UIL 6A 2023 State Marching Band Contest (Oct. 30. & 31)

[lost]

  On 10/31/2023 at 6:21 PM, PercussionDad said:

No one is owed a spot in finals. There is a long history of leniency at state for issues. New Diana’s drum major freezing up and the director having to go on the field and start the band. Ronald Reagan several years ago with electronics issues that started 3 minutes late. A balloon being accidentally released during prelims at the Alamodome years ago. I believe the directors received a warning in those cases. 
 

As good as CTJ was, they didn’t make the top 14. End of story. 

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I remember the issue with New Diana! That is a throwback.

[TacosNSalsa]

  On 10/31/2023 at 6:21 PM, PercussionDad said:

No one is owed a spot in finals. There is a long history of leniency at state for issues. New Diana’s drum major freezing up and the director having to go on the field and start the band. Ronald Reagan several years ago with electronics issues that started 3 minutes late. A balloon being accidentally released during prelims at the Alamodome years ago. I believe the directors received a warning in those cases. 
 

As good as CTJ was, they didn’t make the top 14. End of story. 

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I agree with leniency - I wish that had been afforded to several bands who were DQ at Area in recent years. I take issue with the lack of consistency, and what is the standard that was applied to those groups vs. the ones at state.

[TenorSaxMan16]

  On 10/31/2023 at 3:57 PM, Coolhornplayer said:

These are the average scores from the top 15 bands. Marcus and Hebron are so close together right now

 

 

vandegrift 963.7142857

Marcus 960.7142857

Hebron 960.4285714

Flowermound  957

woodlands 952.2857143

Reagan 948.8571429

vista ridge 947.5714286

Coppell 937.2857143

Round Rock 929.7142857

Pearland 928.7142857

Keller 920.7142857

Bridgeland 917.1428571

Cy-Fair 913.5714286

Waxahachie 911.1428571

CTJ 901.1428571

 

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Wow a 10 point drop off between 7th and 8th. These averages are so interesting. 

[Hard Core Band Fan]

  On 10/31/2023 at 3:05 PM, wyattstamm said:

I had multiple people tell me that is wasn't a bad run, so idk. 

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We're they judges, band directors, or knowledgeable people?

[tubapop]

  On 10/31/2023 at 6:22 PM, lost said:

I remember the issue with New Diana! That is a throwback.

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What's the story there? The drum major just froze??

[SleepySeal]

I’m at the 6a finals for the first time ever. I’ve seen prelims live before but never finals. Excited to be here to see the best of the best high school bands among Texas. 

[HornBlorgis9000]

  On 10/31/2023 at 6:52 PM, SleepySeal said:

I’m at the 6a finals for the first time ever. I’ve seen prelims live before but never finals. Excited to be here to see the best of the best high school bands among Texas. 

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I came for the first time in 21.  I was absolutely floored by the quality of the bands and the sounds they produced playing in the Alamodome.  Then saw pen-striped - caught me quite off guard.  High school bands aren't supposed to be able to do that.  So i thought.

[SleepySeal]

  On 10/31/2023 at 7:09 PM, HornBlorgis9000 said:

I came for the first time in 21.  I was absolutely floored by the quality of the bands and the sounds they produced playing in the Alamodome.  Then saw pen-striped - caught me quite off guard.  High school bands aren't supposed to be able to do that.  So i thought.

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Wow I came to prelims for the first time in 21 too. Was absolutely amazed by Vista, Vandegrift and Hebron. Can’t wait to see them again today!

[Hard Core Band Fan]

  On 10/31/2023 at 7:09 PM, HornBlorgis9000 said:

I came for the first time in 21.  I was absolutely floored by the quality of the bands and the sounds they produced playing in the Alamodome.  Then saw pen-striped - caught me quite off guard.  High school bands aren't supposed to be able to do that.  So i thought.

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I first attended in the mid-1980's when it was at UT's stadium in Austin. It was just as exciting back then and something I will never forget. At that time they did all classes, both prelims and finals, in one day. Only 5 bands in each class for finals then, so making finals was tough. And no 6A class then, either.

[BlastFromThePast]

  On 10/31/2023 at 4:12 AM, packwick said:

oooo, some seemingly really nutty results in those ordinals. uil, gurl, u spicy!!!

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The ordinals system is mathematically, er, "challenged". It introduces an element of randomness (you could say spiciness) into the overall rankings. Thus there can be position shuffling in the overall placements that have little to do with the judges' actual scores. Without seeing the score sheets, I can't say that happened in this particular contest. But being a "fuzzy" subjective contest in the first place, IMHO it'd be better if the scoring system wouldn't add this additional spice. Then again, maybe it just adds to the excitement.

[BandMom75]

Coppell did an outstanding job!!! Loved the show. 

[Tubalord11]

Hey Everyone! So a separate thread has been made specifically for State Finals, so for the sake of not getting mixed up between the two and this one not being a million pages long, lets try to use that one instead, thanks! 

