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

[Bad.robot]

Schedule has been released.

https://www.uiltexas.org/files/music/6A_Prelims:6A_Finals_Schedule.pdf

[BandFan59]

Wow, VERY rough draws for Waxahachie, Marcus, and Round Rock going 1st, 2nd, and 4th. I remember in 2018 the Woodlands was the 1st band to perform and they nearly missed finals finishing 12th in prelims. Hopefully these groups are still able to perform at a high level.

[CTJBandPops]

12 minutes ago, BandFan59 said:

Wow, VERY rough draws for Waxahachie, Marcus, and Round Rock going 1st, 2nd, and 4th. I remember in 2018 the Woodlands was the 1st band to perform and they nearly missed finals finishing 12th in prelims. Hopefully these groups are still able to perform at a high level.

Great final block though- Flo Mo, Reagan and Vista Ridge all in a row. then Coppell and CTJ towards the end of that block

[lost]

What a heartbreakingly rough draw for Edinburg North.

[HeartOfTexas]

Top 12 predictions anyone?

I assume the "usual"

1. Vandegrift
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Woodlands
4. FloMo
5. CT Johnson
6. Hebron
7. Marcus
8. Vista Ridge
9. Cedar Ridge
10. Keller
11. Westlake
12. Coppell

 

Not in that order of course. Just the Top 12.  

But what do y'all think of the "breakout" bands from DFW:  Timber Creek and Southlake Carroll?   Carroll, especially has surprised us consistently in a good way. Timber Creek shocked me yesterday with a Top 5 finish. I had them at 7th. Good momentum for both these fantastic bands.

[avgbandfan5]

35 minutes ago, HeartOfTexas said:

Top 12 predictions anyone?

I assume the "usual"

1. Vandegrift
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Woodlands
4. FloMo
5. CT Johnson
6. Hebron
7. Marcus
8. Vista Ridge
9. Cedar Ridge
10. Keller
11. Westlake
12. Coppell

 

Not in that order of course. Just the Top 12.  

But what do y'all think of the "breakout" bands from DFW:  Timber Creek and Southlake Carroll?   Carroll, especially has surprised us consistently in a good way. Timber Creek shocked me yesterday with a Top 5 finish. I had them at 7th. Good momentum for both these fantastic bands.

Woodlands are not attending state.

Carroll and Timber creek I think will be close to the bubble of finals. Waxahachie will have their work cut out for them to make finals being first on.

 

[CTJBandPops]

35 minutes ago, HeartOfTexas said:

Top 12 predictions anyone?

I assume the "usual"

1. Vandegrift
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Woodlands
4. FloMo
5. CT Johnson
6. Hebron
7. Marcus
8. Vista Ridge
9. Cedar Ridge
10. Keller
11. Westlake
12. Coppell

 

Not in that order of course. Just the Top 12.  

But what do y'all think of the "breakout" bands from DFW:  Timber Creek and Southlake Carroll?   Carroll, especially has surprised us consistently in a good way. Timber Creek shocked me yesterday with a Top 5 finish. I had them at 7th. Good momentum for both these fantastic bands.

Woodlands will not be there - they opted out of state

[CTJBandPops]

38 minutes ago, HeartOfTexas said:

Top 12 predictions anyone?

I assume the "usual"

1. Vandegrift
2. Ronald Reagan
3. Woodlands
4. FloMo
5. CT Johnson
6. Hebron
7. Marcus
8. Vista Ridge
9. Cedar Ridge
10. Keller
11. Westlake
12. Coppell

 

Not in that order of course. Just the Top 12.  

But what do y'all think of the "breakout" bands from DFW:  Timber Creek and Southlake Carroll?   Carroll, especially has surprised us consistently in a good way. Timber Creek shocked me yesterday with a Top 5 finish. I had them at 7th. Good momentum for both these fantastic bands.

based on yesterdays results I would say that the the top half at SMBC will be - in no order

FloMo - bested Hebron

CTJ - bested Reagan

Vista - bested Vandy

Hebron

Reagan

Vandy

[BandFan59]

Hebron is my pick right now to win state. Flower Mound won area C by one point, but they were neck and neck with Hebron who won prelims also by one point. I think Hebron's show is tailor made to succeed at UIL though, with the insane music book and execution they have. It's about time they finally win given how incredible their program is.

[HeartOfTexas]

I missed this news! Why did Woodlands opt out of the competition? 

[Samuel Culper]

3 minutes ago, HeartOfTexas said:

I missed this news! Why did Woodlands opt out of the competition? 

To prepare for Grand Nats.  And probably to limit out of class time for the kids.

[slowbrass]

   Not a big fan of Hebron’s ensemble visual this year. As people have previously stated, they’re moving better and faster than ever, but it’s going to be a pain to get clean. Everything looks sort of blobby even when the feet are in time. Vandegrift on the other hand has a really great look IMO, just very challenging. I think they’re on schedule to peak precisely on finals night for state.

   Flower Mound also looks really good, their choreo is probably my favorite of any band this year. Music hasn’t cleaned up as fast as in previous years, but then again they’re on a different timetable. I’ve got them medaling at the very least here, regardless of who else is on the podium. I’d be kind of surprised to see this show win, but also not really. They are Flower Mound, after all.

