2021 6A UIL SMBC (Nov. 8 & 9)

[FaultLineBlues]

36 minutes ago, VandyBandyFandy said:

I saw a picture of our Vandegrift uniform team (all volunteers, BTW), in the parking lot, repairing and sewing the uniform of a Cedar Ridge band member, while they were still wearing it. Love that. We're all truly one big band family.

Aw that really is a sweet moment, and it kinda reminds me of being in band when Cedar Ridge and Vandegrift's uniforms were just similar enough for people to confuse us from time to time. I remember lining up for San Antonio finals and a band mom was REALLY hyping us up and we were so happy that someone that didn't even know us was so happy for us, then she said "Go Vandegrift! You guys are gonna do great!" and we realized she had us mistaken for someone else. It almost makes sense for the Vandy Uniform team to help out a Cedar Ridge member haha

[Minimaster]

5 hours ago, BandFan95 said:

that's so hard! Those poor kids.  I had to warn the Westwood parents back in the day to make sure they heard WESTWOOD and not yell when they heard WESTLAKE. It happens too often. 

This reminds me of my Senior year at Area in 2002.

Area D switched from being Austin and SA to being Austin and Houston.

They called out the advancing bands in Alphabetical order...

It was freezing cold, raining, and everyone was huddled under ponchos trying to hear who was called.

They called out, "The Woodlands," nobody realized that "The" was actually a part of their name since we hadn't ever competed against them and the school was only 6 years old.

So, Westlake was still open to being called.

Myself and a few others that went on the BOA Forums back then were aware and shouted out to let everybody know.

We ended up in 4th behind Spring, The Woodlands, and Bowie.

I'm sure that was tough for Westfield (5th place) missing out for the first time in forever and hearing "West..." as well.

I know Leander (6th place) had many people crying as we walked past that night.

Tough contest. 

 

[LostChoirGuy]

Reminds me of a similar experience I had doing All-State.  At the area competition one year, they were calling out who made State and went up the list from the last ones who made it in up to first chair.  They call out a kid from my school who I had beat at every contest leading up to this for third chair, so I was really hopeful.  We get to first chair and they call out my first name... And then a different last name.  That was a tough blow because I went from thinking I was first chair and had made it to immediately realizing I didn't make it.

[gmtb617]

8 hours ago, BandFan95 said:

that's so hard! Those poor kids.  I had to warn the Westwood parents back in the day to make sure they heard WESTWOOD and not yell when they heard WESTLAKE. It happens too often. 

Despite this, I was still incredibly proud after seeing the recaps (it felt as if they “made finals” to me lol). Seven Lakes just had the best season in program history and is showing signs of moving up to the top tier of bands in the state. These recaps show that finals is a very real possibility for them in the future. They’ve gone a long way since I was a freshman there in 2015. 

[MilBandDude]

I was there for both BOA & UIL this weekend. To me it is not just the UIL or the BOA scoring being wrong. They are different, but I like having both different. In my experience BOA is more about the "show" while UIL seems more about the "performance." I do not see discrepancies from show to show. Yes there is Bias to a degree, especially in BOA, but that is not all of it. I notice that UIL will punish you more for imperfections while BOA is more forgiving if you put on an entertaining show.

You are talking about incredibly talented marching bands that are performing at a very high level. Sitting here in person live listening to and watching these bands you realize it does not take much of a miscue or lack of energy for scores to change one performance to the next. And you really have to be live right in front of them to really score them. We forget that these are still just teens, some fresh out of middle school, doing precise and complicated work under extreme pressure and teens can be fickle or moody one day to the next. Its not about having a bad performance. Its about the smallest miscues or the tone being just right one night to the next. When bands are so closely matched it just does not take much for scores to change in UIL.

Sitting here and listening and watching these bands I think just looking at the top 3 they got it right.

Hebron. Are you kidding me? What else can anyone say. They just brought their A-Game in every area this weekend. They were hungry and focused in every aspect of their performance. They were nothing short of amazing all weekend. Those kid's were just laser focused. 100% deserved it.

Vandegrift was just so percise and flowing with their performance. Their shear size and what they can do with that size with the music and movements was stunning. They were such a easy pleasing enjoyable watch and listen. I REALLY loved watching and listening to their performance. Everything just felt so right. Any other year and it was there for them, but Hebron was just so good.

Marcus? Wow! Yesterday they were good, but today they were great. I had no idea such a small band could have that much impact and power. Their music just flowed over and through you with such emotion and energy. One thing that impressed me was how well they played the soft parts. You could tell those kids just decided to go all in on this day and hold nothing back. Their music was just so pure and clean and they flowed with such grace and precision. They had by far the best pure music of any band I heard this weekend. I was close enough to see teary eyes on a good number of those exhausted kids when they finished and I'll admit I did too a little at that point.

