2018 BOA San Antonio?

[Dog885]

  On 5/11/2018 at 6:51 PM, A Testing Trumpet said:

Interesting Fact: The last time L.D. Bell made finals at San Antonio was 2014, meaning that in the 2018 season, nobody in the band will remember making finals. Perhaps they will get to experience it this 2018 season!

That was the same with us, the last time we made finals at a BOA event was 2013, and that was cancelled because of weather

[Guest]

  On 5/11/2018 at 7:44 PM, Dog885 said:

That was the same with us, the last time we made finals at a BOA event was 2013, and that was cancelled because of weather

My sophomore year we went to 3 contests, qualified for finals for all 3, and all 3 finals were rained out.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 5/11/2018 at 7:44 PM, Dog885 said:

That was the same with us, the last time we made finals at a BOA event was 2013, and that was cancelled because of weather

Was that BOA Austin? I know it was also a rough year for Leander. The heavens opened up just as we were supposed to take the field. Then it got cancelled shortly afterwards.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 5/11/2018 at 8:58 PM, Cityscapes said:

My sophomore year we went to 3 contests, qualified for finals for all 3, and all 3 finals were rained out.

Oh my! When was that?

[Guest]

  On 5/11/2018 at 9:08 PM, LeanderMomma said:

Oh my! When was that?

2013! But the next 2 seasons made up for it!

[Rubisco]

This contest has become nearly impossible to predict from year to year. The 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-place groups after finals in 2016 placed 6th, 11th, and 14th in finals in 2017. In a typical regional, those are the sort of drops you'd expect if there were some major staff shake-ups in all three programs, but there weren't. So, for those who don't like that the same groups make finals every year, I think last year demonstrated that nobody is safe. Lots of up and coming groups. This early on, I wouldn't want to make predictions. Heck, even after seeing the shows at San Antonio finals last year, I found it difficult to predict the results. There are often significant disagreements between the prelims and finals panels, and also within each panel. So of course a general audience isn't going to fare much better. We went into the season thinking Flower Mound was the new LD Bell or Marcus, and came out of the season wondering when Claudia Taylor Johnson was going to go to Nationals to win their first Eagle. That sort of fickleness is really a testament to the quality of the programs in Texas.

 

Probably, I won't comment much this season. But I'll drop by toward the end of the season to see the finished products. They're usually better anyway!

[LeanderMomma]

Always good to hear from you though, Rubisco.

[Majellan]

  On 5/12/2018 at 1:08 AM, Rubisco said:

This contest has become nearly impossible to predict from year to year. The 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-place groups after finals in 2016 placed 6th, 11th, and 14th in finals in 2017. In a typical regional, those are the sort of drops you'd expect if there were some major staff shake-ups in all three programs, but there weren't. So, for those who don't like that the same groups make finals every year, I think last year demonstrated that nobody is safe. Lots of up and coming groups. This early on, I wouldn't want to make predictions. Heck, even after seeing the shows at San Antonio finals last year, I found it difficult to predict the results. There are often significant disagreements between the prelims and finals panels, and also within each panel. So of course a general audience isn't going to fare much better. We went into the season thinking Flower Mound was the new LD Bell or Marcus, and came out of the season wondering when Claudia Taylor Johnson was going to go to Nationals to win their first Eagle. That sort of fickleness is really a testament to the quality of the programs in Texas.

 

Probably, I won't comment much this season. But I'll drop by toward the end of the season to see the finished products. They're usually better anyway!

Thank You for stating this, I was just writing about some peeps saying the top was the same every year.  Maybe short term, but the top 10 Texas bands has been a constant merry go round for the last 30 years.  Sure you had the LD Bells, the Marcus Bands, Leander, The Woodlands, Westfield and Spring rule the roost in their particular time periods, however, that is not because of rep in my opinion. If rep wins BOA super regionals then Hebron wins this last year, certainly not CTJ.  I've liked CTJ since they came on the scene but they haven't been the judges or directors choice because of their out of the box style.  Now I love Hebron, being from NTX, but I don't think anyone would say CTJ wasn't the best at BOA.  However, there have been other times where I thought one band was the clear winner and the judges thought differently.  Rep does matter, but it doesn't keep a band that executed well from overcoming rep to win at least in BOA.  I don't see CTJ winning the state UIL contest without being much more conservative, but UIL and BOA are two totally different philosophies.

[CTJBandPops]

  On 5/13/2018 at 4:24 PM, Majellan said:

Thank You for stating this, I was just writing about some peeps saying the top was the same every year.  Maybe short term, but the top 10 Texas bands has been a constant merry go round for the last 30 years.  Sure you had the LD Bells, the Marcus Bands, Leander, The Woodlands, Westfield and Spring rule the roost in their particular time periods, however, that is not because of rep in my opinion. If rep wins BOA super regionals then Hebron wins this last year, certainly not CTJ.  I've liked CTJ since they came on the scene but they haven't been the judges or directors choice because of their out of the box style.  Now I love Hebron, being from NTX, but I don't think anyone would say CTJ wasn't the best at BOA.  However, there have been other times where I thought one band was the clear winner and the judges thought differently.  Rep does matter, but it doesn't keep a band that executed well from overcoming rep to win at least in BOA.  I don't see CTJ winning the state UIL contest without being much more conservative, but UIL and BOA are two totally different philosophies.

