UIL 4A State Marching Contest 2023 (November 1)

[Dave609]

Well then, looks like we are seeing the return of 4A once again to the State Contest next year! This will make it 4 in a row and will continue on this way for every year. Last years results recieved a lot of backlash, but I am confident that 2023 will see some great competition! I'm hoping to see Celina return to the state contest this year after winning their first state championship in band! Anna and Canton seem to be the top 2 that could possibly take the title this upcoming season, but I will still love to see someone new take the title. We still have plenty of time before the season begins, but I would love to hear some of your thoughts on who you think could have a chance to make state, and possibly finals in the 2023 season.

 

2023 4A State Advancers-

Area A- West Plains HS, Canyon HS, Canyon Randall HS, Pecos HS

Area B- Celina HS, Anna HS, Panther Creek HS, Canton HS

Area C- North Lamar HS, Sulphur Springs HS, Paris HS, Lumberton HS, Bridge City HS

Area D- China Spring HS, Alvarado HS, Gatesville HS, Burnet HS, Castleberry HS, Robinson HS (Super Excited for them!)

Area E- Davenport HS, RGC: Grulla HS, Calallen HS, Floresville HS, Raymondville HS (Super Excited for them!), Robstown HS (Super Happy they advanced!), Alice HS

 

Official Schedule-

Alamodome - San Antonio, TX - 11/01/2023 - 

Alice HS: 9:00 A.M.
Pecos HS: 9:15 A.M.
Robstown HS: 9:30 A.M.
Sulphur Springs HS: 9:45 A.M.
Lumberton HS: 10:00 A.M.
Canyon HS: 10:15 A.M.
West Plains HS: 10:30 A.M.
Anna HS: 10:45 A.M.
Castleberry HS: 11:00 A.M.

BREAK

Robinson HS: 12:00 P.M.
North Lamar HS: 12:15 P.M.
China Spring HS: 12:30 P.M.
Gatesville HS: 12:45 P.M.
Canton HS: 1:00 P.M.
Alvarado HS: 1:15 P.M.
Celina HS: 1:30 P.M.
Davenport HS: 1:45 P.M.
Bridge City HS: 2:00 P.M.

BREAK

Raymondville HS: 2:30 P.M.
Paris HS: 2:45 P.M.
RGC: Grulla HS: 3:00 P.M.
Calallen HS: 3:15 P.M.
Canyon Randall HS: 3:30 P.M.
Panther Creek HS: 3:45 P.M.
Floresville HS: 4:00 P.M.
Burnet HS: 4:15 P.M.

Exhibition Band: Tyler Junior College Apache Band: 4:30 P.M.

Drum Major Retreat/Announce Finalists: 4:45 P.M.

[bxOxAxUIL]

At the moment I think finals will be this (in alphabetical order):

Anna

Canton

Canyon

Celina

China Spring

Davenport

Floresville

Randall

Sulphur Springs

West Plains

[J-Mike16]

ummmm. I dont know about that LOL

[RaElk99]

  On 9/5/2023 at 5:30 PM, J-Mike16 said:

ummmm. I dont know about that LOL

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Now I'm curious who are in your top 10. 

[J-Mike16]

  On 9/6/2023 at 6:36 PM, RaElk99 said:

Now I'm curious who are in your top 10. 

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• Anna
• Burnet
• Canton
• Canyon
• Celina
• China Spring
• Davenport
• Lumberton
• Sulphur Springs
• West Plains

With North Lamar, Paris, & Calallen being the 3 bands outside of Finals.

[RaElk99]

  On 9/7/2023 at 6:29 AM, J-Mike16 said:

• Anna
• Burnet
• Canton
• Canyon
• Celina
• China Spring
• Davenport
• Lumberton
• Sulphur Springs
• West Plains

With North Lamar, Paris, & Calallen being the 3 bands outside of Finals.

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Ok... I think

Anna

Burnet

Calallen

Canton

Canyon

Celina

China Springs

Davenport

Randall

Sulphur Springs

 

 

[MrsE]

I’m predicting another Celina v. Anna showdown based on what I saw yesterday at Melissa. 

[CrownMATT13]

  On 9/24/2023 at 11:03 PM, MrsE said:

I’m predicting another Celina v. Anna showdown based on what I saw yesterday at Melissa. 

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were you able to watch all of the 4A contenders?? How would you rank them in your opinion at this stage in the game?

