2020 6A State

[Rubisco]

1	Claudia Taylor Johnson HS	1	1	4	2	2	10
2	Hebron HS	5	4	7	1	1	18
3	Flower Mound HS	4	5	1	3	5	18
4	Marcus HS	2	3	5	6	4	20
5	The Woodlands HS	3	2	3	7	7	22
6	Pearland HS	6	6	2	4	6	24
7	Waxahachie HS	8	8	11	5	3	35
8	Coppell HS	11	9	8	8	9	45
9	Seven Lakes HS	9	7	6	11	14	47
10	Cypress Woods HS	7	15	10	9	10	51

[Rubisco]

I only watched some of the area videos, but based on those, no surprises for me. Really great work by everyone. It shows A LOT of dedication and perseverance.

Congrats to CTJ on a fabulous show, and your first state championship! As a few people mentioned, CTJ definitely had the closest thing to a "real" CTJ show this year. The others I think put forward very, very commendable efforts given the circumstances, but not quite what I would have expected in a normal year.

I think my favorite moment from the shows I watched was Hebron's ballad. I just remember saying out loud, "OMG! This is almost like a normal championship show!" Visually beautiful, musically beautiful. Well, maybe the quality of the sound wasn't quite as good as usual (and I think that maybe is why Hebron's music scores are a little bit lower than expected), but it was powerful nevertheless. It's impressive that they held on to those 1st place visual scores despite performing somewhat early.

Flower Mound, sort of the same for me. Like, parts of it, very powerful, other parts, a bit weaker. To be expected, really. As always, they fully commanded the space of the field, both musically and visually.

I had a really hard time getting a read on Marcus' show based on the available video. It did look closer to a typical show to me than most of the others. Like, very warm, calm, symphonic playing, which we expect from Marcus. The flags went up and down at the same time, too, which is always good! Hahaha. (I found my eyes drifting to the guards a lot in these shows, because they had more "typical" sort of work relative to the bands, in my opinion.) Maybe Marcus would have medaled if they had performed later, who knows.

TWHS in 2nd place in music, and all the music judges had them medaling, which is pretty atypical for TWHS at UIL. Good for them! Another fun show, although as others have noted, the visual was definitely watered down this year -- and a bit dirtier, too. But I feel like I can say that about most groups. A lot of the visual programs this year looked they came out of a time warp from the 90s. To be expected.

Can I go on about how 4 of the top half of the State contenders are from Houston? (Let's ignore the fact that central TX mostly didn't compete this year.) Pearland, I've got my eyes on you...

[KinDallas]

So I have a silly question. BOA music judges focus on different pieces (ind v ensemble). Do UIL judges look at music/visual as a whole or do they specialize too? I've always tried to understand the swing in some of the judging, whether it's just personal thoughts of the whole, or a specific view. I feel like I should know this, but can't seem to dig deep enough in the adjudication manual to find out. 

[CTJBandPops]

2020 has been a year like no other. From the rioting across the country, the whole political boondoggle of the election year, and of course Covid-19. I have spent many a night sitting with my son and trying to help him make some sort of sense of what was going on. but it has been hard to find any upside to speak of. 

Last night, sitting in the dome, even with the masking, social distancing, no finals, no retreat and the whole fact that we were competing in the dome in Mid December - it was the closest we have felt to normal in such a very long time.

I am so grateful for all the hard work and effort that our parents, directors, school and district leadership put into ensuring that there was a marching competition in this strange and unusual year, and that our kids would be safe through it all. For my son and so many other kids, marching band has given them the distraction and a piece of normalcy that they needed to get through 2020 and for that I am grateful.

to all the programs that decided not to compete, I can certainly respect their decision, and for those programs that pushed on and played in the dome yesterday, I get that too. Congrats to the CTJ program that brought the first UIL State Marching Gold to NEISD in 35 years (MacArthur won in 1985) 

Yesterday was a bright spot to an otherwise crappy year and am grateful to have had a chance to see it - the show entitled "know who you are" really fits this year

Stay safe

 

[Samuel Culper]

Glad you got your bright spot and congrats to CTJ. 

I think this year has sucked like no other.  And for my kid it is just a horrible senior year.

Pardon my bitterness.

[BandFan95]

  On 12/16/2020 at 4:33 PM, Samuel Culper said:

Glad you got your bright spot and congrats to CTJ. 

I think this year has sucked like no other.  And for my kid it is just a horrible senior year.

Pardon my bitterness.

Expand  

Right there with you.  It makes me so sad and angry for these kids.

[principalagent]

  On 12/16/2020 at 2:47 PM, KinDallas said:

So I have a silly question. BOA music judges focus on different pieces (ind v ensemble). Do UIL judges look at music/visual as a whole or do they specialize too? I've always tried to understand the swing in some of the judging, whether it's just personal thoughts of the whole, or a specific view. I feel like I should know this, but can't seem to dig deep enough in the adjudication manual to find out. 

Expand  

It’s just as a whole with pretty broad subcaptions on the sheet. As a result, taste and what you’re looking for matters a ton. 

[propsquaddad]

  On 12/16/2020 at 4:33 PM, Samuel Culper said:

Glad you got your bright spot and congrats to CTJ. 

I think this year has sucked like no other.  And for my kid it is just a horrible senior year.

Pardon my bitterness.

Expand  

Do I think Leander ISD made the right decision and did not compete this year? I think so. Do I wish we could have seen VRHS defend their title? Of course I do. I also feel for all of those seniors that did not get to do all of the things they should have done. My daughter was a senior at Rouse last year (in Color Guard) when all of this started and their winter guard season was canceled.  

[CTJBandPops]

  On 12/16/2020 at 8:00 PM, Asaiah said:

Congrats to CTJ! Such a well-designed show and easily the best sounds I've ever heard from them. It'd be very easy to write them off -- tons of excuses for why this year should have an asterick next to it. But you can't control anything besides your own performance and they definitely laid it down.

Expand  

we all learn to accept what we can cannot control - and work with what we can control - Asterisks or not 

 

[propsquaddad]

  On 12/17/2020 at 1:15 AM, banddad84 said:

we all learn to accept what we can cannot control - and work with what we can control - Asterisks or not 

 

Expand  

There is a reason CTJ won. They were the best band out there this year. I think the bitterness comes from those of us that know our schools would have had a shot at the title as well under different circumstances. But nobody can take anything away from CTJ. There is a reason they are one of the best band in the country, Year after year they absolutely bring it every time they step on the field. 

Those shirts crack me up!! 

[CTJBandPops]

  On 12/17/2020 at 1:32 PM, propsquaddad said:

There is a reason CTJ won. They were the best band out there this year. I think the bitterness comes from those of us that know our schools would have had a shot at the title as well under different circumstances. But nobody can take anything away from CTJ. There is a reason they are one of the best band in the country, Year after year they absolutely bring it every time they step on the field. 

Those shirts crack me up!! 

Expand  

I understand the bitterness - our program was the only high school of the 7 in the district to compete - appreciate your kind words about the program. I remain grateful that the directors gave the kids an avenue to normal - and totally agree that there are many other programs that in a normal year on the field could and would have competed well. We are grateful for those that did and look forward to being on the field with them all in 2021.

our shirts are a way to "embrace the suck" - as I learned many years ago

stay safe - 

[CCisd Band Parent]

  On 11/3/2019 at 11:53 PM, zoomer said:

Since threads for next year are starting, why not, especially with all the changes coming.

Expand  

I find this sooooooo funny now.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 12/27/2020 at 6:41 AM, CCisd Band Parent said:

I find this sooooooo funny now.

Expand  

There were some changes coming alright!  ?