2020 WGI and TCGC

[Samuel Culper]

Any idea if the ticket to get you into Glenn will also get you into Rouse?

[LeanderMomma]

Any idea if the ticket to get you into Glenn will also get you into Rouse?

Surely, if you pay for the wristband, you can attend both. Especially for $28!

[josephbandfan]

Very excited to watch this weekend! Do people make predictions? I wouldn't know enough to form my own.

[LeanderMomma]

Very excited to watch this weekend! Do people make predictions? I wouldn't know enough to form my own.

I’m a little lost in predicting this one myself. It’s not as cut and dried as marching band, that’s for sure.

 

I do predict that McNeil will continue to dominate in Open Class though. Such a great show!

[BlueCircle]

I think it’s kindof funny how Cedar Ridge always gets the early performance times at San Antonio, and now their guard goes first at WGI!

[BlueCircle]

My standout group in that first block was Timberview. Such solid weapon skills and I loved the soundtrack. It’s unfortunate that the stream was down for half of Pflugerville’s show.

[josephbandfan]

Just hopped on but can't view any streams. Anyone else?

[BlueCircle]

Just hopped on but can't view any streams. Anyone else?

I’m having the same issue.

[Rubisco]

I've noticed that clearing my history/cookies seemed to help with the whole error screen issue on FloMarching. Or maybe that was just a coincidence.

 

Looooved CGT Denton today. It's a sweetly sentimental show set to Bruce Springsteen's My Hometown. Apparently the CGT groups have split up by gender this year. CGT Denton is all-male, and CGT Dallas is all-female. So, there's a sort of rugged masculinity to this show, but it's matched with an unusual tenderness. I think where Denton's show benefits over Dallas' show is in its focus. CGT Dallas has a show that's fun and energetic, but it's overstuffed with music -- particularly music that is a little bit cringey. (Let's just say that not every historical event deserves to be turned into a pop/hip-hop musical.) Also, there is a density and elegance to the staging in Denton's show that Dallas doesn't have this year. That being said, neither of these shows are the best we've seen from CGT.

 

I'm usually a big James Bowie fanboy, but I'm not feeling this show. It's too weird, even for my tastes! Technicolor Pachyderm. Inspired by Dumbo? Even more than CGT Dallas' show, this show is overstuffed with music and ideas, and it looked a wee bit too much of a hot mess to my eyes to warrant a 77.7 -- especially when that score is two points higher than a superior TWHS show. Maybe they were rewarded for the originality? (It appears Bowie also has a new guard director?) Speaking of TWHS, I think they're really starting too look like a consistent world class finalist group. The equipment skills, in particular, had the most depth and the best execution of the SW groups. But beyond that, their show was just way more focused from an ensemble perspective, without losing that sort of pleasing complexity in the staging that we've come to expect from the world class groups. My main criticism would be the huge drop in energy towards the end, when the music becomes very pesante, elephantine, with those sharp, syncopated brass stabs. Endings are also still a big weakness for this group. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by TWHS, after seeing that they scored something like a 65 last week at a TCGC contest. (Get your act together, TCGC!)

 

Drippings Springs. Well, it's their first year in the world class, so there were bound to be some growing pains. It goes without saying that they have some work to do to match the other SW groups in Texas. Not just the other two here, but probably Marcus as well, if Marcus is as strong as their first regional score indicated.

 

My favorite open class show was Flower Mound's. A show about gossiping. There's just something to be said for cleanliness and big, strong ensemble moments. And FOCUS. I keep coming back to that word today. It seems like so many of the shows today just lacked it from a design perspective.

 

My favorite A class show was Bryan's. Fierce, fierce, fierce performance of a socially-conscious show about climate change. When they catch those rifles, they just SNAP.

[LKendrick]

Agreed on Bryan.  They're gonna do really well in Dayton. 

[LeanderMomma]

I think it’s kindof funny how Cedar Ridge always gets the early performance times at San Antonio, and now their guard goes first at WGI!

Interesting. Do you think they are requesting that they get early morning slots?

[FaultLineBlues]

Interesting. Do you think they are requesting that they get early morning slots?

