Leaderboard

Centralia has a great show, great director, great staff, and great students. They're doing the right things - I would imagine the shift from whatever random IL sheets they were judged to BOA and the difference in judging panels played a bigger role. As a member of the staff at Centralia, I can tell you over the course of the last few years, we have taken a more BOA centric approach to our show design. We’ve put much more emphasis on how we develop the theme of our show than in the past. We were also pleasantly surprised by the overall ranking of our group against the other groups. Our enrollment of 608 for 10-12 grades placed us in 2A by 8 students after being in 1A for the past few seasons. It stings slightly that we would have been 2nd in 1A, but regardless, we are more than proud of our students and ALL of the groups who stepped up to compete in the National circuit. We have learned that results from our local comps have to be taken with a grain of salt and that results are typically very different than what we see at BOA. I’d encourage you to check YouTube or Facebook for videos of performances from these bands to get a better idea of what each program is about rather than depending solely on numbers. All of the programs mentioned have great programs and a bright future. I love being a part of growth in our state and love watching all of the programs succeed. Our Director also has been a strong advocate for creating a circuit in the state, but that’s a topic for another day. Best of luck to everyone the rest of the season! It has been one to remember!

Selfishly I am going to continue plugging the smaller IL shows and bands because while they might not be BOA-ing it up or traveling far off, their kids are still doing awesome work that deserves to be recognized!!

Centralia has a great show, great director, great staff, and great students. They're doing the right things - I would imagine the shift from whatever random IL sheets they were judged to BOA and the difference in judging panels played a bigger role. I am impressed with the Illinois contingency this year top to bottom and am excited to see so many groups on the up and up. I also can't believe that O'Fallon is playing Festive Overture. That's awesome. haha.

Something else to consider is budget. Larger schools generally have a bigger budget to spend on props, techs, staff, instruments, private teachers and all that. I come from a school with a rather small budget and it's always tough seeing bands in class with new drum heads and all silver brass.

