Marcus High School Band UIL State 2010 Finals

Marcus High School Band performing their show entitled Illuminaries.
UIL 5A Marching Band Contest - Finals
1st Place

[@maceyfayse]

I don't think you guys truly understand how much time and effort goes into creating drill, especially drill as complex as this. Whether or not you find it ridiculous that certain bands have this policy you need to respect it. We work hard to perform, and to perform our shows properly- and our directors work even harder to create something for us. Also- if something is online, it's hard for it to ever not be online again. It could be stolen easily without the creator knowing.

[@mw2god1234]

Fantastic show! But really, I dont think the Marcus kids are concerned about the copyright, just people stealing their ideas. And I dont blame them, this was amazing!

[@123snickerslover]

Wow.. There's sooo many props and people in this band. That's probably the main reason why they all the time. I have to give props to Bowie though... Their show was really complicated and their final show really was amazing. They should have atleast beaten Bell.

[@lovebaritones1]

good job i am in the saginaw high school band good luck this year

[@zRhid]

o my god their rolls are really clean..

[@definitely_not_bryce]

I remember seeing this my freshman year of high school at BOA Arlington. I didn't really know what to expect, but I remember being so shocked by how large they were. From the first few notes, we all could tell how amazing this band was going to be. I remember how the rifles lit up, and how everyone gasped after that happened. I also got to see it again at BOA San Antonio. This show seriously inspired me so much, and I actually got to thank their head band director, Amanda Drinkwater, my freshman year of college. This show still leaves me in awe to this day.

[@Wahl95]

@PrestonTheJoy It's the violin solo from Winter from Vivaldi's Four Seasons.

[@Wahl95]

So by dynamically, do you mean louder? These students are some of the most talented high school musicians in the entire country. They sound absolutely fantastic, and have plenty of direction. Learn the difference between playing with dynamics and playing loudly. Just because a band is loud doesn't mean that band will do well. Playing loudly is easy.

[@hobbitbs29]

Marching bands need to be loud

[@hobbitbs29]

And btw, it's hard to project sound that loud while keeping tone quality

[@CooperCarlson]

@Ventus98 Oh, I'm in the Woodlands Band.

[@Altoclarinets]

0:45- *thinks* oh, my hs band could do that... 0:50- nevermind!

[@papajohn5656]

And now, Marcus High School, presenting their show "The chamber music of NPR"

[@eldest1408]

My band also made it to state in 2010 and we actually stayed in the same hotel as Marcus High School! they're really nice people!

[@hannah143ify]

I'm apart of the Brazoswood buc band. Our show was vertigo. We had spinning snares. Thats how people remembered us. This was an amazing preformance. I thought ours was amazing too but we got 11th place. So close. Honestly I thought we deserved a finals spot but obviously the judges didnt think so. but who cares its some guy with a clipboard. All band did AH-mazing! We all worked hard and were all winners!

[@6sTriggerX]

LAWL that must be INCLUDING instruments to boast that kind of figure. In actuality most props are recycled from something else i.e. a previous years show or donations by the community. Parents are a big part of this band and consist of the majority of the labor force when it comes to volunteering their time, money and skills. Students do NOT pay even half of what you claim to be in band at this school. I understand why people get mad,however if they knew the true story they'd only have love.

[@tbonesfa]

@ladibug27 Back in the 90s and early 2000s, it was held at Floyd Casey Stadium on the Baylor University campus. The 2002 contest rained heavily, and several kids were injured during their shows, leading the judges to determine the rankings for preliminary as the final scores. It's at the AlamoDome now, because in the event of another heavy rainstorm, they can simply close the roof.

[@mw2god1234]

@TheARJ15 LD Bell's show was incredibly hard this year, and they executed it at an extremely high level. Marcus had in my opinion a better show last year then LD Bell had last year, and I didn't really care for LD Bell's show last year, I just didn't think it was a good idea for a marching band show. I think that Vanity Fair wasn't as good as last year, but I really enjoyed LD Bell's show this year.

[@mw2god1234]

@biznock19 True. You know, going into this season I though for sure that Marcus would win it all again, but when I was watching them at BOA San Antonio finals in the stands, I realized that when you actually draw your attention away from the distracting colorful light up ferris wheels and focus on the band, they're nothing special. And I'm now glad they got fourth (not to be mean). I really think LD Bell deserved it this year.

[@BeanSand]

@lolcunts We were 12th of 12 in the finals at our state competition (OBA), and the scores were basically in proper descending intervals from 1st to 12th (meaning the difference from place to place was only a few points), but the most glaring difference in all of the scores was our Music GE score, which was 40 points lower than 11th place. This was, of course, in line with the judges' comments on our "ineffective concept". We played a pre-written, movie-themed show as opposed to a concept show.