I doubt it, as an alumni, we just knew it as a curse of being Cedar Ridge

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

So much fun watching this weekend! I feel like I learned a lot seeing so many High level guards- and it was a great learning experience. (And my head makes a cameo in some of leandermomma’s instaGram stories yesterday

[Danpod]

So much fun watching this weekend! I feel like I learned a lot seeing so many High level guards- and it was a great learning experience. (And my head makes a cameo in some of leandermomma’s instaGram stories yesterday

[WoodlandsMom4ever]

Great seeing you this weekend!

Yes! It was great to meet you! I hope whoever got the cheesecake appreciated your mad dash to get it! Lol!

[Rubisco]

Didn't catch finals, but no big changes among the top three placements across the classes.

 

Flower Mound is so close to Little Elm it's driving me crazy! If you look at the recaps, Flower Mound was in first place in every single execution-related sub-caption, but got edged out in the content-related sub-captions. Definitely I thought FM had the cleanest show in prelims, so this jibes with that (and it's definitely a big part of why it was my favorite open class show). I'm betting FM could probably close that 0.4 content-related gap by the Southwest Power Regional, but Little Elm is an open class pro for sure. Lots of big and consistent success at the World Championships for them.

 

I didn't actually catch Winston Churchill. I should have prefaced my previous comment by saying that Bryan was the "best A group that I watched." Still, really great scores for both groups as they enter the final phase of the season. I haven't looked at the standings, but scores like 87 and 86 at a mid-season regional have got to put them pretty high up on the board.

 

Score gap between Bowie and TWHS dropped by a little over a point. 77-point-something versus 78-point-something. The only judge that (strongly) agreed with me about these two shows was the design analysis judge. (Coincidentally, that's my favorite caption! ) I'm a little bit surprised by the equipment scores, but that judge was also waaay closer to the action than I was, so I'll take her word (score?) for it. Bowie has definitely scored this high mid-season before (not recently), but this is definitely a mid-season best for TWHS in the world class. I'm not surprised. I thought the guard looked better than ever during marching season, and it seems to be translating into the winter guard production. Anyway, both of these groups should aim to end their seasons as close to the mid-80s as possible. Bowie seems pretty well-positioned for another WGI finals.

 

Speaking of guards that were great during marching season, Marcus was definitely another one that caught my eye, so I'm eager to see how they do at the Southwest Power Regional.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't catch any non-Texas guards. It looks like Imbue is currently clobbering the IW contest with an 88 (!). Tarpon Springs, Avon, and Center Grove are probably in for a pretty tough fight for gold in SW.

[LKendrick]

Didn't catch finals, but no big changes among the top three placements across the classes.

 

Flower Mound is so close to Little Elm it's driving me crazy! If you look at the recaps, Flower Mound was in first place in every single execution-related sub-caption, but got edged out in the content-related sub-captions. Definitely I thought FM had the cleanest show in prelims, so this jibes with that (and it's definitely a big part of why it was my favorite open class show). I'm betting FM could probably close that 0.4 content-related gap by the Southwest Power Regional, but Little Elm is an open class pro for sure. Lots of big and consistent success at the World Championships for them.

 

I didn't actually catch Winston Churchill. I should have prefaced my previous comment by saying that Bryan was the "best A group that I watched." Still, really great scores for both groups as they enter the final phase of the season. I haven't looked at the standings, but scores like 87 and 86 at a mid-season regional have got to put them pretty high up on the board.

 

Score gap between Bowie and TWHS dropped by a little over a point. 77-point-something versus 78-point-something. The only judge that (strongly) agreed with me about these two shows was the design analysis judge. (Coincidentally, that's my favorite caption! ) I'm a little bit surprised by the equipment scores, but that judge was also waaay closer to the action than I was, so I'll take her word (score?) for it. Bowie has definitely scored this high mid-season before (not recently), but this is definitely a mid-season best for TWHS in the world class. I'm not surprised. I thought the guard looked better than ever during marching season, and it seems to be translating into the winter guard production. Anyway, both of these groups should aim to end their seasons as close to the mid-80s as possible. Bowie seems pretty well-positioned for another WGI finals.

