2021 BOA Conroe (Sept. 25)

[vacon3`]

I saw a post mentioning that Pearland's director had left. Curious what happened there. If true, it would be surprising given the trajectory the program has been on these past several years. Best of luck to them. 

[BandFan59]

Finals Results:

 

1st - 86.55 - The Woodlands H.S., TX

2nd - 82.70 - Cypress Woods H.S., TX

3rd - 82.10 - Klein Oak H.S., TX

4th - 81.50 - Seven Lakes H.S., TX

5th - 81.25 - Wylie East H.S., TX

6th - 78.60 - Keller Central H.S., TX

7th - 77.25 - Pearland H.S., TX

8th - 75.65 - Cy-Fair H.S., TX

9th - 75.20 - James E. Taylor H.S., TX

10th - 74.80 - Dawson H.S., TX

11th - 74.50 - College Park H.S., TX

12th - 73.05 - Stephen F. Austin H.S., TX

 

Outstanding Music Performance - The Woodlands H.S., TX

Outstanding Visual Performance - The Woodlands H.S., TX

Outstanding General Effect - The Woodlands H.S., TX

 

The Woodlands with a near 4 point victory here sets them up very nicely for the remainder of the season.

[LostChoirGuy]

Cy Woods coming out of NOWHERE!  (At least to me).  Wow!

[Parkwoodmom]

  On 9/25/2021 at 11:53 PM, Fez76 said:

Cypress Woods is on the move. Amazing performance today! They have real depth.

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They have the whole package!  It was great tonight. 

[packwick]

Cy-Woods absolutely floored me! such clarity! and the red just POPS. Klein Oak and Seven Lakes as well! they were all obviously 80+ groups to my eyes and ears. i don't know if the Broken Arrow guy is working for any of them, but i thought maybe. i went in not expecting any of those groups to be as good as they were. i hope they keep it up! we need some more heavy hitters from Houston.

i'm a TWHS alum, so very biased, but i also think i'm pretty picky and haven't really loved a Woodlands show in a few years. i'm also very snarky, so when they walked out, i turned to my mom and said, "Welcome to McDonalds." ("Oh, stop it!" with laughter.) the guard outfits, y'all. but good god they sounded and looked amazing tonight. i saw the prelims webcast, and i thought they were very good, but i wasn't jumping up and down. totally different experience live. so much more energy and volume and blend to that sound. and they perform with such poise and clarity. and with the weird colors in the lights, it was like walking into a dream. i was on my feet before the show was over. i've never done that for a Woodlands show before. really rousing stuff.

TWHS' competitors are amazing this year. i have no idea where TWHS will end up after they get their closer on the field, but i don't really care. after a pandemic? jeez. i'm so proud of them!

[principalagent]

  On 9/26/2021 at 5:10 AM, packwick said:

TWHS' competitors are amazing this year. i have no idea where TWHS will end up after they get their closer on the field, but i don't really care. after a pandemic? jeez. i'm so proud of them!

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You're going to be proud of them all season, and it's going to be because of the numbers as well as the experience of watching them. 

[vacon3`]

Cypress Woods and Klein Oaks are such big surprises this year. Both had beautiful shows and great performances. Happy to see some new faces at the top. 

[Fez76]

Cypress Woods is on the move. Amazing performance today! They have real depth.

[Fez76]

Anyone surprised by Cypress Woods should note the season of program building they have come through in the last few years with a new head band director and a new guard director. This school had the most all-state musicians in the entire state. Their talent is deep, and their strong state marching contest showing last year was no fluke. I see great things ahead for this program.

[Bandmomlover]

Not impressed by Box5tv at all. It went down several times and had no sound for some of the final performances. No replays either:( what happened to FloMarching? I bought a year subscription during DCI thinking BOA would be using them again.

[beffjezos]

Klein Oak with a jump from 20th place in 2019 houston prelims to 3rd place in finals... wow

[Parkwoodmom]

  On 9/26/2021 at 4:50 PM, Bandmomlover said:

Not impressed by Box5tv at all. It went down several times and had no sound for some of the final performances. No replays either:( what happened to FloMarching? I bought a year subscription during DCI thinking BOA would be using them again.

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I also had problems, and after the fact I saw on FB that they acknowledged the issues. Hope they get them fixed!

[TWHSParent]

  On 9/26/2021 at 6:47 PM, Alvin said:

I also had problems, and after the fact I saw on FB that they acknowledged the issues. Hope they get them fixed!

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Yep, lots of problems yesterday. They did work around with the YouTube streaming for finals, but still, we paid for the service and it failed miserably.

[LeanderMomma]

All of the finals are up on YouTube 

[MarkD33]

  On 9/26/2021 at 1:27 AM, vacon3` said:

I saw a post mentioning that Pearland's director had left. Curious what happened there. If true, it would be surprising given the trajectory the program has been on these past several years. Best of luck to them. 

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That is correct.  From conversations I had in the press box yesterday, pearland’s director took an administrator position in a school district up near Dallas. 

