2019 BOA Grand National Championships

[LeanderMomma]

Interesting....when I watched Avon in Finals of Indy last week the narration confused me. I kept thinking a feature or solo was going to only consist of an eight note jingle or a song with only eight notes in ir or a famous song that we all were supposed to know with eight repeating notes. When the songs I heard had way more than eight notes I was confused. I asked my son about it and he explained it to me that it was the eight notes on a scale. So for what that is worth, I missed the whole point while he got it on the first try. Despite that distracting scavenger hunt going on in my brain, I did love the show especially the closer.

Oh my word...SAME!

 

And I totally missed the fact it was the 8 notes on a scale. I kept trying to make it 8th notes instead and figured it was just a show about those.

[LeanderMomma]

Avon will be ready for Grand Nats.

They always are. I don’t think anyone here doubts that.

[BenedictCucumberpatch]

Well now that San Antonio has come to a close, any takers????

[BandFan59]

Vandegrift is obviously the favorite at the moment from all the San Antonio GNats bands. But Leander will put up a heck of a fight, and I still wouldn't count out Hebron from doing some serious cleaning and showing up to GNats with a medalist-worthy show.

[Nny14]

Hebron should feel pretty good right now, they were easily the dirtiest and still scored extremely close to Leander. Can Hebron catch up to Vandegrift? Maybe. Also I'm feeling pretty good about half of the finalists being #teamtexas.

[LHSbandDad]

I see the detailed schedule is posted on the MFA website for Thursday and Friday prelims.  In the past they have also posted a daily schedule for Saturday for when semis starts/ends, exhibition band times, and finals start/stop.  Does anyone have that or know when it will be posted?

[CTJBandPops]

Hebron should feel pretty good right now, they were easily the dirtiest and still scored extremely close to Leander. Can Hebron catch up to Vandegrift? Maybe. Also I'm feeling pretty good about half of the finalists being #teamtexas.

in 2016, 5 Texas bands attended GNats - the top 4 that made finals in SA had much different results in Indy - Cedar Park was the lowest SA finalist at 9th and the top at Indy finals at 5th

 

I am feeling good that there will be a strong Texas contingent in Indy - but with 2 weeks to Indy, I gotta think they are going to be able to put those judges tapes to good work and we could see improvement from all programs - and maybe a resorting of the placements

[WevelPeace]

in 2016, 5 Texas bands attended GNats - the top 4 that made finals in SA had much different results in Indy - Cedar Park was the lowest SA finalist at 9th and the top at Indy finals at 5th

 

I am feeling good that there will be a strong Texas contingent in Indy - but with 2 weeks to Indy, I gotta think they are going to be able to put those judges tapes to good work and we could see improvement from all programs - and maybe a resorting of the placements

I wouldn't at all be surprised by a resorting of placements. I think Hebron's musicality is always criminally under-judged given how excruciating their book is although Vandegrift had me absolutely floored. That being said, bands like Hebron fall under the same umbrella as Avon when it comes to pulling it together in the final moments. Indy is going to be crazy, but as far as Texas bands go I think everything is up in the air at the moment! 

[TWHSParent]

Oops

Edited November 4, 2019 by TWHSParent

[cjack]

So, Carmel beat Avon for the ISSMA Class A state championship this past weekend. They scored a 93.3 vs Avon's 92.975. So very close. Converting the ISSMA scores to BOA scores puts Avon up 93.5 to 93.45. Looks like a fun GN coming up!

I think you have some misinformation. Semi state was last weekend and state finals are this weekend.

[TWHSParent]

I think you have some misinformation. Semi state was last weekend and state finals are this weekend.

oops. looked at the wrong bleeping scores....

[thewho]

First of all, let me just say that as an almost 20 year Reagan vet, I still thought Vandegrift should’ve won. Super happy but man... I personally think grand mats will come down to a Hebron, Avon and Vandegrift. Leander and CTJ still have a shot, I just don’t know if Leander has much more to clean and or add to keep up with the cleaning Hebron will do. Also, Hebron was almost half a point ahead of Leander in music and visual, but was almost a point behind in GE, so that was crazy to see. Vandegrift is my favorite, but we don’t know how Avon will match up. Hebron has a chance because they are within shooting distance and like someone mentioned, still had the most cleaning work to do. They have arguably the hardest music of anyone this year, and a lot of cleaning musically and visually to do, so they might be able to catch Vandegrift. Leander may still surprise people, but I think they may just fall barely behind my top 3. CTJ has a very cool show, it just doesn’t really match the flow and GE (crazy for me to say since their show has Lennon and lion king) to me. Here’s my ranges and predictions:

Vandegrift: 1-3rd, Capable of winning any of the three captions

Avon: 1-4, visual or GE

Hebron: 1-4, music or visual (surprising BOA SA scores)

Leander: 2-4, Visual or GE

CTJ: 3-6, Visual

Carmel: 4-6, GE

 

I've been more convinced by the day that Leander has an extremely strong shot at the top 3. They were sunk big time in music and visual performance captions... but they're 2nd in GE with manageable gaps between Vandegrift and Hebron. If they can pull in a much better performance than San Antonio, I think they'll get there.