[@BeanSand]

@lolcunts My point was to say that there are schools who don't do that amazingly, but their artsy one-word concept, size, and classical music choice put them at the top. I'm certainly not inferring that this is always the case, but I am saying that it was very common in my experience. Size is, I'm sure, irrelevant in judging in a CONSCIOUS way, but when a band comes on and marches all over the field, playing their hearts out, they get tired, and they get penalized for it.

[@BeanSand]

@lolcunts Although I do agree that calling those pieces "Semi-recognizable" is a disservice, it is an apt summary of the general populace's recognizance with respect to even the most famous of all composers and pieces. You and I could appreciate all the music in probably every marching show, but most listeners, even those in the bands, don't know the names or composers; most just think "Hey, wasn't that on a commercial?" when they hear famous classical music.

[@BeanSand]

Even though these kids did really well, I hate it when large bands are perceived as much better when they hardly march at all (due to the sheer amount of kids on the field), and they just use semi-recognizable classical music (like Vivaldi and Verdi) and vague, one-word themes ("Aqua", "Love", "War") . I know this video is a Texas 5A competition, but in multi-class competitions, the bigger bands almost ALWAYS do better, ESPECIALLY when they use vague themes and classical music.

[@jkon7]

Show literally won after the first brass chorale...No other Highschool Band sounds like that on the Marching field. , yeah, even you Ld Bell. This show raised the bar for all previous shows before it from both Marcus and LD Bell. When I heard this at BOA San Antonio...just wow. I mean marching wise, LD Bell is damn good. But just the sound of this band, to produce that on the Marching field. wow.

[@JKMDaniel]

Several comments to the Brazoswood fans. Several things that caused your band to not be on top. 1, music, music, music! Last year's 4A winner played classical. This year's 5A winner also played a wide variety of great classical music, and done very well. 2, spacing. Brazoswood had some spacing problems. 3, show design. There were many periods in the Brazoswood program the band was standing at several big musical points too long. There were also less interesting formations in my opinion.

[@ForeverArbitrary]

Can all the haters stop complaining? Just Appreciate it! I agree that Marcus can be overrated at times, but they clearly desereved it this year. I cannot say I saw all the bands that preformed, but as soon as i heard Marcus, I knew they'd won. Yes, im sure all of you guys bands did amazing as well, but COME ON! I'm not kissing up to them, no. I simply have the DECENCY to give credit where credit is due. The fact that Marcus won IN NO WAY affects your band's succes and credibility. STOP WHINING!

[@CheckeredStarz]

I don't understand why posting this undoes all the hard work drill writers, arrangers, directors, and band students put into this show. Isn't people wanting to see the video (many of which are unable to see the band live) validating their hard work even more? If this was my band I would want everyone in the freaking world to see this video! And you can't claim copyright unless the poster is using this to make profit, or directly taking the music/drill/design to use as their own without consent.

[@videogamefr3ak58]

Hi. I am also a member of the Marcus Band. Our director now knows about this video posting. Just like maceyfayse was saying, this drill and music is copyrighted to the Marcus Band. If this video is not removed then you can be slapped with a really big fine plus maybe jail time. All im asking is for this video to please be removed. I don't want anything to happen because of a copyright infringement.

[@maceyfayse]

@lightupthefireflies That's not the point, the drill could be stolen or copied through this video. We have the same policy in my band and I'm in University of Delaware's Marching Band- if we see a video of us posted on youtube we ask them kindly to take it down, it's not worth having someone steal material that our director wrote for us and she spent a lot of time creating. It's extremely important for some bands, whether the season is over or not.

[@wowiamninboy]

props take away from marching band. they take the judges eye's away from the marching. i will say, however, that they have relatively easy sets and therefore are easy to clean. music is pretty good. but 1st place? i dont know. i think that duncanville deserved it. good music, complicated sets, many different things occuring on the field at once. they werent perfect either, but no show is.

[@bandrocks2010]

Okay so they are really good and stuff. But you can see that most of the drill is just follow-the-leader kind of deal. And the music doesn't seem that hard. Most bands that are huge like this one are good because so many of the actual good players stand out while the others just add the background volume.

[@kabalahman]

@nimi12tennis Okay... so I went to the You Tube video and watched Brazoswood's performance. IMO as someone not affiliated with any Texas program, Marcus' program was more effective (GE) marching and musically, and it was FAR better performed (Music and Marching Execution). And before you cast any dispersions, I have judged for many years.