[Bandmomlover]

  On 10/31/2023 at 3:59 PM, Dallas Hobbs said:

And If I have this right (correct me if I’m not) this is the finalists breakdown by major city:

DFW- 6

Houston- 4

Austin- 3

San Antonio- 1

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Congratulations to Houston bands!!! Most I’ve seen since….? Who has stats? In 2021, I believe only TWHS; 2022, THWHS AND Pearland? or was Cy-Fair in there too?

[BravoBand]

  On 10/31/2023 at 8:18 PM, Bandmomlover said:

Congratulations to Houston bands!!! Most I’ve seen since….? Who has stats? In 2021, I believe only TWHS; 2022, THWHS AND Pearland? or was Cy-Fair in there too?

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I don't think Houston has ever had 4 in finals before.  Houston was very strong in the 90's but there were only 5 or 7 finalists total back then.

In fact, the last time they had 3 in finals was 2004: Langham Creek, TWHS, Clements

[Brent]

  On 10/31/2023 at 1:59 PM, SlowDriver said:

Wylie won’t be there.  They are done for the year.  Surprised too since they essentially tied Dripping Spring Saturday in Waco to see them drop so much after a great run. 

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There are things that bands of America cares about that UIL does not. Why they placing lower doesn't surprise me at all.

[NTXBandMom]

  On 10/31/2023 at 9:40 PM, Brent said:

There are things that bands of America cares about that UIL does not. Why they placing lower doesn't surprise me at all.

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Wylie also places 4th behind Hebron, Flomo, and Marcus in Area competitions. There is a 4 point differential between those top 3 and 4th place, but it is pretty surprising to see Wylie ranked so far down. They won the tie with Prosper at Area for 4th and Prosper was ranked much farther up than Wylie. 

[JazzRun]

Tentative dates for State for next year. Have they ever had 6A start this far into November?

[banddad23]

Can someone explain what makes up the ensemble portion of the scoring?

[Dallas Hobbs]

  On 11/1/2023 at 1:03 AM, banddad23 said:

Can someone explain what makes up the ensemble portion of the scoring?

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music ensemble is Woodwinds + Brass + Percussion. The judge is keeping in mind how well the sections play simultaneously. 

[Fez76]

  On 10/31/2023 at 3:53 AM, lost said:

2020, technically there wasn’t finals but the top twelve bands from prelims were considered the “finalists”. Bridgeland was 12th.

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B-land was 15th.

[aaron067]

  On 11/1/2023 at 1:16 AM, Dallas Hobbs said:

music ensemble is Woodwinds + Brass + Percussion. The judge is keeping in mind how well the sections play simultaneously. 

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Unfortunately, this is only part of the score.  The days of just having a Music caprion at UIL State are over (though Area still uses that).  It actually functions much more like the BOA caption of the same name, which takes into account the construction of the arrangements (from an effect standpoint) and how well the band executes that.  "You could really have more range of expression" is a comment heard on these tapes that just means "I want you to play louder here".  

[Dallas Hobbs]

  On 11/1/2023 at 3:07 AM, aaron067 said:

Unfortunately, this is only part of the score.  The days of just having a Music caprion at UIL State are over (though Area still uses that).  It actually functions much more like the BOA caption of the same name, which takes into account the construction of the arrangements (from an effect standpoint) and how well the band executes that.  "You could really have more range of expression" is a comment heard on these tapes that just means "I want you to play louder here".  

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I honestly don’t understand how they interpret the captions differently between BOA and UIL. Things like “range of expression” (dynamic contrast, shaping etc.), intonation, balance, technique, these are universally important criteria to judge a performance based on. 

[banddad23]

I'm still new to the whole band scene but after attending 2 years worth of contests I still don't have much of a clue as to which band is better than others and why.  Sure seems like a large portion is just biased towards the size of the bands and how loud they can play.  Anyone else feel like this?

I've noticed it in the individual sections as well, especially the percussion/front ensemble.  Less people less sound teens to lead to lower scores even though some of the music seems more difficult or sounds cleaner,  

[zoomer]

  On 11/1/2023 at 4:06 AM, banddad23 said:

I'm still new to the whole band scene but after attending 2 years worth of contests I still don't have much of a clue as to which band is better than others and why.  Sure seems like a large portion is just biased towards the size of the bands and how loud they can play.  Anyone else feel like this?

I've noticed it in the individual sections as well, especially the percussion/front ensemble.  Less people less sound teens to lead to lower scores even though some of the music seems more difficult or sounds cleaner,  

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Welcome!
 

Considering Cedar Ridge placed 3rd here last year, and Rouse had won the Austin regional over Vandegrift this past year, size doesn't really determine if you are good or not, but it does help! When it comes to being loud, it's all about refinement of sound. More resonant hornlines will sound louder than bands that just blast.

[Daniel Neubecker]

does anyone have a google drive of the finalist bands?