2023 BOA DFW (Oct. 7)

[BandDad4]

2 hours ago, Origin said:

I think the only non-LISD medalists in the last decade were LD Bell in 2013 (Flower Mound not in attendance) and Keller in 2018 (Marcus not in attendance) 

Money and Bias

[fluteyboi]

I attended finals for this comp for the first time and I just have to say that this competition is actually insane. Each band performed at such a high level. The LISD schools are just so dedicated to their craft and it's amazing to see them perform. Wakeland has such a powerful sound and is an outstanding 5A program. I can't wait to see how much each band develops over the course of the marching season!

 

[clarinetistkai05]

9 hours ago, DallasFan said:

Forney 13th, Lonestar 14th, Centennial 15th, all within 0.35 of 12th. TIGHT.

oh yikes. makes me feel a tad better, but still bummed nevertheless.

[JFNDOWBFAN]

8 hours ago, Dallas Hobbs said:

According to hornrank, Keller Central got a 0.10 penalty in prelims. Anyone know why?

Saw that. It was in Finals and didn't impacted placement. Curious though. It’s not like theY had w long delay due to electrical issues. Ha

[BandDad4]

Edited by Moderator

Edited October 8, 2023 by Danpod

[itsstephenyo]

Geez, hate on Hebron a bit more, why don't you? 

[Bladezz]

29 minutes ago, BandDad4 said:

Why is the finals recap cropped? It looks like their protecting Hebron.

...from what? everyone's scores are cropped the same. 

[Vidal28]

11 hours ago, Origin said:

I think the only non-LISD medalists in the last decade were LD Bell in 2013 (Flower Mound not in attendance) and Keller in 2018 (Marcus not in attendance) 

Flower Mound was not a lock for medal contention at that time, so just solid stuff from L.D Bell there haha

[Tubalord11]

Congratulations to Hebron on the win...sucks about the whole electronic issue at the beginning of the show, but it seems there was no penalty, and they got the dub! congrats to Marcus on second, I do agree that Flomo's show is more UIL, and I could see them in the top 3 for sure, we could very well possibly get a Lewisville ISD sweep. But anyways, congrats to all our finalists, can't wait to see a lot of these programs live at Prosper next weekend! 

[ClarinetKing]

10 hours ago, BandDad4 said:

Money and Bias

If you watch their shows you’ll notice that it’s as simple as they perform at a higher level than everyone else in attendance. 

[propDad23]

10 hours ago, BandDad4 said:

Money and Bias

So you're saying if only schools like Southlake Carroll and Coppell only had more money they would win?

These kids all work their butts off and to chalking it up to money and bias is an unfair insult to all these programs. 

[crunchycookie3]

To say there’s not a financial component to BOA success would be denying the existence of the elephant in the room, but there are so many other factors at play as well- the most important of which is performance quality. Regardless of financial status, ALL of the students last night did a wonderful job! If we’re talking about money, I think it should be to highlight programs that are able to break through the money differential. For example, Bell was the only school in finals with a majority of their students classified as economically disadvantaged, and they placed the highest in the bottom six! Truly a feat for that program. To reduce a program’s performance to money alone is definitely not a fair argument- all students work ridiculously hard to overcome a plethora of obstacles.

[BandDad4]

49 minutes ago, propDad23 said:

So you're saying if only schools like Southlake Carroll and Coppell only had more money they would win?

These kids all work their butts off and to chalking it up to money and bias is an unfair insult to all these programs. 

Completely disagree. BOA is the professional sport of the Marching heavy weights. Professional sports have had salary caps for years. No one denied that the players or kids in this case work their butts off.

Yes, the kids work very hard for all programs. I would never say they did not, but when you start looking at props and the written program you cannot get those without major expenses. Writer don't come cheap and the best only work for the ones who are the best and that includes how much their paid.

[Toasted Almond]

Electronics failures and malfunctions are probably one of the most frustrating things in marching band today (we didn't have electronics on the field back in my days of marching band.) If it hasn't happened to your program, it will, and its probably one of the hardest things to watch as a spectator - all those kids, getting more anxious and nervous by the second as their performance time ticks away, the fear of going over and being penalized, all while expected to perform at their best!
Watching Hebron last night, the seconds seemed to go on forever while they worked to fix their electronic issues. That has absolutely nothing to do with the caliber of their performance. But I do agree that it does sit a little uneasy that the recap sheets posted by BoA are cut off at the end and do not include the column that would show any penalties assessed, while all the other recaps from BoA contests thus far this season are not cut off. I think compassion and grace are important things and if the judges chose not to assess penalties to Hebron that is certainly their prerogative. The rules absolutely allow this. A full, uncropped recap sheet would provide full transparency and help to dispel any whispers of favoritism or "special treatment".