[@strife181]

Sounds amazing, as usual. Looks very clean visually, but it's not particularly exciting or difficult. But, when you play a book like that and sound as clean as they do, I guess the judges wouldn't mind them practically walking. Don't get me wrong, this band is amazing, but I'd love to see them march harder drill and STILL look and sound awesome. Perhaps in the future.

[@BosPercussion]

@TxRaider13 That is incorrect. Unless they arranged and choreographed everything themselves, their is copyright release which is paid to allow public performance of x number of times and mechanical release to Mr Video. They have the right to distribute it b/c Marcus band would have gotten clearances. Even regional UIL has this as a standard form for competition nowadayas.

[@maceyfayse]

To give you a perfectly good example, we performed at the allentown collegiate band festival about a month ago and someone from West Chester's MB video taped us and someone asked them to remove the video because it violated our policy. We don't care if you video tape us and keep it for personal pleasure, but if you post it or sell it, then there's a problem.

[@nazarito97]

damn im from the macarthur band veritical and well wow just seeing the start of this its like wtf?damn now macarthur had a real cahnce of going to state but well some jdges may be bias or maybe just did not like the entertaining styles of the jammin generals look up jammin generals the joker its pretty cool..thanks for your time..

[@chicostacos4]

I have a feeling you go to a school that has difficult drill, decent shows, and places significantly or somewhat lower than Marcus at competition. Keep being butt hurt, but like it or not, they will always sound much better than your band and always place much higher, unless you go somewhere like L.D. Bell, Avon, or Broken Arrow-- Which I doubt you do. I don't recommend telling us the name of your school, don't embarrass yourself any further or your program.

[@chicostacos4]

This comment made me grin. Almost all the marching you will ever see is follow the leader. If it's not, it's just scatter drill or some kind of solo. Watch any other good marching band or even a drum corp, they're all similar in the sense of drill. The music is actually quite difficult. They played The Queen of the Night Aria by Mozart, Winter by Vivaldi, and Confutatis Maledictis, which is from Mozart's Requiem. Those are all incredibly advanced pieces which require advanced musicianship. 1/2

[@chicostacos4]

This show just amazes me. How does Marcus afford all these things? The props, the modifications to the uniforms (The black, yellow, and orange uniforms), the flags, and the guard uniforms? My band is basically poor. We're actually very good, and did well at BOA in Texas, but we do things on a budget. We have no props, we reuse certain flags, and the biggest financial stretch we've made in a long time was our shakos made of Ostrich feathers.

[@Altoclarinets]

@iPanickedTGG What probably makes the most difference is size- a band with a ton of people (like Marcus) has a lot more room to be creative because it isn't imperative that every player they have be playing to be heard, and if someone isn't marching or playing up to par, they have a bunch of alternates they can sub in. incidentally, big programs tend to happen when the kids want to stay in because the band's so good. Self perpetuating loop, anyone?

[@HyliaSymphonic]

It's a waste of everyone's time and energy to care much for results. It's not like a medal changes your performance or what anyone thought of it. Competitive results are a wasteful goal that hurt the integrity and artistry of the sports. Also deliberately inflammatory posts such as these are a waste.

[@chaosofdoom2]

I would imagine it's a fraction of that. If they have reasonable fundraising and donors, like I suspect a band of this size and accomplishment would, just being in the band would probably cost closer to $500. But being in band is downright expensive, for any program, anywhere.

[@TheARJ15]

@rhsbandnerd2012 the theme of this years show is vanity fair, its like a vintage kind of fair theme, i wont give away what the props are this year but their is five parts, vanity fair, wedding day, tristsch tratsch polka, dreams of love, and dance of the hours

[@tspruell94]

I'm from Amarillo High School. We were so close to making it to state this past year, would we have won? Probably not, but still the opportunity to play in that stadium would've been great. Marcus high school is one awesome band, if we had gone, I would have wanted to lose to them lol

[@TheBassclarinet2]

I loved your guys show and no matter what people say great bands have to go through so much physical exercise just to become good. Oh and this year i'll get to see you live at BOA super regionals because my band is going for the first time yippee! ~air academy high school marching band member, colorado

[@1049berkeley]

Musically-probably without a doubt the best I heard all year. That said---while the drill is interesting--and lacklsuster at certain points, the colorguard certainly fills in the gaps.....I think Broken Arrow could have used your candleabras----as scary trees in "ZO"

[@theonlybenjohnson]

this program has a way of making every show they do come off so elegant. the music is performed to perfection. The only thing i wish was different is their gray pants, all white would be awesome especially with how good they march- the gray kinda gets lost in the field for my eyes.