On this one day these 3 earned and deserved their spots.

[FloMoBandMom]

On 11/8/2021 at 6:07 PM, principalagent said:

Flower Mound had a run with a lot of timing and tuning issues. Tuning is an easy fix, but the kids are super spread out across the field the entire show and they’re juggling tons of responsibilities. Unless they had booked time at The Star or Jerry World, it’s also their first Dome performance of the season while all of their competition has had two runs already.
 

However, the show itself is incredible. And the biggest difference from Vitrify is that the kids are bought in and performing. I think that’ll take them a long way this week. Medal is far far FAR from out of the question tomorrow and Saturday. 
 

and the outro SLAYED me. 

By outro, do you mean the thing the announcer reads as they are rolling everything off the field after the performance? If so, thanks for noticing and listening--I wrote that! (Rhyming something with Midwest Clinic, not so easy!)

[itsjaredh97]

6 hours ago, FloMoBandMom said:

By outro, do you mean the thing the announcer reads as they are rolling everything off the field after the performance? If so, thanks for noticing and listening--I wrote that! (Rhyming something with Midwest Clinic, not so easy!)

you deserve a raise my friend

[VandyBandyFandy]

On 11/9/2021 at 6:32 PM, banddad84 said:

can we end this conversation already - this is a yearly thing. unless someone has $500K in their pocket that wants to ensure that the "Best in Texas" goes to G Nats let's just let it go.

In 2019 we heard... but if Reagan went... but they didn't - and Vandy brought home the Eagle. how do you think the Vandy program felt to heard - but if Reagan went...

Hebron had a phenomenal show and they took gold in BOA-SA and State - their season is over and they will now prepare for their trip to Pasadena and the Tournament of Roses parade in January. I know they will have a great time. but let's start supporting the 7 programs that ARE going to Indy and move on.

 

I appreciate this sentiment, but as a Vandegrift parent with a kid who went to Grand Nats in 2019, I can honestly say that we knew darn well that if Reagan would have gone to Indy, we very well may not have won. And we were all totally OK with that. Reagan had an AMAZING show that year. We didn't see it as taking anything away from Vandy to recognize how good they were. Reagan has an amazing band program. The kids and directors in both programs (and all of these programs, really), completely support each other. I have never seen any of them sad because they "lost." Instead, they are happy for those who won. Heck, Tuesday afternoon before retreat, my kid, who is IN the Vandy band, said she hoped Hebron won because "they are really good." And that's the way it should be. As our amazing director always says, it's not about competing, it's about performing. 

[shaggy]

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.

 

[vistaridgefan42069]

musically speaking, i can’t think of any better ones. avon’s 3-peat years had some technical features that were similarly crazy clean and hard, but they definitely didn’t have the richness of ensemble sound that hebron pulled off this year.

 

it’ll be a while before anyone else pulls off that type of feat again, for sure

[MadisonBandMan1]

1 hour ago, vistaridgefan42069 said:

musically speaking, i can’t think of any better ones. avon’s 3-peat years had some technical features that were similarly crazy clean and hard, but they definitely didn’t have the richness of ensemble sound that hebron pulled off this year.

 

it’ll be a while before anyone else pulls off that type of feat again, for sure

Not to mention that Hebron's entire show was a technical feature and not little parts of the show LOL. 

[BandFan59]

4 hours ago, shaggy said:

I don't know if anyone has said this yet, but I think Hebron 2021 might take the crown for best high school show. At the very least its the best music I have ever heard a high school pull off. Somehow Hebron keeps one upping themselves with this absurd music. I cannot wait to see what they do next year.

 

Musically it is without a doubt the best show I have ever seen. The difficulty of the show is so high yet Hebron executed every part so incredibly well. I'll hold off saying it's the best show I've ever seen just cause there have been so many fantastic shows over the past decades but it is definitely up there for me at one of the best Texas shows of all time.

[principalagent]

On 11/11/2021 at 3:53 AM, FloMoBandMom said:

By outro, do you mean the thing the announcer reads as they are rolling everything off the field after the performance? If so, thanks for noticing and listening--I wrote that! (Rhyming something with Midwest Clinic, not so easy!)

You’re my favorite!!! If you’re in Indy I would love to offer an adult beverage as thanks for the highlight of the season after prelims or finals!