[Band Dad 2021]

Just putting this out there… there was one top 5 winner with very little to no props… just tight marching and amazing music. Lots of props might help in BOA, but there’s still a big place for practice and precision.

Good luck all!

[Tubalord11]

Also, forgot to ask earlier, if anyone has a video of Hebron and Grapevine from finals and could hit me up I’d gladly appreciate it

[itsstephenyo]

3 hours ago, BandDad4 said:

Completely disagree. BOA is the professional sport of the Marching heavy weights. Professional sports have had salary caps for years. No one denied that the players or kids in this case work their butts off.

Yes, the kids work very hard for all programs. I would never say they did not, but when you start looking at props and the written program you cannot get those without major expenses. Writer don't come cheap and the best only work for the ones who are the best and that includes how much their paid.

Your whole argument is based on the idea of marching band being a professional sport. News flash, it ain't. These are teenagers studying algebra, English, history,  chemistry, etc. They don't get paid to do any of this. 

Hebron is the least well-off of Marcus/FloMo/Hebron. As someone else said, SLC and Coppell are also very well off areas of North TX. If your argument that money is the most important metric for the success of a band, then that alone invalidates your claim. Marcus placed 2nd with minimal props, just stupidly good playing and marching. Is that also because of money? 

Instead of griping and crying about, "OH THE MONEY!", why don't you just sit back and enjoy the amazing products Texas bands put out year in and year out? We're spoiled here in TX. Every competition in TX is a nationals level competition. 

[aaron067]

4 hours ago, crunchycookie3 said:

For example, Bell was the only school in finals with a majority of their students classified as economically disadvantaged, and they placed the highest in the bottom six! Truly a feat for that program. To reduce a program’s performance to money alone is definitely not a fair argument- all students work ridiculously hard to overcome a plethora of obstacles.

Waxahachie HS has the exact same % of economically disadvantaged students as Bell and a significantly lower academic standing.  Still, the point remains that boiling it down to money isn't fair to the effort that everyone puts in.

[Gehrig4]

4 hours ago, Band Dad 2021 said:

Just putting this out there… there was one top 5 winner with very little to no props… just tight marching and amazing music. Lots of props might help in BOA, but there’s still a big place for practice and precision.

Good luck all!

Love that I was not the only one to notice. 

[MartinTuba]

1 hour ago, itsstephenyo said:

Your whole argument is based on the idea of marching band being a professional sport. News flash, it ain't. These are teenagers studying algebra, English, history,  chemistry, etc. They don't get paid to do any of this. 

Hebron is the least well-off of Marcus/FloMo/Hebron. As someone else said, SLC and Coppell are also very well off areas of North TX. If your argument that money is the most important metric for the success of a band, then that alone invalidates your claim. Marcus placed 2nd with minimal props, just stupidly good playing and marching. Is that also because of money? 

Instead of griping and crying about, "OH THE MONEY!", why don't you just sit back and enjoy the amazing products Texas bands put out year in and year out? We're spoiled here in TX. Every competition in TX is a nationals level competition. 

This is all true, but being Hebron wouldn’t be possible without the finances to go along with it. To be a powerhouse band program, the first thing you need is kids who work hard, the 2nd is directors who inspire them to, and the 3rd thing is money.  Not just any school can become Flower Mound. Chances are if you live in a well off area, you’re high school band will be at least pretty alright. If you live in an economically struggling area, 9/10 times the band program isn’t so great. 

[RandomBandGuy23]

I hope y’all don’t mind but I’m going to go ahead and divert the topic back to last night’s performances because every band was absolutely STUNNING. It would take forever for me to break down every band so I’m just going to run through some of my individual highlights for our top half:

First, COPPELL - As a Coppell alum myself, I was utterly floored. I think this is the cleanest performance I’ve ever seen from them this early in the season. The woodwinds were absolutely stellar, especially during their feature in what looks like the show’s part 2. These time signatures are not easy, especially the complex 2+2+2+3 9/8 in part 2 and they executed them wonderfully. And the brass had that nice brilliant, dark ensemble sound that’s begun to become characteristic of them over the last couple of years (I guess we can call this the Coppell sound now). Someone else already said it but Coppell is ABSOLUTELY the powerhouse that we are not yet talking about but that we most definitely should be. Overall super proud of where my alma mater has taken the program and I look forward to seeing what they have to offer in San Antonio (safely) assuming they make UIL State.

MARCUS - Don’t get me wrong, the whole show was by far one of the best and most characterful I’ve seen out of Marcus in quite a few years. But holy moly that quad feature was just unhinged. What got me the most was the fact that those were their SNARE players. Those weren’t even their drumline’s dedicated quad players. Absolutely bonkers.

