I am actually a former band member from Texas in a city waaaaay south of San Antonio, TX The high school I attended was PHARR-SAN JUAN- ALAMO High School. I played clarinet during marching season and basson during concert season. I will share the video with you soon.
Here's the link to my high school back in 1986 @ Pigskin Jubilee in McAllen, TX. My band performance starts @ 43:07. Our band director was Mr. Edgar Fuentes+ We received a division I rating and went all the way to state.ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JxX4rC0uk2I.html
Thank you so much for reacting to the show. I was a student in the show and it just warms my heart to know that everything we worked so hard at, specifically musically, like the ending of the ballad really showed through. I would recommend reacting to a couple of shows like Vandegrift 2019 Aria Queen of the Night and/or Hebron 2021 Penstriped.
Dont be afraid to pause the video if you want to talk at length for a second! Thanks for the kind words ❤ loved hearing your reaction to our performance
I live in the Leander School District. The School District not only now holds this 6A state title but Cedar Park holds the 5A state marching band title. Vandegrift is always a treat to watch and make a point of not only seeing them at contest but also watching the show develop by attending games. This year was a massive change for Vandegrift as they went through a head director change and brought in new assistants. Prior to this performance (which was stunning) I had them pegged for third behind a surging Vista Ridge (who will be at the Rose Bowl this year) and your previously reviewed Hebron. But this performance was "Peak Vandegrift" and an absolute pleasure to witness live.
Stumbled upon your commentary and loved it. I grew up in East Texas. To this day, the bands in the area do marching drills, not shows. Take a look at " 11/1/22 The Pride of Lindale UIL State Military Marching Band Finals". They even have separate competition ladders. For college level, watch Texas A&M. Totally differently designed shows and music. I like the marching "6 to 5" more but I grew up with that. Steve Lee
My favorite show this year, at least from a show design standpoint, was Cedar Ridge. Their show was such a crowd pleaser. They ended up placing 9th at BOA San Antonio but turned around only days later and made 3rd at UIL State, right behind Hebron and Vande. They march only a fraction of the kids the other bands do(only barely cracking 100 from what I can eyeball), and were by far the smallest band at finals, but they still project lots of good sound. Would be interested to see your perspective on this group
Thank you for doing this reaction. I am a new band parent with three kids at Vandegrift and honestly all these bands are just so good that I would never be able to judge a UIL competition. So much talent across the board. I absolutely loved so many of the shows this year. They all work so hard to deliver the passion for their shows to the audience! What a sight. Is there any chance you can talk about ensembles in the upcoming concert season? You teach me so much as you talk about music. Also can you think about checking out Hendrickson High School and Ronald Reagan High School BOA ?
Amazing videos and I love the way you talk about these productions. I would love to see you maybe pause the video and talk a little more about that moment you have something to say about. Some bands I really enjoyed watching/listening to are Tarpon springs 2018, Dobyns-bennetts 2018, Claudia Taylor Johnson 2019. My personal band Paul Lawrence Dunbar from Lexington Kentucky 2014-2015. any of those I would absolutely love watching you react too. Keep up the good work!
Wonderful read of the show! Thanks! I have a couple of thoughts on this show. First, they have the while poles across the back field but do not use them. The secondary guard plays around them, but it would be just fine to not have them if your not going to use them. They added nothing to the visual and I’m sure that money could have been used for the students. The body movement of the band seems to be limited in vocab and repetitious. Hebron had a wider variety of skill each student bought into it. In PRELIMS Vandergrift and Hebron tied for first place. In FINALS Vandergrift and Hebron tied again! Each performance had a different adjudicating panel, so that was really strange. Van won due to ordinals. Regardless, it was an amazing performance by both organizations. They both deserve first!
The poles in the show in the back are actually lights. You can’t actually see them in this video but they were pretty bright in most performances. I designed the light show and performed it and there’s good chunk of stuff you can’t actually see in this performance unfortunately.
Heyo! I was on rack for this show (or auxiliary for you fancy people) and it was an absolute blast. My rack was on the left and this run is the most hype we’ve ever been!
I'm Loving your content! You should react to William Mason's show this year, I know that finding good videos can be tough so let me know if you want a high quality video of them that I have.