[@ladibug27]

i do nottt understand why state marching band would be in the alamadome. i was in there for the 4a competition this year and it literally sucks. being inside throws the acoustics off so bad (especially rim shots!). they should just pick an outdoors stadium.

[@Ch1k3n112233]

@lovedoodle3 well the marching band world isn't a world of hate for other bands, it's a world of love and encouragement for other bands because we value good sportsmanship and frown upon haters. - your band buddy from the RRHS Dragon Band!

[@TheARJ15]

@lolcunts vanity fair is gonna be amazing, i dont think its sounds feminine, it has a style that i think fits every section of the band in each individual part, from the light fast style of vanity fair to the slow lyrical style of dreams of love

[@tblade92]

@TxRaider13 If what u say is true, then what about BOA? Marcus beat Bell at BOA too. Even last year at GN, tops in the Music Caption. Careful how u respond, bc if what u say about UIL is true of BOA, then easy music/drill is how Bell won GN '07.

[@tblade92]

@ luke55698 I agree Marcus would have given Avon a run for their $ at Nats but I don't know bout Nats...mayb too political. I wasnt there but it seems like Broken Arrow AND Bell had better general effect, yet Avon won that caption.

[@chaosofdoom2]

I highly doubt they know yet, and even if they do, I doubt they're allowed to go on the internet and announce it to the world, judging by the all the requests by members to have this taken down when it was first put up....

[@tblade92]

@mw2god1234 what I funny strange is the fact in prelims, they(Marcus) were .5 points out of 1st, behind Bell. Just makes me wonder. Glad Bell finally got it together though, because they didnt win the other two BOA events.

[@Ch1k3n112233]

@arcanistman2 uhh.... i'm pretty sure allen band has WAY more people... just look at some of their videos. here's one kzbin.info/www/bejne/iaOVq2yOpq-lfLM and an even more impressive one... kzbin.info/www/bejne/pp6rhZ54h7uBnJo

[@pinkfloydsman2010]

dude I went to Denton Ryan and Marcus is pretty much the king of Texas marching bands these days. LD Bell was pretty awesome for a while and is still amazing, but man....marcus's shows are always so clean...

[@MrVLonely]

@TxRaider13 ... what does "Please don't take any video footage of any tonights performances" do you not understand? lol. Also, the music publishers and rightful owners have copyright ownership and stuff like that so... HA.

[@sweatintotheoldies]

The truth is they don't want it posted for the competition to study/learn/out-do them.But isn't this how the bar is continually raised?? Get over the "We're not supposed to post this" thing. Great Job Everyone!.

[@lwinters1216]

as long as it isn't for profit there shouldn't be a problem with this video being here...you should be proud that people think that your band is awesome and want to watch it! if someone does try to copy, then go after them!

[@chicostacos4]

@bandmommou Exactly, haha. Are you a parent of a student/students at Marcus? I live in Colleyville and we're actually one of the richest schools in the DFW area but we still can't afford things like this, even with our donations and fund raisers we can't afford things like this.

[@marcosishes]

Crazy how much marching band has changed. As good as this band is, it would probably not even make state finals against today's competition

[@tblade92]

@witcherdude, someone correct me if Im wrong. BUT didn't Drinkwater take over as Director only in 2005? If so, Marcus has only gotten 1st at UIL under her leadership. '06, '08, and '10. smdh

[@BeanSand]

@lolcunts Huh. I didn't know that's how they scored it. Nevertheless, in my experience, my band has been below others not because our marching was worse, but because our "concept wasn't effective".

[@ProRainbow1]

@XxSpiffxX Saw it in person today at Marcus High School. They had a field trip for the 3 feeder middle schools to come watch today. Literally did shit myself seeing it in person. MarcusBandForLife!

[@XxSpiffxX]

@Anielday06 I saw it in person. And if that's your response of the video, you would literally shit yourself if you saw it in person. Watching it in person, i have to say is 20x better than this video.

[@Thatonekyle]

Love the sounds quality, just wish they would play more dynamically, like it just gets boring after a while because the music has no direction. Also it would be cooler faster.

[@aprentice22]

stop crying about people coping your show. Come on Its good. Well its great I think you all know that no one else can do it thats why its especially made for you. So stop wining.

[@wowiamninboy]

@slipknotpwnz666 See, its easy for them to get great scores on marching. Very few, if any of these sets are complicated, so they can clean them and play challenging music easily.

[@wowiamninboy]

@Eastonation Did you see Duncanville's? They have multiple groups/sections doing completely different things at the same time. Marcus does this, but rarily. Most of it is full band.