[LHSax]

I know there's been a lot of talk about Hebron's ceiling being high due to the difficulty of their music book, and I agree about the high ceiling and potential, but I'll be super curious, even with the additional 2 weeks, if Hebron can truly reach that ceiling. To be fair, I love this show and still think it should be winning music even with the dirt due to the ridiculousness of what their attempting and succeeding to do very well. What I'm extremely curious about is if they reach this ceiling by watering down the book a little bit (lowering the ceiling slightly), or by somehow getting this show at this difficulty to the cleanliness of their competitors. I have no doubt their capable of the latter, but will be interesting to compare for sure. 

[Hard Core Band Fan]

I don't know about anyone else, but the opportunity for Texas to have half of the Grand National finals spots really excites me. I'm not saying it will happen, but the opportunity is there with 5 of the bands making the finals in previous attempts and the only first-timer certainly more than capable of making it. Can't wait for this one!

[TWHSParent]

I don't know about anyone else, but the opportunity for Texas to have half of the Grand National finals spots really excites me. I'm not saying it will happen, but the opportunity is there with 5 of the bands making the finals in previous attempts and the only first-timer certainly more than capable of making it. Can't wait for this one!

 

Saturday's results make this more likely to happen than not. However every band still has to go out and perform - it isn't just a show up and it will happen thing. Don't discount anyone and don't assume SA results will be replicated at GN. 2 weeks is a long time, and there is also lots of practice time at Indy. What you see in prelims won't necessarily be what you see in semis or finals.

[Crown2018]

 

I know there's been a lot of talk about Hebron's ceiling being high due to the difficulty of their music book, and I agree about the high ceiling and potential, but I'll be super curious, even with the additional 2 weeks, if Hebron can truly reach that ceiling. To be fair, I love this show and still think it should be winning music even with the dirt due to the ridiculousness of what their attempting and succeeding to do very well. What I'm extremely curious about is if they reach this ceiling by watering down the book a little bit (lowering the ceiling slightly), or by somehow getting this show at this difficulty to the cleanliness of their competitors. I have no doubt their capable of the latter, but will be interesting to compare for sure.

I expect Hebron to reach the ceiling in Indy, the amount they cleaned up in a week from Duncanville to SA was absolutely insane to me and they have 2 weeks to clean before Indy I still think Hebron is my TX band to take the eagle and I’m feeling very strong about 6 Texas bands in finals after round rock making finals in SA

[LHSbandDad]

I see the detailed schedule is posted on the MFA website for Thursday and Friday prelims.  In the past they have also posted a daily schedule for Saturday for when semis starts/ends, exhibition band times, and finals start/stop.  Does anyone have that or know when it will be posted?

 

I found the daily schedule I was looking for.  Also, FYI...looks like there are 90+ bands now.

[11BandMan11]

It's going to be a glorious finals with half the finalists being #TeamTexas Bands! 
 

[HebronFan123]

I know there's been a lot of talk about Hebron's ceiling being high due to the difficulty of their music book, and I agree about the high ceiling and potential, but I'll be super curious, even with the additional 2 weeks, if Hebron can truly reach that ceiling. To be fair, I love this show and still think it should be winning music even with the dirt due to the ridiculousness of what their attempting and succeeding to do very well. What I'm extremely curious about is if they reach this ceiling by watering down the book a little bit (lowering the ceiling slightly), or by somehow getting this show at this difficulty to the cleanliness of their competitors. I have no doubt their capable of the latter, but will be interesting to compare for sure.

We aren’t aiming for the ceiling, we are aiming for the STARS.

 

(Our directors have been saying cheesing stuff like this all season.)

[FloMoParent]

To my untrained eye, it looked like there were several places in Hebron's show where the marching was just off.  I loved their music and what they were able to do at BOA SA, but if they can get their alignments to POP I think they could run away with the Eagle.  

I saw Hebron at two contests this year (BOA DFW and BOA SA) and each time I had the same thought, although there was a lot more to the BOA SA show.

When they move to the condensing and twisting square near the end, I did not see a time when there was a lock into the shape.

Look at CTJ and their expanding and contracting interlinked circles, each time I saw them they popped, locked into place and the shape was about perfect. Leander and The Woodlands also, to me, had their "shapes" pop and straight lines.

I'm still somewhat of an old school marching guy, straight lines and uniform spacing sticks out to me (both in positive and negative execution).  I don't know how much what I am talking about goes into the actual scoring.

I'm rooting for Hebron to kick major butt at Indy. I'm not trying to talk negative about their show, just trying to figure out if what I am seeing is what impacts the judging.

[DeepEllum]

Hebron had significant timing issues which I know impacts that “POP” in marching forms—if everyone is marching at a slightly different time, even if just slightly off, complex sets are never going to set. However, with 2 weeks of cleaning, that can be easily fixed.

[LeanderMomma]

We aren’t aiming for the ceiling, we are aiming for the STARS.

 

(Our directors have been saying cheesing stuff like this all season.)

 

HA HA, i love that.  And I loved the big star the Hebron band made on the field this weekend. 

[MarchingBandLife]

If Vandegrift keeps on cleaning and improving from where their product is so far then they will have the chance to medal OR take home the eagle on their FIRST appearance at Grand Nationals. That is amazing

[LKendrick]

Gonna go to my first GN.  Decided after San Antonio I need to see our Texas group in Indy this year.  Excited!

[Hard Core Band Fan]

Gonna go to my first GN.  Decided after San Antonio I need to see our Texas group in Indy this year.  Excited!

 

Awesome! I've been several times and it is an experience of a lifetime. Have fun!