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State Level OPS competition was held Sunday, July 26th in San Antonio at the Texas
Bandmasters Association State Convention. It was a very exciting
contest and everyone there was very pleased with the results. All Bands reach the State OPS competition by winning at the Region level and then the Area level. At each of these levels, the march that is selected as first and second place winners continues on to the next level of competition. In the Concert competition at each level, the concert selections that are selected as first, second and third place winners move on to the next round of competitions. Since there are five ATSSB Areas in the State of Texas, you will have ten marches competing for First Place and fifteen concert selections competing for First and Second Place. This year, we submitted selections from our Symphonic Band as well as selections from our Concert Band. Both bands received a Sweepstakes Award at the Region 24 UIL Contest and Superiors at our other Festivals. Mr. Henning and Mr. Crowder are very happy with the recognition that the students received this year. I want to recognize what a great job our Concert Band did this year. At the Region hearing, their March placed second and their Concert selections placed 3rd and 6th. As a result, two of their selections were advanced to the Area hearings. At the Area hearing, their March placed second and Courtlandt County Festival placed third. Both of these selections were advanced to the State hearing. We are very proud to have our Non-Varsity Band recognized for their hard work and to move on to the Area hearings. The Symphonic Band submitted three selections for the Region hearing. At this hearing, their March placed First and their two Concert selections placed second and third. All three of their selections advanced to the Area hearing. At Area, their March (General Lee) placed First and Overture on a Minstrel Tune placed First. Both of these selections advanced to the State hearing. We are very proud of the success that our Symphonic Band has had each year. Mr. Henning and I were present for the entire CC competition. The Director in charge of the competition plays each of the ten marches and fifteen concert selections one at a time. In order for the judging to be fair and impartial, each song is given a letter designation. We were all very excited about the outcome of the competition. Follow this link and see the results from all of the groups that were competing this year. When that page loads, look for the CC Bands and you will find all of the results in our classification. ATSSB places the First Place March and First and Second Place Concert selections on a CD and distribute it to the schools that are members of ATSSB. This year, that CD will be sent to over 600 High Schools and their middle school feeders. The Concert Band had March from Symphony No. 2 by Tchaikovsky/Longfield place Eighth at the State hearing. Courtlandt County Festival by William Owens placed Eleventh at the State hearing. This is the first time our Concert Band has participated in the OPS competition. The Symphonic Band placed Third in the March category with General Lee by King/Henning. They placed Ninth in the Concert category with Overture on a Minstrel Tune by LaPlante. The Symphonic Band has placed at the State Level every year since 2004. The band performed all of these selections at various festivals. The Band Staff was extremely pleased with the recordings for both of the bands. If you would like to see a list of the members of the bands, follow this link. These are excellent results for our band program in the OPS competition. The 2003-04 BBMS Symphonic Band did a great job and had set a very high standard for our band program to meet and beat (view their results here). The 2004-05 Symphonic Band took on those challenges and worked very hard on the music (view their results here). The 2005-06 Symphonic Band took on those challenges and worked very hard on the music (view their results here). The 2006-07 Symphonic Band worked very hard and I know that the students were very proud of their results (view their results here). To view the 2007-08 results, follow this link. I know that each year, the students will strive to do their best at all of our competitions. The members of the Concert and Symphonic Bands should be very proud of their accomplishment at the State level. If you look at the complete list, you will notice that very few schools have more than one selection make it to the State OPS competition and rarely does the non-varsity band make it to the State hearing. Everyone at Barbara Bush Middle School and in Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD is proud of the accomplishment of the 2008 Symphonic and Concert Bands. |
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Last update 8/06/08 |