I think that remains to be seen - while I agree there is a difference in style and scoring - I think they are getting closer.

2012 - Marcus won gold in both UIL and BOA

           Bell won bronze in both competitions

2014 - CTJ won BOA Gold and UIL Bronze

2016 - FloMo won gold in both competitions 

 

I think that there are a number of programs that can meet the right points in both programs

[Jeffrey L. Gorman]

As we discuss the differences between UIL and BOA, I have to wonder how many of the writers are involved in Class A, AA, AAA and AAAA Bands and their programs. The simple fact is that BOA is extremely expensive for small schools and trying to meet the BOA standards while also competing for UIL is not usually a good use of funds. A look at the numbers tells you that there are approximately 1300 HS Bands that compete in UIL Regionals each year. BOA has usually about 200 different schools (primarily 5A & 6A Bands) competing at the BOA contests. I think it would be interesting to hear from folks in small schools about trying to do both types of shows. UIL exists to provide contests for all size schools, this is not the requirement for BOA.

[Dog885]

  On 5/13/2018 at 10:54 PM, Jeffrey L. Gorman said:

As we discuss the differences between UIL and BOA, I have to wonder how many of the writers are involved in Class A, AA, AAA and AAAA Bands and their programs. The simple fact is that BOA is extremely expensive for small schools and trying to meet the BOA standards while also competing for UIL is not usually a good use of funds. A look at the numbers tells you that there are approximately 1300 HS Bands that compete in UIL Regionals each year. BOA has usually about 200 different schools (primarily 5A & 6A Bands) competing at the BOA contests. I think it would be interesting to hear from folks in small schools about trying to do both types of shows. UIL exists to provide contests for all size schools, this is not the requirement for BOA.

I think that's also why USBands is mainly for smaller schools, because we got 1st in USBands Liberty Hill, but 30th in BOA San Antonio. Also I like how USBands classifications is by band size and not school size. The main reason why I don't like it is that they don't keep up with their website very well, I can bet the scores from the 2017 season still have not been posted.

[CTJBandPops]

  On 5/13/2018 at 10:54 PM, Jeffrey L. Gorman said:

As we discuss the differences between UIL and BOA, I have to wonder how many of the writers are involved in Class A, AA, AAA and AAAA Bands and their programs. The simple fact is that BOA is extremely expensive for small schools and trying to meet the BOA standards while also competing for UIL is not usually a good use of funds. A look at the numbers tells you that there are approximately 1300 HS Bands that compete in UIL Regionals each year. BOA has usually about 200 different schools (primarily 5A & 6A Bands) competing at the BOA contests. I think it would be interesting to hear from folks in small schools about trying to do both types of shows. UIL exists to provide contests for all size schools, this is not the requirement for BOA.

 I think you have moved away from the conversation - first - this topic is about BOA SA. but to your point, UIL is every other year in Texas and even in a "State Year" there are 3 opportunities to perform if a band advances through region, area and state - that is a lot of work for a single show performance in a non-state year - one and done.

While I am not privy to the details of the cost of BOA, all competitions cost money, travel etc... it's costly regardless who hosts the event. It goes without saying that the larger programs can attend more events because they have more members to share the costs with.

lets start a new thread if this is a topic you want to pursue 

[herbaflerb]

  On 5/10/2018 at 8:07 PM, jetliner said:

  Quote

I also think the San Antonio fatigue is why we see many of the SA bubble bands taking trips to Atlanta (rip) and St. Louis and showing what they are capable of. I've also seen it mentioned that making finals at one of those events really gives the kids the motivation to make finals back in SA (whether it be in the same season or the one following) after being out of finals years previous, a la Cedar Ridge or Cypress Falls.

 

Sometimes shows just aren't well received from year to year. Cedar Ridge had a state oriented show in 16, and it did great in UIL but not as much in BOA. 17 was a BOA show and we did much better at BOA contests. Take Flower Mound in 16 and 17. They were both incredible shows, but one (16) just did much better than the other (17). It just depends on what everyone else is doing.

[Crown2018]

  On 5/14/2018 at 5:45 PM, herbaflerb said:

 

Sometimes shows just aren't well received from year to year. Cedar Ridge had a state oriented show in 16, and it did great in UIL but not as much in BOA. 17 was a BOA show and we did much better at BOA contests. Take Flower Mound in 16 and 17. They were both incredible shows, but one (16) just did much better than the other (17). It just depends on what everyone else is doing.

That is true and a very good point

[Danpod]

Yeah, I might go to this event

[LeanderMomma]

  On 5/22/2018 at 1:44 AM, Danpod said:

Yeah, I might go to this event

Oh, just a maybe, eh? Yeah, me too.