[@jkmj33]

I wonder if they'll ever let any other band win a competition they're in. If they were willing to travel to the boa national championship, they probably would have won

[@Tenifus]

Marcus people: Shouldn't you be proud that your show is all over the internet? Yes, you guys did an amazing job, and I was in one of the bands there, but there's no way you can get jail time for this...

[@whitechocolate3333]

C'mon mna, remember what DrinkH2O tells us? You're making a fool of not only yourself, but of the Marcus Band as a whole. Please stop insulting the tradtion.

[@hunchosett]

your band is very talented, but don't become too, comfy on your throne. Our band is going to state this year, so come hell or high water, we are winning this year

[@swagger234]

I have to say, those shadow marchers are WICKED! haha. Very clean and precise show. Great Just wondering, what are your opinions on the Hebron high school show???

[@chaosofdoom2]

She was assistant director for a few years, but I don't think Marcus advanced to Finals in 2004. He might be talking about Super Regionals from one year.

[@MrVLonely]

@456cres It will be taken down one day, like all of the other great marching shows music videos, e.t.c., sojust enjoy the video while it's up anyways.

[@marcomac29]

they sound amazing. they look clean. but i'm still bored. not marching band music imo... but i guess there's no "official marching band music"

[@love2sing4u4ever]

Im part of the americas High school band from El Paso texas. I saw Marcus' show at BOA and it was amazing!!!!! hope to see them again soon ;)

[@chicostacos4]

It's actually very, very disappointing that Marcus didn't go to Nationals. I just know they would've won, I think there's no doubt about it. This show was AMAZING.

[@chicostacos4]

@bandmommou But with the economy the way it is, most public schools can't even afford things such as pencil sharpeners, much less the parents of these marchers.

[@mstenorsaxplayer]

whoa. i wish our band was that good (especially the guard). lol I also wish our band was that large too. The most we ever had was like 110

[@sheogorath9091]

@wowiamninboy Why are you bashing another band? Results are results the whole core of marching band is to deliver something to remember.

[@missmilkshaker]

were you guys the ones that painted their shoes? dude, this show, and the painting of the shoes is pretty legit. i like ya'lls uniform.

[@wowiamninboy]

@sandwitcheater9 if you cant see there feet, then you cant see how bad they are marching!!! :0 (not saying that they were or anything...)

[@biznock19]

@mw2god1234 agree 100%. bands who actually MARCH and PLAY at the same time deserve so much more recognition than this type of show.

[@chicostacos4]

Do they even mark time in any way when performing? Our band will say various counts and "du du" to keep us in place and in time at certain parts.

[@mw2god1234]

Park and blow man, park and blow. It's really sad how BOA completely favors semi-mobile field orchestras over marching bands.

[@fez1452]

@hannah143ify heard about ya'lls show. westlak didn't deserve that spot in finals. it should have been you or reagan HS

[@chicostacos4]

@RippedSock7394 Uh, what exactly was the maximum score? It was to my understanding that they were rated on the basic 0-100 scale.

[@ryanthornton23]

Part 1: I don't know Part 2: Queen of the Night's Aria (Mozart) Part 3: The Four Seasons: Winter Part One (Vivaldi) Part 4: Requiem in D minor K626: VII Confutatis Part 5: Les Preludes (Franz Liszt)

[@TheBassclarinet2]

@Jacobo254 well its big compared to the 15 we have at our school its huge.... how many people are in marcus' band?

[@jkon7]

@thtissofetch19 you serious??? this is the best show theyve done in years..their execution is flawless

[@Sk8erMonkey43]

-.- trust me your not going to.... my school has been to state various years consecutively (Marcus)

[@MrPowerpiggy]

@waynard1956 the final note at the end is a high C, the guy you hear is the pic trumpet soloist btw

[@sandwitcheater9]

THIS WAS FIRST?. I MEAN IT WAS GOOD... BUT.. NICE TREES. NICE PANTS LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE FLOATING:O

[@Ch1k3n112233]

i heard yall spent more than a dozen cases of benjamins on this show... i mean, just look at it.

[@UTpride7]

@drakedelovely it was brazoswood high school. i saw their show at woodlands and it was awesome

[@chicostacos4]

First was Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare by Richard Strauss, fifth was Les Preludes by Franz Liszt.

[@Ventus98]

@L2PKCORP haha I'm just saying that because there are a lot of fat people in my band. XD

[@nazarito97]

i may not like the idea you guys won at state but you guys show is awesome much respect.

[@XxchristianforevaxX]

I was in the Granbury High School band and our band director spoke very highly of you guys before we saw you, and then after your performance, it was absolutely magnificent and every single word he said of you guys were true.

[@chaosofdoom2]

@Guitarcameron353 All around it's like 300 or so, but not all of em actually marched.