[MrsE]

  On 9/25/2023 at 3:01 AM, CrownMATT13 said:

were you able to watch all of the 4A contenders?? How would you rank them in your opinion at this stage in the game?

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I did. 
 

Anna and Celina are neck and neck. I don’t believe either have their full show on the field. It will be interesting to see how it comes together over the next few weeks. 
 

Sulphur Springs was incredibly loud which the crowd loved but did not show a lot of refinement or musicality. Get mad at me for saying that if you want, but it’s true. That doesn’t win anymore. 
 

North Lamar looked much stronger than they’ve looked in years. Canton looked about the same as last year. I personally would’ve put Canton over China Spring. I was surprised CS made finals. Again, another very loud band. They need to refine and show more contrast. 

[CrownMATT13]

  On 9/25/2023 at 3:15 AM, MrsE said:

I did. 
 

Anna and Celina are neck and neck. I don’t believe either have their full show on the field. It will be interesting to see how it comes together over the next few weeks. 
 

Sulphur Springs was incredibly loud which the crowd loved but did not show a lot of refinement or musicality. Get mad at me for saying that if you want, but it’s true. That doesn’t win anymore. 
 

North Lamar looked much stronger than they’ve looked in years. Canton looked about the same as last year. I personally would’ve put Canton over China Spring. I was surprised CS made finals. Again, another very loud band. They need to refine and show more contrast. 

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Awesome info thanks...yea being there would've been awesome but I was surprised to see Canton didn't make finals. Guess someone would've been left out with all the 5A/6A competition. Any place I could find scoring details? I haven't been able to find anything. Thanks again!

[TexasStrangers]

  On 9/25/2023 at 3:15 AM, MrsE said:

I did. 
 

Anna and Celina are neck and neck. I don’t believe either have their full show on the field. It will be interesting to see how it comes together over the next few weeks. 
 

Sulphur Springs was incredibly loud which the crowd loved but did not show a lot of refinement or musicality. Get mad at me for saying that if you want, but it’s true. That doesn’t win anymore. 
 

North Lamar looked much stronger than they’ve looked in years. Canton looked about the same as last year. I personally would’ve put Canton over China Spring. I was surprised CS made finals. Again, another very loud band. They need to refine and show more contrast. 

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I was there and have to agree with you. I think one of the things that helps Anna is their guard has been really really strong. I think the judges pretty much got it right based on what I saw. Of course, for almost everyone this was the first competition out of the gate and many shows had several things missing in props, music and some did not even attempt a 3rd movement. One of the things I like to see each week when I go see some of the same shows is what got tweaked (added/taken way) from the previous show. 

 

Celina/S.S./North Lamar/Canton will be at Princeton and then SS will be at Sunnyvale in the afternoon this coming weekend. So, I guess S.S. is going to try and go to finals in Sunnyvale.  Anna is not competing this weekend and China Spring is staying close to home and doing the Midway Preview.  

[TexasStrangers]

  On 9/25/2023 at 4:08 AM, CrownMATT13 said:

Awesome info thanks...yea being there would've been awesome but I was surprised to see Canton didn't make finals. Guess someone would've been left out with all the 5A/6A competition. Any place I could find scoring details? I haven't been able to find anything. Thanks again!

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If you go to the Melissa Marching Page, there is a post showing you the Preliminary Final Scores for each school. 

[rudy12]

Anna is definitely the clear favorite for me. I wouldn’t be surprised if Celina upsets again. After that the bronze is up for grabs. CS is dangerous with those numbers and have great directors. Canton can’t ever be counted out. North Lamar had a strong early showing.

[deank10]

  On 9/7/2023 at 1:12 PM, RaElk99 said:

Ok... I think

Anna

Burnet

Calallen

Canton

Canyon

Celina

China Springs

Davenport

Randall

Sulphur Springs

 

 

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burnet and calallen and canyon beating celina is quite crazy. Celina has taken the argyle route, we’ll see how it pans out for them, but i think sulphur springs will be the top half for sure, as well as china spring. Davenport was a new school that had a great program next year, excited to see what they do. 

[bxOxAxUIL]

  On 10/2/2023 at 9:49 PM, tenorsaxophoneregion3 said:

burnet and calallen and canyon beating celina is quite crazy. Celina has taken the argyle route, we’ll see how it pans out for them, but i think sulphur springs will be the top half for sure, as well as china spring. Davenport was a new school that had a great program next year, excited to see what they do. 