[MadisonBandMan1]

Hey because a lot of us are probably bored besides having drum corps season, why don't one of you guys who likes to do a lot of speculating and predicting be bold and predict the top half (40) here? Don't worry about exact placements, of course. (unless you want to )

[LeanderMomma]

I'm getting a distinct de ja vu feeling here.

[ksacm06]

This is more than 40, here it goes in alphabetical order.

 

Cedar Park H.S., TX

Cedar Ridge H.S., TX

Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX

Clear Brook H.S., TX

Coppell H.S., TX

Del Rio H.S., TX

Edinburg North H.S., TX

Flower Mound H.S., TX

Friendswood H.S., TX

Haltom H.S., TX

Hebron H.S., TX

James Bowie H.S., TX

James E. Taylor H.S., TX

James Madison H.S., TX

John B. Alexander H.S., TX

Keller Central H.S., TX

Keller H.S., TX

Klein Forest H.S., TX

Klein Oak H.S., TX

L.D. Bell H.S., TX

Lake Travis H.S., TX

Leander H.S.,

Marcus H.S., TX

McNeil H.S., TX

Oak Ridge H.S., TX

Pearland H.S., TX

Pflugerville H.S., TX

Pioneer H.S., TX

Prosper H.S., TX

Robert E. Hendrickson H.S., TX

Roma H.S., TX

Ronald Reagan H.S., TX

Round Rock H.S., TX

Rouse H.S., TX

Sandra Day O'Connor H.S., TX

Seven Lakes H.S., TX

Spring H.S.

The Woodlands College Park H.S., TX

The Woodlands H.S., TX

Timber Creek H.S., TX

Tom Glenn H.S., TX

Vandegrift H.S., TX

Vista Ridge H.S., TX

Westlake H.S., TX

Westwood H.S., TX

William H. Taft H.S., TX

Winston Churchill H.S., TX

Wylie H.S., TX

[LostChoirGuy]

I'm not familiar with John B Alexander high school. What do you know about them?

 

Wow, can I just say this is going to be an amazing competition? That was just SOME of the competitors and that was a giant list of all amazing bands.

[ksacm06]

Alexander is getting better, they made Finals in BOA McAllen in 2017. Their improvement from 2016 to 17 seems to tell me that they will be in the top 40.

[abtwitch]

  On 7/6/2018 at 8:32 PM, ksacm06 said:

Alexander is getting better, they made Finals in BOA McAllen in 2017. Their improvement from 2016 to 17 seems to tell me that they will be in the top 40.

 

 

Keep in mind that BOA McAllen and San Antonio have very, VERY, different levels of competitiveness. Juarez-Lincoln placed a solid 6th in McAllen, but 47th at San Antonio. Alexander placed behind Juarez-Lincoln by a few points, so they probably won't even have broken top 50 at San Antonio if they had decided to go. Of course, they could make some big leaps going into this year, so we shouldn't count them out completely, but I do think you may be underestimating the competitive level of San Antonio.

[MadisonBandMan1]

  On 7/6/2018 at 7:51 PM, LeanderMomma said:

I'm getting a distinct de ja vu feeling here.

[MadisonBandMan1]

  On 7/6/2018 at 8:07 PM, ksacm06 said:

This is more than 40, here it goes in alphabetical order.

 

Cedar Park H.S., TX

Cedar Ridge H.S., TX

Claudia Taylor Johnson H.S., TX

Clear Brook H.S., TX

Coppell H.S., TX

Del Rio H.S., TX

Edinburg North H.S., TX

Flower Mound H.S., TX

Friendswood H.S., TX

Haltom H.S., TX

Hebron H.S., TX

James Bowie H.S., TX

James E. Taylor H.S., TX

James Madison H.S., TX

John B. Alexander H.S., TX

Keller Central H.S., TX

Keller H.S., TX

Klein Forest H.S., TX

Klein Oak H.S., TX

L.D. Bell H.S., TX

Lake Travis H.S., TX

Leander H.S.,

Marcus H.S., TX

McNeil H.S., TX

Oak Ridge H.S., TX

Pearland H.S., TX

Pflugerville H.S., TX

Pioneer H.S., TX

Prosper H.S., TX

Robert E. Hendrickson H.S., TX

Roma H.S., TX

Ronald Reagan H.S., TX

Round Rock H.S., TX

Rouse H.S., TX

Sandra Day O'Connor H.S., TX

Seven Lakes H.S., TX

Spring H.S.

The Woodlands College Park H.S., TX

The Woodlands H.S., TX

Timber Creek H.S., TX

Tom Glenn H.S., TX

Vandegrift H.S., TX

Vista Ridge H.S., TX

Westlake H.S., TX

Westwood H.S., TX

William H. Taft H.S., TX

Winston Churchill H.S., TX

Wylie H.S., TX

Man, as always this competition is going to be insane!

[LeanderMomma]

  On 7/6/2018 at 9:33 PM, MadisonBandMan1 said:

hmmmm... i don't see it.

Brat.