2018 BOA San Antonio?

[simbaroo]

Just found out from the Pearland twitter they have been accepted to be in the rose bowl parade good for them!

 

That's great! Go Pearland!!

[EmanTheGreat]

Pioneer is 3A now, I believe. However, Weiss should now be 2A.

Pioneer is still 2A

[principalagent]

Pioneer is still 2A

It'll be fun to see them, Rouse and Camdenton fight it out for the class championship!

[Guest]

It'll be fun to see them, Rouse and Camdenton fight it out for the class championship!

This is how I see it playing out in 2a

1: Rouse

2: Weiss

3: Pioneer

[PSHSMom]

So do we know who the judges are in each panel?   If that has been listed or discusses somewhere else on this thread, I apologize, just too many pages to go thru!   I have a feeling they don't disclose that information, but was just wondering!

[Danpod]

So do we know who the judges are in each panel? If that has been listed or discusses somewhere else on this thread, I apologize, just too many pages to go thru! I have a feeling they don't disclose that information, but was just wondering!

Nothing yet! Patience

[Mash]

The intention was to balance the last three years worth of finalists across the panels.

This is what I dislike about this.  The bands already are being prejudged against previous years which shouldn't matter because it should be based on this year.  The old guard continually gets better scores and judging because of the schools reputation vs. the actual performance.

[Fwguard17]

This is what I dislike about this.  The bands already are being prejudged against previous years which shouldn't matter because it should be based on this year.  The old guard continually gets better scores and judging because of the schools reputation vs. the actual performance.

Just my opinion, but I disagree completely disagree.  I think that MFA is doing a great job trying to be fair.  Imagine a scenario where there is a completely random draw and all 14 of last years finalists are in a single panel?  How would that be air to all of those students?  You could argue that the eventual winner should be able to rise above all other competition, but MFA has never focused solely on what is best for the winner.  They cast a notoriously big tent that serves as many students as possible to the best of their abilities.  I commend them for this consideration.

[Mash]

Just my opinion, but I disagree completely disagree.  I think that MFA is doing a great job trying to be fair.  Imagine a scenario where there is a completely random draw and all 14 of last years finalists are in a single panel?  How would that be air to all of those students?  You could argue that the eventual winner should be able to rise above all other competition, but MFA has never focused solely on what is best for the winner.  They cast a notoriously big tent that serves as many students as possible to the best of their abilities.  I commend them for this consideration.

How about basing off of the bands regional score from the current year?    I am not saying it should be random.

[principalagent]

How about basing off of the bands regional score from the current year?    I am not saying it should be random.

Times are given to bands individually before the Texas regionals are up. Also, what if a band chooses not to go to a regional one year, or the only regional they go to gets rained out?

[LostChoirGuy]

Plus regionals on different weekends would skew the results to favor certain regional participants.

[Mash]

Times are given to bands individually before the Texas regionals are up. Also, what if a band chooses not to go to a regional one year, or the only regional they go to gets rained out?

But why base it off of previous years?  Just because a band is good typically doesn't mean they should get preferential treatment IMHO.   

[littlejaw]

They’ve done it the right way by far, no need to complain about it.

[justabandkid94]

Forgive me if this thought is misguided, but couldn't this also be a method to help with scoring management? 

 

The Top 14 bands at San Antonio have been relatively consistent for the past couple years -- we can agree on that.

 

Think about this: if you take your typical hard-hitters, and spread them out through the day, that offers a more direct comparison of what the "expected" standard is. Consider the possible scenario that X top band gets outperformed by band teetering the bubble this year. In previous years, if it had been 2-3 hours since a big band, I think the comparison would have been much harder; this year, in my perspective, this allows a far better and more consistent comparison of bands across the board.

 

In theory, this should help those bands on the bubble get a fairer and more direct comparison to those you would "expect" to be in finals and allow for greater potential of breakthrough into finals. There isn't anything "preferential" about this and nothing really to get upset over.

[Danpod]

Performance times are given well in advance.  You'd basically be making the early Regionals obsolete because those scores are going to be lower than the ones recorded two weeks later.  Music For All could have easily done nothing for the new panel change.  This was a smart and fair move. 

The performers do not need to worry about who is in their panel or block.  Perform the show.  Knock it out of the park.   

[LostChoirGuy]

It's not like they are saying those particular bands are getting specific performance times or scores to go with the way they spread them out. We have to think about this as basically two different competitions being merged together for finals and it would not seem fair to anyone if one of the competitions was vastly harder than the other one. This doesnt make it any harder for New bands to pass up the previous finalists, it just spreads them out so that on paper each of the competitions is realtively equal.

[principalagent]

Yeah, it’s definitely not preferential treatment. It’s more like making sure the competitions are balanced toward the top. Best way to do that is spread the finalists.

[justabandkid94]

let's get the guy a Snickers

[Mash]

So if a bunch of old fav's have a down year and a bunch of new bands have a great year the new bands get rooked.  You might think I am being odd about this but in this day and age there is plenty of ways to pre-judge bands on their merits of this year.  

 

If people don't think judges are biased by prior years, you are fooling yourself.  