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I think it’s in alphabetical order

[RaElk99]

  On 10/2/2023 at 9:49 PM, tenorsaxophoneregion3 said:

burnet and calallen and canyon beating celina is quite crazy. Celina has taken the argyle route, we’ll see how it pans out for them, but i think sulphur springs will be the top half for sure, as well as china spring. Davenport was a new school that had a great program next year, excited to see what they do. 

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Yup, just alphabetical order. I am not quite sure on the placing and as the season progresses my predictions are still changing. 

[deank10]

  On 10/3/2023 at 1:18 AM, RaElk99 said:

Yup, just alphabetical order. I am not quite sure on the placing and as the season progresses my predictions are still changing. 

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ohh gotcha

[deank10]

Curious what you think the order will be with the past 2 competitions as reference

 

[CrownMATT13]

  On 10/2/2023 at 9:49 PM, tenorsaxophoneregion3 said:

burnet and calallen and canyon beating celina is quite crazy. Celina has taken the argyle route, we’ll see how it pans out for them, but i think sulphur springs will be the top half for sure, as well as china spring. Davenport was a new school that had a great program next year, excited to see what they do. 

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what do you mean by argyle route? new to the TX marching band landscape so I don't really know.

[Liam Allen]

I have witnessed the Midway Marching Preview, and full disclosure - I am a CS alum and teched for them over the summer.

That is the best I've heard CS sound this early in the season.  Once that thing cleans up, it's going to be pretty hard to stop.  Apparently the judges agree since they got 4th(highest placement at Midway ever).  Have to say that's higher than I had them.

 

[deank10]

  On 10/4/2023 at 4:05 AM, CrownMATT13 said:

what do you mean by argyle route? new to the TX marching band landscape so I don't really know.

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Essentially what schools like Argyle, and now Celina do. They either have everyone standing still with lots of visuals playing really hard things, then march for a little without playing, or just isolated notes, then stand still again and do it over. Sometimes they switch it up where they march and play (which Argyle tends to do a lot more than past years now, which is good for them). Other times they have half of the band doing a feature (standing still with visuals) and half of the band marching a big form. They do this so that there is more variation, and therefore their scores get boosted. Another thing is that they have more soloists (obviously easier for one person to play good, versus a group of people of people to play nicely and together)

[deank10]

Were you are the Melissa Showcase? How much have they improved?

[MrsE]

  On 10/4/2023 at 11:28 PM, deank10 said:

Essentially what schools like Argyle, and now Celina do. They either have everyone standing still with lots of visuals playing really hard things, then march for a little without playing, or just isolated notes, then stand still again and do it over. Sometimes they switch it up where they march and play (which Argyle tends to do a lot more than past years now, which is good for them). Other times they have half of the band doing a feature (standing still with visuals) and half of the band marching a big form. They do this so that there is more variation, and therefore their scores get boosted. Another thing is that they have more soloists (obviously easier for one person to play good, versus a group of people of people to play nicely and together)

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IMO, with the way judging has changed, most schools will be going this route. It’s not about blasting brass and hiding woodwinds at the back, lol. I’ve talked to a few show designers who are needing to totally rethink how they design.

  On 9/30/2023 at 2:53 AM, rudy12 said:

North Lamar had a strong early showing.

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I was very happy to see NL bounce back from what happened at state last year. While I don’t think the judges were too far off last year, it was definitely nice to see them have a strong showing at Melissa. 

[deank10]

  On 10/6/2023 at 2:18 AM, MrsE said:

IMO, with the way judging has changed, most schools will be going this route. It’s not about blasting brass and hiding woodwinds at the back, lol. I’ve talked to a few show designers who are needing to totally rethink how they design.

I was very happy to see NL bounce back from what happened at state last year. While I don’t think the judges were too far off last year, it was definitely nice to see them have a strong showing at Melissa. 

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Hate to see it, the content scores getting lower is such a bummer. Hard shows that blast and have hard runs and crazy drill are so much more entertaining 

[rudy12]

I think that concept of content as it relates to scores is misunderstood. A high level of difficulty does not and should not score as well as something slightly less demanding but clean. A lot of “crowd favorites” being listed here are extremely dirty right now. If they clean up, they will score better. If they don’t, then credit for their difficulty cannot be rewarded. It’s as simple as that. 
 

Also, there is a fundamental understanding among most good judges that marching while playing demanding music is more difficult than playing with choreo. So the risk/reward game being played by a lot of these bands should make for some interesting results

 

bottom line, 4A has never been this competitive or high level. Get your popcorn ready.