   CTJ could absolutely take this thing, just depends on how much they can get done in the next week plus. They strike the balance between demand and showmanship really well. Vista Ridge I think has the furthest to go cleanliness wise, which is great for them because they have Grand ambitions. I don’t think it’ll be at the level of the other bands yet, but I’m not a judge or a band director. 

[HeartOfTexas]

5 minutes ago, Samuel Culper said:

To prepare for Grand Nats.  And probably to limit out of class time for the kids.

Thanks! That makes sense. Wonder why more schools are not doing that. 

[shaggy]

Some random predictions:

Hebron will get 2nd

13th place will be a round rock isd band

Leander ISD Will take the other two medals

CTJ and Reagan will inexplicably place lower than everyone expects

Some judge is going to give one band like close to dead last when every other judge has them in or just out of finals 

[Asaiah]

49 minutes ago, shaggy said:

Hebron will get 2nd

This triggers me lmao

[HeartOfTexas]

This is such an unusual year. So many of the pre-season "locks" like LD Bell, Duncanville etc. are not gonna be there. So many new names. Maybe this is the great reset and as King Arthur said to Sir Bedivere, "The old order changeth, yielding place to new."

[shaggy]

12 minutes ago, Asaiah said:

This triggers me lmao

but historically accurate 

[jmj]

All of the top 5 will be from an LISD

[BandFan59]

1 hour ago, jmj said:

All of the top 5 will be from an LISD

I almost agree with this, I think the top 4 will be from an LISD. I think Marcus will fall somewhere between 6 to 9. CTJ may also spoil the top 4 party.

[Cherish4]

10 hours ago, BandFan59 said:

Wow, VERY rough draws for Waxahachie, Marcus, and Round Rock going 1st, 2nd, and 4th. I remember in 2018 the Woodlands was the 1st band to perform and they nearly missed finals finishing 12th in prelims. Hopefully these groups are still able to perform at a high level.

Can you explain why these are roughy draws? I’m obviously a novice.

[BandFan59]

45 minutes ago, Cherish4 said:

Can you explain why these are roughy draws? I’m obviously a novice.

The first few performance times (generally anything within the first block) aren't preferred because judges tend to underscore the bands in those times in order to save room for later in the day. If a judge gives the first band a 95 out of 100, and then later in the day he thinks other bands performed better, he's only given himself a five point margin to score those bands, so they usually start pretty conservative with the scoring to give themselves leeway for later bands. In 2018, the Woodlands and Coppell, two excellent and historic programs with a lot of success, were the first two bands to perform at state. The Woodlands ended up placing 12th in prelims, the last band to make finals, while Coppell placed 15th. So bands generally want to avoid drawing those first block spots for that reason and the fact that it can be hard on the students to get up at 4 or 5 AM and get ready for a major performance.

[justabandkid94]

1 hour ago, Cherish4 said:

Can you explain why these are roughy draws? I’m obviously a novice.

For Waxahachie and Marcus - if they aren't getting to San Antonio the night before, thats a hellish logistical nightmare for the band. If the band truck is arriving at Alamodome at 6:30AM, subtract 5 (maybe more) hours from that for a reliable departure time from the Dallas area. Those kids will be exhausted before the contest even starts and thus won't be as well rested as some of their counterparts competing for finals.

More importantly, all 3 bands are strong contenders for finals (or even locks in Marcus' case). The bands need to perform strongly enough to remain in the forefront of the judges' minds for the rest of Prelims. A judge may be more conservative in scoring a band at the  very beginning of the day vs. later on - thus the bands who went earlier may get lower of a score than they would have if they had competed in a block closer to other potential finalist bands for a better judging comparison. 

 

[slowbrass]

I think it’s pretty common practice for the 6a finals hopefuls to spend that extra day between BOA and state in San Antonio rehearsing and letting their students do class work. that’s the case for a lot of DFW area groups at least

[KinDallas]

7 hours ago, justabandkid94 said:

For Waxahachie and Marcus - if they aren't getting to San Antonio the night before, thats a hellish logistical nightmare for the band. If the band truck is arriving at Alamodome at 6:30AM, subtract 5 (maybe more) hours from that for a reliable departure time from the Dallas area. Those kids will be exhausted before the contest even starts and thus won't be as well rested as some of their counterparts competing for finals.

More importantly, all 3 bands are strong contenders for finals (or even locks in Marcus' case). The bands need to perform strongly enough to remain in the forefront of the judges' minds for the rest of Prelims. A judge may be more conservative in scoring a band at the  very beginning of the day vs. later on - thus the bands who went earlier may get lower of a score than they would have if they had competed in a block closer to other potential finalist bands for a better judging comparison. 

 

Marcus always stays over from BOA to state. So they'll be okay. Besides, if anyone remembers Unwritten in 2019, they went first at like 7:30 at BOA SA on two hours sleep. They won the 4A prelims music caption--that performance was electrifying. There's just something about being the early band on the lot. 

[lost]

I’m more worried for the bands that aren’t going to the San Antonio Super that also have an early draw time. They most certainly have to stay the night in San Antonio or risk a lot of things by trying to leave home immensely early.