 

I will point out that I think the band I support is already building a solid history, I just want to have it be fair to all of the bands.  Calling me grumpy won't get you anywhere, I am already old enough to tell you to get off my lawn.

[justabandkid94]

I don’t think you’re being grumpy. I just thinking you’re being naive in your assumption that these adjudicators who have dedicated their entire lives to developing young people are somehow conspiring together to ensure that only the big dogs stay in power. These judges WANT to see each and every band succeed and have new names come to power.

 

Please, waste your energy on something else rather than building up your fallacious and paranoid argument. It adds nothing to this forum

[Mash]

I don’t think you’re being grumpy. I just thinking you’re being naive in your assumption that these adjudicators who have dedicated their entire lives to developing young people are somehow conspiring together to ensure that only the big dogs stay in power. These judges WANT to see each and every band succeed and have new names come to power.

 

Please, waste your energy on something else rather than building up your fallacious and paranoid argument. It adds nothing to this forum

Whatever.....  I am happy to disagree with you.

[CTJBandPops]

So if a bunch of old fav's have a down year and a bunch of new bands have a great year the new bands get rooked.  You might think I am being odd about this but in this day and age there is plenty of ways to pre-judge bands on their merits of this year.  

 

If people don't think judges are biased by prior years, you are fooling yourself.  

 

I will point out that I think the band I support is already building a solid history, I just want to have it be fair to all of the bands.  Calling me grumpy won't get you anywhere, I am already old enough to tell you to get off my lawn.

again these are professionals that are not just phoning it in because of a programs reputation. I have no doubt you can find plenty of people that this their program should have placed better or even won an event based on what we may like or our bias to a program that we support.

at some point we have to have faith in the process that it is fair and just - if not, why compete in the events.

Grand Nats prelims have been broken into prelims 1 and 2 for some time with different judges in each set. lets just have some faith that MFA is not going to make a change that damages the brand or creates a question on the adjudication process that would drive away programs and the guests that buy tickets

[Mash]

again these are professionals that are not just phoning it in because of a programs reputation. I have no doubt you can find plenty of people that this their program should have placed better or even won an event based on what we may like or our bias to a program that we support.

at some point we have to have faith in the process that it is fair and just - if not, why compete in the events.

Grand Nats prelims have been broken into prelims 1 and 2 for some time with different judges in each set. lets just have some faith that MFA is not going to make a change that damages the brand or creates a question on the adjudication process that would drive away programs and the guests that buy tickets

Did I ever say that they weren't professional?   Or phoning it in?  Y'all are implying I am saying they are dishonest.  I never said that, do not imply that I did.

 

I am a fan of all the bands and think the kids work really hard and are amazing at performing.

[CTJBandPops]

So - there has been talk of the new bands that may break into finals in San Antonio this year, so I took a look at some data on the 17 season. below is what I found. Below are the finalist for BOA SA - the number next to them is their highest finals placement in regional events in 2017 - those with an * placed in finals multiple times - but I listed there highest placement. it is interesting that every finalist had made finals in a prior regional that year - more interesting is that the top 4 had all won at least 1 gold in a regional and the top 7 finalist all metaled at a regional prior to SA.

• CTJ    1*
• Hebron 1
• Vandy 1*
• Avon 1*
• Reagan 2
• FloMo 2
• Marcus 3
• Cedar Park 5
• Keller 5
• Hendrickson 6*
• TWHS 5
• Cedar Ridge 6
• Bowie 4*
• Leander 3* 

 not knocking any programs or dashing any hopes, not my intent. but if a program has not made finals this year, AND placed in the top 6 at that regional, they may have a big hill to climb to jump into the finals in San Antonio.

 

2 weeks till the party starts

[littlejaw]

So if a bunch of old fav's have a down year and a bunch of new bands have a great year the new bands get rooked. You might think I am being odd about this but in this day and age there is plenty of ways to pre-judge bands on their merits of this year.

 

If people don't think judges are biased by prior years, you are fooling yourself.

Well Keller only made finals in 08-10 then missed for a few years and have been back in finals since their grand bats run in 15.

 

Do you see the name L.D. Bell as a finals lock? Well they used to be the favorite for people to choose to win.

 

How many people have Churchill in finals? They were always supposed to be in finals.

 

Vista Ridge is technically, from a year over perspective, on the outside looking in, but they look to probably be in finals this year.

 

Hendrickson is becoming a great program that had to break into finals a couple years ago.

 

And you get years where there is a Haltom, Richland, Spring, Plano East, Cedar Ridge, Westlake, Coppell, etc. can make finals.

 

The best bands are consistent. If you want me to put my judge hat on I will rank all the bands visually and let you know where the judges screwed over a “new band.”

 

Rarely do we look at the announced finals bands and complain that some band should have deserved the spot over another.

 

As others have mentioned, the intentional spreading out of past finals bands throughout the competition will actually help these “new bands” receive the score they deserve. There have been times were almost 2 blocks didn’t have a finalist. And at that point your asking bands to surpass a standard set an hour or 2 before and it could change how shows were perceived.

 

This way everyone performs around someone that is probably finals worthy, and if you are better then them it will be much easier for you to get rewarded. Because that is what this is all about, rewarding and acknowledging excellence on all levels.