TMEA All State Audition Results

[PercMom2104]

Can a 5A school have students audition for 6A All State? I noticed in the TMEA audition results there are placements for 6A All State spots with students from 5A schools. For example, Frisco Lebanon Trail and Frisco Liberty had students in both 5A and 6A All State Bands, some even on the same instrument. I would just like greater understanding of how this works. Thanks! 

[Tubalord11]

  On 1/11/2023 at 2:07 PM, PercMom2104 said:

Can a 5A school have students audition for 6A All State? I noticed in the TMEA audition results there are placements for 6A All State spots with students from 5A schools. For example, Frisco Lebanon Trail and Frisco Liberty had students in both 5A and 6A All State Bands, some even on the same instrument. I would just like greater understanding of how this works. Thanks! 

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Okay, so if I remember correctly, this is how it works. Everyone had do the region phase of TMEA in the class that their school is in(1A-6A). After that, if a student decides they want to, they have the option to complete in a conference up from the one they are in, assuming the students qualified for area in the region phase. Then, of course if they decided to, they will be competing with the 6A kids in the area they would have been in if their school was the class they are now trying competent in. They can they qualify to that classes state honor band. For your case, the kids would attend 5A region, 6A area, snd then 6A state. I could be wrong on the region part and would all be the same classification the whole process, but ultimately it’s just the kids deciding they want to compete in a “harder” classification.

[PercMom2104]

But wouldn’t that displace kids who competed in 6A region and qualified for Area because only a certain number advance to Area? I appreciate wanting to compete at a higher level, but there is no higher level for 6A kids. Seems like all around an advantage for smaller schools with nothing for the 6A kids, who are already competing in large pools. 

[Tubalord11]

  On 1/11/2023 at 11:48 PM, PercMom2104 said:

But wouldn’t that displace kids who competed in 6A region and qualified for Area because only a certain number advance to Area? I appreciate wanting to compete at a higher level, but there is no higher level for 6A kids. Seems like all around an advantage for smaller schools with nothing for the 6A kids, who are already competing in large pools. 

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Okay I did my research, and the kids who want to do a conference up start competing with that conference at the region level, so sorry for any confusion. But again, to answer your question, the kids do it to compete with a conference that’s more “difficult” than theirs, but yes unfortunately 6A kids will only be able to do 6A region-state, and it also means they will have more competition 

[PercMom2104]

  On 1/12/2023 at 12:47 AM, Tubalord11 said:

Okay I did my research, and the kids who want to do a conference up start competing with that conference at the region level, so sorry for any confusion. But again, to answer your question, the kids do it to compete with a conference that’s more “difficult” than theirs, but yes unfortunately 6A kids will only be able to do 6A region-state, and it also means they will have more competition 

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Thanks for the clarification. Great for those 5A and below. Stinks for 6A. 

[KD2040]

Just want to clarify something on this thread because I think there are some misunderstandings.

In the ATSSB/TMEA process, students can compete in a higher track but must sign an irrevocable track agreement before the region audition process starts. Once you're in the higher track, you can't drop back down. If you don't advance in the 6A track and you're at a 5A school, you don't get to fall back on a 5A Area/State spot as a backup option.

The total number of All-State band spots for 6A is far, far higher than for 5A (for 2023, 410 vs 165 - https://www.tmea.org/all-state/instrumentation-voicing/). This partly reflects that there are some students who compete up to measure themselves against the highest-caliber musicians in the state. If you look at the results from individual Areas, you can see that there are extremely few advancing spots on the 5A track.

Some 5A schools require all of their students to compete at the 6A level. Other schools leave it up to the individual student.

I don't understand why anyone would think this is somehow unfair to 6A students. The opposite would certainly be unfair to the top 5A musicians in Texas, being locked out from the top ensembles. Or, imagine some incredible musician at a 3A school who can't get out of the ATSSB ensemble even if they're the best oboist in the state.

Personally, I am not sure why TMEA even bothers with a 5A track since the advantage of numbers at a given campus aren't as obvious or overwhelming as they might be in a group activity like marching band. Probably better just to have a joint 5A/6A with the same total number of All-State seats.

 

[PercMom2104]

I guess it depends on where you live. Metropolitan areas such as DFW are highly competitive anyway. So much talent, not just in band but anything UIL (ie: sports). It makes sense that there are more spots for 6A because there are more students in 6A schools Vs 5A. Being 6A doesn’t necessarily equate to being a higher caliber musician, just means a bigger talent pool.

Maybe individual activities should be just that- individual- and not determined or judged according to district size.