2023 HEB Marching Contest (Sept. 30)

[Origin]

Hopefully they stream this contest on YouTube like they usually do.

I saw both Marcus and Keller’s latest halftime performances (with audio, yay!). Maybe it’s bit of recency bias, but these are the two that have excited me the most out of the bands competing here.

Marcus’ show is suuuuper edgy. After the pre show they literally start with the most dissonant, crunchy chord before jumping into a very fast and technical section. Lots of notes constantly flying. I also love how dramatic and unique their choreo is. The second part is pretty much entirely a percussion feature…it’s just so so cool and intense. 

Keller’s show is very beautiful but also powerful. Lots of Mahler 2 goodness, which I think they are definitely doing justice. I really like how they’re showcasing quieter dynamics and more lyrical moments on top of the loud stuff you would usually expect. The brass feature that they play on the move after the ballad kindof knocked my socks off.

Haven’t seen Wakeland in a month. From what I remember they had a lot of their show out there and it was very very clean. I wouldn’t be surprised if they show up with a full, clean, production. I think they’ll do really really well here, even though I wasn’t as excited by the concept. 

I also saw Keller Central’s most recent performance. They didn’t perform a ton of their show, and it felt a bit underproduced for this point in the season, but I was really quite impressed. It’s a similar vibe to last year. Very intense, edgy, and lots of notes…maybe a liiiittle overly blasty. Hopefully the rest of the show showcases a full range of musicality.

Forney is looking like a solid top half of finals contender. I’m also interested to see how much Timber Creek has cleaned, because as of September 1st, it looked like they had a lot of work to do.

[tamago1]

wakeland

marcus

keller

tc

forney

aledo

kc

azle

haltom

martin

fridge

boswell

[MartinTuba]

I’m a Martin Grad and saw a vid of their show. I haven’t seen anyone else so I’m in no place to rank anyone but I do know that Martin looks and sounds a LOT better than in the past few years. 

[JWork]

Can’t wait to see all these talented bands perform on Saturday!

These are my personal predictions for this competition, would love to hear what y’all think

 

Marcus

Wakeland

Keller

Timber Creek

Forney

Keller Central

Aledo

Haltom

James Martin

Azle

Fossil Ridge

Boswell

[quantum]

1. Marcus

2. Wakeland

3. Keller

4. Timber Creek

5. Aledo

6. Forney

7. Keller Central

8. Haltom

9. James Martin

10. Azle

11. Fossil Ridge

12. Boswell

[Tubalord11]

 
here’s the link for the live stream

[Tubalord11]

I’ll be able to watch the first few bands and will do commentary until I leave for Wylie

[Tubalord11]

Keller Central- The Edge 

All I can say is wow! It’s hard to judge visually bc of the quality of the live stream so most of my comments will be music based, but KC sound SO GOOD for this time of the season! I’m a really big fan of the music, especially after that opening hit! Their soloist did great, especially that Clarinet, bro was killing it! Very excited to see the at prosper, great job KC! 

[Tubalord11]

James Martin: forgot the title but they sounded really good! Definitely not as strong as last year, but they should still make finals here. Really great soloist and some very effective drill, great job Martin! 

[Tubalord11]

Azle: MY GOODNESS! They got such a big sound…once again! Love the music all the way through, and they looked great as well! Good job Azle! 

[LostChoirGuy]

I've been busy today, but I hopped on the Livestream on my phone for ten minutes earlier to watch Keller's performance.  They sounded really good from what I could hear.  I love the regal sounding fanfare opening in their show.

[Band Dad 2021]

Wakeland sounded really good and was tight. The soloist was phenomenal. After all of their changes in the off season it was an amazing show. Very Wakeland!

[Dallas Hobbs]

Class 6A Caption Awards

Soloist/Ensemble: Keller HS Clarinet Duet

Visual Solo/Ensemble: Marcus solo dancer

Color Guard: Marcus

Percussion: Marcus

Music: Marcus

Visual: Marcus

General Effect: Marcus

[Dallas Hobbs]

Class 5A Caption Awards

Soloist/ Small Ensemble: forney Drumset soloist

Visual Solo/ Small Ensemble: forney battery percussion choreography 

Color Guard: Aledo

Percussion: Wakeland 

Music: Wakeland 

Visual: Wakeland

General Effect: Wakeland 

[Dallas Hobbs]

Class 4A Caption Awards

Soloist/ Small Ensemble: Krum Piano Soloist

Visual Solo/Ensemble: Krum Candleabra(sp?) soloist 

Color Guard: Krum 

Percussion: Krum 

Music: Krum

Visual: Krum

General Effect: Krum 

[Dallas Hobbs]

Class 4A champ: Krum 

[Dallas Hobbs]

Class 5A Placements 

1st: Wakeland

2nd: Forney

3rd: Aledo

[Dallas Hobbs]

Class 6A Placements 

1st: Marcus

2nd: Timber Creek

3rd: Keller

[Origin]

Shocked with Timber Creek in 2nd in 6A. Thought they had some quite rough moments musically. 

[Dallas Hobbs]

Finalists announced in random order:

Wakeland 

forney 

Marcus 

keller central

byron Nelson 

aledo 

timber creek

Haltom 

Keller 

boswell

james Martin 

fossil ridge 

[Niceone]

really feel like wakelands soprano soloist got robbed

[crunchycookie3]

2 minutes ago, Origin said:

Shocked with Timber Creek in 2nd in 6A. Thought they had some quite rough moments musically. 

I’m not very surprised- Timber Creek has been on the rise! Keller seems to me to be a bit of a lull from the previous years, but we’ll see! They tend to be a late-season peaking band.

[littlejaw]

6 minutes ago, crunchycookie3 said:

I’m not very surprised- Timber Creek has been on the rise! Keller seems to me to be a bit of a lull from the previous years, but we’ll see! They tend to be a late-season peaking band.

No you’re right, I’ll be first to admit that Keller’s show relies too much on showing off the impressive musicians. It doesn’t have enough arrival moments and the effect is not there yet.

Not just the Keller slow start, I think they are on the outside looking in right now at Grand Nats.

[littlejaw]

Congrats to all of the KISD bands making finals!

[krustyjoe]

10 minutes ago, Niceone said:

really feel like wakelands soprano soloist got robbed

Hey, we shouldn't be disrespectful to the other bands, but Wakeland has to give them some hope.