lived through DCI this summer as our daughter marched Crown. Shows have gone the way of broadway musicals. Anything goes, and the crazier the higher the score. I would like the see the playing field leveled at UIL to showcase pure talent in marching and music, rather than the amount of props and decibels on the field.

This is what has had me worried for a while. While the flashy Broadway shows are crazy impressive on their own, it is disappointing knowing that the performers who march and play at the same time and still are absolutley incredible might get scored lower because they decided not to base their show on GE and decided to focus more on the individual skills of their students.

[Samuel Culper]

Prelims results ordinals...

 

LISD North: 1+5+9=15

 

LISD South: 2+3+8=13

 

 

[SewTallSoprano]

Okay, I agree that UIL is good as it is in being fair to the military bands.  However, having marched in military and Corps style bands, Corps style marching is much harder to perform.  Kind of like comparing apples to oranges, many military bands go for years with alterations to the same show.  However, I think they deserve a spot in the competition, I don't think the rules need to be changed, certainly not to include show bands....how would you judge that against military or corps?  I can't think of a military band that would deserve to be in the top 10 in 6A.  The usually dependable Longview band did not perform well this year, Lufkin was better but the drill was blah, neither band has the imagination that some of Spring Hill's military shows have.  I haven't seen Kingwood's performances so can't comment on them.  But comparing a Hebron, Vandegrift or certainly CTJ bands to the top 6A military bands would be very difficult indeed.

Have to disagree with Vandegrift being a "show" band. All is done without using shotgun mics, the field is never filled with crazy gaudi props, marching is super clean straight leg. Vision is a dance team not a drill team with rifles, hoops, balls, swords, shells, etc. And you'll never see them make a show that makes no sense to the audience let alone the kids marching it, the directors just won't have it. 

[Parkwoodmom]

Anyone else having issues with Box5?  I paid for today, cleared cache, refreshed and still get error message.  They're not getting back to me.

[Danpod]

The Alamodome Wi-Fi is down.  I don't know if Box5 is connected to that.

[SewTallSoprano]

So, yes I am a Vandy mom. Have one more thing to say. In the 5 years we have had kids in VHS the band program, and the school, has grown tremendously in numbers. The band itself has more than doubled in size in that short time. I'd say half of the band is made up of freshman in a now 370 member band.  I want to applaud the band directors for handling such a huge growth and teaching the freshman such a high level of skill in performance. The directors believe in the kids talent to grow from the start. Everyone marches, not just the upperclass. I am so proud of this organization! Can't wait for the next four years as our last child goes through this amazing program!

[jcbg]

Having a full night to think this over, it still hurts to think we placed as low as 23rd, but at the end of the day, all we can say is that those kids performed their hearts out and they should be proud of themselves for even making the state contest, because it's not easy to do. For anyone that's not happy with their placements, just remember that even qualifying for the state contest makes your band one of the best in Texas, and that is a prestigious honor in and of itself.

 

And for every band that made finals, today is your chance to prove that your band is the best in Texas. Go perform your hearts out, and make your last performance an unforgettable one.