Ok. Smoke 'em if you got 'em because this is going to be a ride. What I love about this activity is how well the kids treat each other. I went down a rabbit hole on TikTok, and it was amazing to see all the groups across the state supporting each other. Not a single negative comment. Adults take a cue. Here are my thoughts by session. Session A What a log-jam with 1A. I am fully on-board with the result, though. Whenever you watch a block, you see the group that is the game changer. IVC was that for me. For Eureka, I think it was still dark, and my brain was probably not fully functioning. Great get on the music caption. University was the surprise based on the time wasted here. I agree with both the result and caption. They clearly had the vehicle designed for BOA sheets, and their GE score matched Galesburg. Paris just needed to be about 10 percent better across the board. I bet they will be a lot better at BOA. For Morton, I am torn about whether I like the show better in the day or at night. In the sunlight, the white just popped for me in the morning. The musicianship was at a high level, and the solos hit for me. I loved the kids being elevated and flipped. Galesburg fit in as expected. I did love the solos as sufficiently hyped. LSP and Limestone were both in the hunt, but just a touch below Galesburg. Ultimately, I do not have any qualms with the results, and I love how much the groups came to play that early in the morning. Session B Who had Romeoville within a point of Marian on their predictions? Ahead on Music GE? Me neither. Turns out the the block of five starting with Romeoville was decisive. Like I was saying earlier, when Romeoville stepped on, it was clear this was a new class/session. The music was a category difference in that block. I feel bad for Washington. It was clearly such a fun show, but it looks like Music and one Music GE judge was the difference. I just think those above them had a repertoire that was better suited for BOA sheets, and ultimately performance is king. Collinsville and Lemont were an interesting comparison. Lemont much better in music and visual, but GE carries the day on BOA sheets, and in prelims performance especially carried the day for Collinsville. Batavia just a step below both. For Marian, visual ensemble was the only issue. Everything else is there to make a run at a 1A title and be a semifinalist on score. I disagree with it being a staffing issue. Apply the traditional Marian cleaning, and they are set. Bloomington was perhaps my favorite of the day as far interesting and fun. I know their season is over, but their designer may want to add an arguing-with-your-spouse movement and why-do-the-screws-have-this-star-shape-instead-of-a-flathead/Phillips phase. Perhaps end with breaking it and hauling it outside. But the show was super fun. I loved how their kids were so excited during both awards sections. Mascoutah, which borders O'Fallon, is only a few points out as well. They can make some noise in the future. Session C I don't know what happened to Plainfield Central at BOA Iowa, but I knew they were in finals when they came off the field. Looks like they made good use of the judges tapes there. VJA was one of several Western shows on the day, and the best. Loved the music and the music arrangement. Prospect was their traditional excellent selves. Generally crisp. It looks like music individual and visual GE is what held them down, but that is fixable in a week. I really loved both Oswego schools musical arrangements. Who knew Greg Bimm had some skill in that area? For Edwardsville, I get the placement. I want so much more out of them, and they are going to the right places. It just had this lost in the crowd feel. I sat with a mix of Bloomington and Normal parents for Normal's show, and it was great to get the hometown vibe as it was happening. They had a serviceable prelims performance following Prospect, and the two seemed close to me. Plainfield North had a blessing and a curse. Standing in the end zone and having to wait while Avon/Broken Arrow/Flower Mound, etc., does their thing psychologically pushes performance to different end of the bell curve. This is based on pure vibes and nothing scientific. For Plainfield North, they had that task following O'Fallon. They got their heads right, and absolutely rocked it. Second overall in prelims. With O'Fallon, it was great for them that they got to perform second to last as they stadium was packed for awards. Outside of groups that do BOA every year, I don't know how many casual observers see O'Fallon much. i saw mouths agape and such. I had not seen their show with costuming, and they should have something to say at BOA StL and Grand Nats. FINALS Collinsville: Small margins are tough in finals, and everyone has to fight the happy-to-be-here phenomenon. i really did not have issues with the run. Just need more energy, which is tough after a long day. Galesburg: Same as above. These are hairline differences. IVC: Not just happy to be there. Who picked this placement? Lemont: Score was quite consistent across prelims/finals, and great job on improving placement. Plainfield Central: I really like this show. It frames the field well, and lets both the music and visual components shine when they are the focus. Oswego: Clearly not a surprise finalist. What do we know? GE got them the placement, and that matters on BOA sheets. VJA: The top of this cluster in both prelims and finals. Earned it. The history on some of these groups is amazing. 28 times a finalist. That means at no point was there some craziness that shut down the program or booster issues or big enough staff problems. They come to play every single year. That is awesome in my book. Eyes with pride! Romeoville: Peak performance. They could have fallen into to the happy-to-be-here trap after winning the class. But they sent out the departing direction with a performance for the ages. Bloomington: Watching the kids in the stands across the field was worth the trip. It was as though they announced them as lottery recipients. I hope they have a great party. They seem up to it. Marian: I like the show. i actually get it for a change. The growth module is again right on track. Tidy up the visual end of it, and they are golden. Same as above with VJA. Every year they are here and have won their class since 1980. Think of all the changes in the world since then. Wow! Prospect: I have always loved Prospect visually, the flip turn to go from the lighter colored uniform fronts to the back black always hits for me. I remember them winning visual at BOA St. Louis in finals years ago. They can well be in finals this week at BOA. Plainfield North: If I told you this group has been a BOA regional finalist exactly one time, would you believe me? I would not believe myself. Please go to BOA as much as possible. Normal: You want to see a group that is well led? Look at this one. Improved finals placement both the past two weeks. Multiple practices at Hancock Stadium leading up to this contest. (Must be great to live in, well, Normal). Didn't melt after following O'Fallon. Go to Grand Nationals. Do it. Morton: I do not care what the scoring says. This is the best show they have ever had. Scoring an 83 on a BOA sheet and improving from prelims cements them as BOA StL finalist, a GN semi-finalist and perhaps more. They are in the conversation for top half this week. Ahead of O'Fallon in both music and visual individual. Non-meaningful differences in music total and visual total. This show will turn some heads at BOA. Will be best across classes of UIUC. Indeed, not bad for a 2A band. O'Fallon: I will show my cards. On the negative side, I think the prelim performance was better. But that might just me being dumb about crowd reaction. Regardless, they slayed the dragon. The following in the inaccurate mindset of the area: Recognition of anything in the Metro East is tough. People in Missouri assume it is all inner city or farm land. Chicagoland is generally unaware that the state exists south of I-80. Elsewhere tends to look toward Chicago. It take an East St. Louis football dynasty or something of the like (O'Fallon girls soccer ... I kid.) But O'Fallon did in the toughest venue possible for them. It has always felt like a curse. 1980-scored above a group in class that was in finals but were out; (need to fill in 1985-95 information), 1996-top Lincoln-Way at at EIU and out of finals; 1998-no finals, then top Lincoln-Way at UIUC a week later. Back in finals in 2001-02, and then staff chaos. 2011, 2012, and 2014-in finals but end up behind groups they top later at BOA. 2017-weather Gods. 2018-0.1 behind a better Lincoln-Way. But now they have done it. It was so amazing to watch their drum majors walk over to where they were sitting with the trophy. Despite a firm policy of no-yelling-for-yourself (even for parents), they were allowed to shout something from the soul: "What town? O-TOWN!" What's left? Consistent GN finalist. I am convinced they need Collinsville, Edwardsville, Belleville East, or Belleville West, etc., to be Super Regionalist finalist quality to get there. Nothing made Marian better than Lake Park. Avon needs Carmel. The Lewisville and Leander ISD schools need each other.