[FloMoParent]

On 11/11/2021 at 2:53 AM, FloMoBandMom said:

By outro, do you mean the thing the announcer reads as they are rolling everything off the field after the performance? If so, thanks for noticing and listening--I wrote that! (Rhyming something with Midwest Clinic, not so easy!)

We do need to have the script to the introduction and the closing accolades posted here.

[Franus]

On 11/9/2021 at 8:45 AM, Mash said:

Congrats to all the bands those that made the finals and those that didn't.  This was a difficult year for all the bands to get back into the routine of preparing and performing these amazing routines.  Hebron and Vandy seem to be peaking at the right time, and Vista seems to have peaked a couple weeks ago.  

As always, one one thing about band concerns me is the amount of financial dependence they cost which means bigger more affluent areas can support these huge shows outpacing the others.

Perhaps they should introduce a spending cap. I know that's far fetched but I have seen some outstanding bands struggle to move up because other bands are able to pump so much more money into props etc.  Wish some would scale back and just focus on music and marching to be honest.

[whenthebandbeginstoplay]

4 hours ago, Franus said:

Perhaps they should introduce a spending cap. I know that's far fetched but I have seen some outstanding bands struggle to move up because other bands are able to pump so much more money into props etc.  Wish some would scale back and just focus on music and marching to be honest.

Props don’t mean higher score I’m tired of this stupid idiotic argument. See Ronald Reagan 2019, see Broken Arrow 2006

[LeanderMomma]

On 11/11/2021 at 2:53 AM, FloMoBandMom said:

By outro, do you mean the thing the announcer reads as they are rolling everything off the field after the performance? If so, thanks for noticing and listening--I wrote that! (Rhyming something with Midwest Clinic, not so easy!)

Wow!  You go, Momma!!!!!!

[Mash]

Does anyone have a video of the shark band?  I kinda really want to see that show

[Tubalord11]

32 minutes ago, Mash said:

Does anyone have a video of the shark band?  I kinda really want to see that show

https://youtu.be/0DLZymJphY0

[Mash]

Thanks

[Tubalord11]

43 minutes ago, Mash said:

Thanks

No problem! Saw this show live in semis and was thinking what the heck is this while laughing and then the show was actually really good.

[Mash]

I love the fact that it is fun!

[BandDad4]

On 11/14/2021 at 6:40 PM, whenthebandbeginstoplay said:

Props don’t mean higher score I’m tired of this stupid idiotic argument. See Ronald Reagan 2019, see Broken Arrow 2006

Props, music, pagentry, show, writers ... It all costs big money and only those with the ability spend it will be able to compete at the highest level.

[whenthebandbeginstoplay]

1 hour ago, BandDad4 said:

Props, music, pagentry, show, writers ... It all costs big money and only those with the ability spend it will be able to compete at the highest level.

You can’t change a users original point when it becomes inconvenient for you

[CTJBandPops]

3 hours ago, BandDad4 said:

Props, music, pagentry, show, writers ... It all costs big money and only those with the ability spend it will be able to compete at the highest level.

Props are not required and how much did the props that Broken Arrow have add to their show? was that a deciding factor? they sure looked expensive to build and even more to haul from OK.

there is much to be said about what a program spends on drill designers and other expense, so what do you propose to make this fair for everyone. do we limit the amount that a program can spend? do we ban props? do we require that every program write their own drill and arrange their own music? do we restrict the private lessons of their students? do we limit who they can bring in to consult?

Avon and Carmel spend next to nothing to go to Grand Nats and get to go every year. they sleep in their own beds every night for their super regional and grand nats. They do not have to deal with a 8 hour rule as it appears to be unique to Texas. That is my bigger concern.

Every program has the ability to fundraise to support their programs. I am not talking about just selling coupon books and/or mulch. 

I have been doing fundraising outside of the student families for a number of years. the programs that claim that they struggle actually have the advantage as they can quickly qualify for grants. the schools that are in affluent areas do not, as every school and district is rated in a system that grant supporters want to see.

Your program may a high income demographic and fail to qualify for support, but have a huge transient population in the means of apartments/rentals that need support - especially if you are in an area that supports a military base - moving every 3 years.

Our program is considered by far too many to be an affluent program - but our cluster foundation provided more than $50K in support this season for marching scholarships for Grand Nats, for one of our middle schools to do Midwest clinic, for instruments at other schools. This funding was to support kids that would not otherwise be able to participate based on their financial situation. 

If you think that the "affluent" schools do not have a free lunch program - you are mistaken.

I would welcome and be more interested in any thoughts on how we can ensure that every kid has the ability to perform in the marching arts - and I would support anything that is reasonable, but let's not assume that the only means it to provide for some is to take away from others.