[Rubisco]

Holy high scores, Batman! Houston shall rise again! ? Some definite jumbling of the expected placements. That's probably the bulldozer of the pandemic coming through. Expect some shifts, people! (For the record, I do think maybe Pearland got a bit of the short end of the stick with an early performance.)

And hey, Box5 media, where are the fancy, animated band labels we got at Austin, huh?!

I don't want to jinx any of the groups, because I feel like every year there's some group in Houston for which I say, "They're the next big thing!" And then you see them the following year and you think, "Ok, so maybe not."

Cypress Woods. Yep, everyone's right about this group. What an unexpectedly fantastic show! The fire and the music are reminiscent of Marcus' 2010 program, but the look is quite different. The cardboard cutout flames are a little meh, but with the beautiful red dresses and flags and drill, who cares. You'd be excused for thinking this was done by Wes Cartwright, what with all the flags and the simple, elegant shapes, but the drill, according to the Cy-Woods website, was done by Mark Moreno. Everything is just so beautiful and clear. When the brass do the slow pass through the fire as the curvilinear of woodwinds moving across from side 2 bifurcates, and then everything connects for the ensemble moment. Great stuff. Even the little moments, like the little spinning woodwind circles that expand and contract. Sometimes the most effective drill isn't the most complicated! The playing is outstanding as well. Wonderful oboe soloists! The ending after starting up Verdi's Requiem was a bit abrupt, but not a big deal. They'll get the rest out there. I really, really hope Cypress Woods keeps this up, because this is an exciting show.

Klein Oak is another one that's just, where did this group come from? I know that their guard has had some success in WGI, and I can see that translating onto the field. Probably one of the best guards at the contest, but I'd have to watch more shows to make that determination. The show is called Saturn. Maybe it's supposed to be some kind of space landing. The props up front have a moon crater-esque look. Saturn is rather icy, correct? I'm getting a bit of that feel. The music is a little "spacier" as well; I love the Mercury transition! Some odd looking lamps are placed all over the field that turn on with a kind of strobe effect. We're getting a lot of lights these days! Maybe it's the Blue Devils effect. But it's very cool. The real star of the show for me is the beautiful sounds the band is producing. No, they don't have the power of the tippy-top groups, but it is sonorous and clear. When you hear an opening clarinet solo with that much warmth and calmness and clean technique and beautiful phrasing, you know you're in for a good time. Keep it up!

[Rubisco]

86.55. Now that's a scary score. All but one judge had TWHS above a 17.0, including the chief judge, who gave them a 17.6 in music ensemble. That's the equivalent of an 88. The individual visual judge straight up gave them a Box 5 score. 18.0. Thaaat may be a little inflated, especially, I think, when you take into account the relative lack of demand in the drill program, but it was quite clean.

I think TWHS really Marcused the crap out of the competition here. They only had through their ballad on the field, but what they had was really well done and a really engaging, really eye-popping PRODUCTION. There's something to be said about a show that just makes perfect sense from start to finish and gets you on your feet. (That sure didn't look like a forced standing ovation at the end.) The drill from the beginning of the show, where those pre-show arcs break up into blocks and rotate into each other, and through the first movement, is absolutely wonderful. The depth of the staging here is really great, with the interplay between the back field flags, the weapons up front, and the drill from the band. There's an uncommon fluidity to that entire section that comes from the guard being able to perform longer and more complicated phrases. It really is kind of like watching a Carmel or Avon show. That should scare the crap out of their competitors. Now, I still think the visual drops off a bit in the second movement. Play with the drill in the side 2 woodwind block a little bit (Cell Block Tango Block), and still do something with the ending park and bark. There are also some stick-outs in the ensemble sound that I'm hearing in the webcast, particularly during the marching and playing parts and the tempo shifts. Assuming that it's not just the webcast, those need to be fixed. Other random suggestions: maybe throw some black curtains onto the props to make them look more like stages; you can do some cool reveal moments, if it doesn't destroy the look of the props too much. Paper over the wimpy opening stand tune bit with a brief "welcome to cabaret" voice over. I'd also like to hear the "what good is sitting all alone in your room" music bit at some point. To me that's the poignancy of this show.

Now, do I think this is a potential championship show? Well, the score might make you think so. I'm not yet convinced. And the main reason for that is actually rather stupid. It's that the show doesn't quite have the gravitas (some would say self-seriousness) of the typical Eagle-winning show. In the past 20 years, I can only think of 2 National Championship shows where the overall tone of the show was this delightful. Those would be Carmel's first two national wins, 2005's Suspended Symbols and 2012's What A Tangled Web We Weave. Both were rather controversial wins as well.

So there's a bit of a bias. Do I think it's possible? Yes. I just think it'll be hard.

[LeanderMomma]

  On 9/27/2021 at 12:05 AM, Rubisco said:

So there's a bit of a bias. Do I think it's possible? Yes. I just think it'll be hard.

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I love your “reviews.”  ♥️♥️? You definitely belong in the marching arts design world. 

[Rubisco]

  On 9/27/2021 at 12:26 AM, LeanderMomma said:

I love your “reviews.”  ♥️♥️? You definitely belong in the marching arts design world. 

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My giant blocks of text. ?