 

Speaking of guards that were great during marching season, Marcus was definitely another one that caught my eye, so I'm eager to see how they do at the Southwest Power Regional.

 

Unfortunately, I didn't catch any non-Texas guards. It looks like Imbue is currently clobbering the IW contest with an 88 (!). Tarpon Springs, Avon, and Center Grove are probably in for a pretty tough fight for gold in SW.

 

Winston Churchill was fantastic, really pretty and phenomenally executed show.  SUPER tight across the board performance wise.  I think Bryan has a show more aimed at peaking in Dayton, but that's certainly not to take away from WC.  Clearly the top 2 in that class.  Really excited to catch both among many others in a few weeks at the Southwest Power Regional.  

[TWHSPercDad]

This is definitely a tough time for everyone around the world, and chances are, it could get even tougher.  HOWEVER, I do feel saddened for our Texas groups who would have been attending the 2020 WGI World Championships in Dayton, OH.  The competition was cancelled earlier this afternoon.

"At the direction of Dayton & Montgomery County Public Health, and in consultation with the Ohio Department of Health, and Governor DeWine, WGI Sport of the Arts is canceling the 2020 WGI World Championships for Color Guard, Percussion, and Winds.  The numbers involved in an event of this magnitude urge caution in light of recent national and international health concerns. Over nine days of competition, groups from 41 states and five countries would travel with over 16,000 participants.  While we are deeply saddened to cancel these prestigious events, our priority is, and always has been the health and well-being of all those involved with our organization...…."

[Danpod]

https://www.wgi.org/wgi-statement-on-remaining-2020-events/

 

All WGI events cancelled.

[BandFan95]

 

This is definitely a tough time for everyone around the world, and chances are, it could get even tougher.  HOWEVER, I do feel saddened for our Texas groups who would have been attending the 2020 WGI World Championships in Dayton, OH.  The competition was cancelled earlier this afternoon.

"At the direction of Dayton & Montgomery County Public Health, and in consultation with the Ohio Department of Health, and Governor DeWine, WGI Sport of the Arts is canceling the 2020 WGI World Championships for Color Guard, Percussion, and Winds.  The numbers involved in an event of this magnitude urge caution in light of recent national and international health concerns. Over nine days of competition, groups from 41 states and five countries would travel with over 16,000 participants.  While we are deeply saddened to cancel these prestigious events, our priority is, and always has been the health and well-being of all those involved with our organization...…."

I'm heartbroken for these guards...especially the seniors.  So sad.

[JeremiahW]

TCGC and NTCA also canceled

[Samuel Culper]

[bandtingz]

These past few days have just been so surreal. I have never seen anything like this 

[Rubisco]

But I haven't even seen all of the groups yet!

 

It's okay. I think it's smart to cancel the events, even if that means upsetting some people. Better to be cautious.

 

I'm wondering how promotions are going to work this year. Each year, the top few performers in the A and Open classes at the World Championships get promoted to the next highest class. I suppose WGI could decide the promotions based on the current national seedings, but that's not always an accurate depiction of how things unfold. Maybe WGI could let a slightly expanded group of top performers in each class decide for themselves if they want to move up? Or maybe the steering committee can review videos of all of the top groups and vote on them, like it does throughout the season? Hopefully WGI doesn't just ignore promotions this year.

 

Anyway, all of the top guards need to film good, tripod-stabilized videos of their shows in late March/early April (if it's safe and school is open). We need some excellent "late-season" videos on YouTube!

[MadisonBandMan1]

So my band is on their way to Orlando now.... and their plans are all messed up now. Instead of staying in Orlando until Monday night/early Tuesday morning, getting to experience BOTH Disney and Universal Studios with a parade and clinic, the clinic is now cancelled and no Universal Studios. They are now leaving late Sunday/ early Monday. Glad they didn’t have to turn around because that would have been a horrible ride home but maybe it would have been for the best. Hope they still find a way to have a blast, and maybe this means the lines will be nonexistent