WAKELAND - Wow that ensemble sound is what got me. For such a small band (comparatively speaking) they have such an intense and focused brass sound. In some ways it almost reminded me of some of Vista Ridge’s brass sound from their 2022 show last year. Overall I really enjoyed how simple their show was contrasted with a lot of the more artsy shows we saw last night.

FLOWER MOUND - Not much to say really. Really clean performance with a show that contrasts nicely with some of the more playful shows that we’ve seen from them the past couple years. I know someone else on this thread already said it but this is definitely going to be a high scoring show time come UIL. Overall classic Flower Mound formula still working wonders on the football field like always.

JENKS - If I’m being completely honest, I never really give the Oklahoma bands much thought aside from Broken Arrow. However, listening to Jenks perform last night was most definitely a wonderful surprise to say the least. Everything about their show was just really, really good and well rounded. Good brass, good woodwinds, good percussion, good visuals, great overall show. Overall an absolute pleasure to watch. I’ll definitely make sure to not make the mistake of overlooking Oklahoma bands going forward.

HEBRON - I’m just going to completely avoid addressing the elephant in the room and decide not to get into the absurdity that is their music book this year. I swear, it’s like they’re just trying to figure out new ways to one-up themselves with each passing year. Everything else was otherwise Hebron as always. Oh and the Spartacus fanfare in the beginning was a cool touch too.

BOTTOM HALF - Everyone was so dang good that I was literally struggling to try to find individual highlights for each band which is why I decided not to list any. Everyone was just so close. I don’t know what to say, this was by far the most stacked bottom half, and top half too for that matter, that I’ve ever seen at this competition in recent years and it was so awesome that each of the 12 finalist bands kept me thoroughly engaged throughout the entire competition. What a privilege to be an audience member, we were definitely eatin’ good last night

 

 

[JFNDOWBFAN]

My last BOA Bedford post. “Fun with Numbers”

 

Rockwall finished 16th in prelims with a 77.2. Was curious how that score would compare at other BOA’s this year. 
 

Now must suspend reality in that each one has different judges. But for sake of numbers, will pretend all is the same. 
 

77.2 makes finals at all other 14 BOA events and places first at several. 
 

This isn’t a bitter post. Its admiration at all of these amazing bands that put in hours and hours of work each week on top of keeping up with their school work. If your band student marched at BOA Bedford, this band dad is proud of each of you. March and study hard these next few weeks!

Where Rockwall would have been…

 

BOA Prelims

Where would RHS have fallen!

 

Bedford 77.2 (16) No Finals

Flagstaff (7)

Katy (8)

Memphis (6)

Toledo (5)

Des Moines (3)

McAllen (7)

Midland (4)

Shenandoah (2)

Austin (7)

Chattanooga (1)

Las Cruces (1)

Obetz, Ohio (2)

Louisville (4)

Whitewater (1)

[tennertrumbow]

6 hours ago, JFNDOWBFAN said:

My last BOA Bedford post. “Fun with Numbers”

 

Rockwall finished 16th in prelims with a 77.2. Was curious how that score would compare at other BOA’s this year. 
 

Now must suspend reality in that each one has different judges. But for sake of numbers, will pretend all is the same. 
 

77.2 makes finals at all other 14 BOA events and places first at several. 
 

This isn’t a bitter post. Its admiration at all of these amazing bands that put in hours and hours of work each week on top of keeping up with their school work. If your band student marched at BOA Bedford, this band dad is proud of each of you. March and study hard these next few weeks!

Where Rockwall would have been…

 

BOA Prelims

Where would RHS have fallen!

 

Bedford 77.2 (16) No Finals

Flagstaff (7)

Katy (8)

Memphis (6)

Toledo (5)

Des Moines (3)

McAllen (7)

Midland (4)

Shenandoah (2)

Austin (7)

Chattanooga (1)

Las Cruces (1)

Obetz, Ohio (2)

Louisville (4)

Whitewater (1)

goes to show how stacked this contest was this year with some amazing bands missing finals

[clarinetistkai05]

On 10/7/2023 at 5:18 PM, Vidal28 said:

I’m not surprised at these results personally, even though Forney was good, I thought they played their cards a bit to safe, similar to maybe Lone Star somewhat, they both are fantastic groups though and are definitely gonna respond!! This was a really tough finals pool to crack!

don’t worry, we’re changing stuff 😉😉

[3rdGenBand]

On 8/11/2023 at 11:02 AM, Flute goddess said:

That's where Wakeland's band director went, I think. Will be interesting to see how quickly he can build up this new program.

He did build a great program but he’s gone next year. They learned quickly.