Who is the best high school marching band in the Austin metro?

[jread]

Originally Posted by Mdlx

If you noticed, Dripping Springs does something a bit different than nearly all the other bands they compete against. They have 10 tubas while only marching 145 students. Normally, a band of that size would have about 5 tubas while Dripping Springs has as many tubas as most 220+ member bands.

This allows them to have a very deep, warm, rich sound which is not found on many marching fields. I believe the directors where specifically trying to get that "dci" sound which the judges seem to love. I want to say that their concert trombone section becomes both tubas and baritones for marching season, but I'm not sure about that.

Yes, I did notice this, and it makes for a nice, full sound for sure. In most bands, there is more of a treble sound due to the fact that there are way too many trumpets (since they usually get the "fun" parts and more kids want to play them). It can throw off the balance in the louder sections of the music, giving it a "screeching" sound.

The DS band doesn't seem to have the stand-shaking volume that most bands go for (including DCI), but their sound is rich, full, and perfectly balanced. I've seriously never heard a high school marching band sound that great!

[gdu]

Reagan hands down. I got to my h.s. football games than just about anybody on this board and the only band I have ever looked forward to seeing was Reagan.

[fluffysquirrel]

Cedar Park High school 2011 2012 school year won 1st at state. But, Vandegrift, being only 3 years open, made it to state and was ORIGINALLY places 4th before finals, and after finals finished in the ranking of 9th in the state. But that shouldnt matter. Vandegrift is ONLY 3 years open. and their second time ever doing the competition. their 1st year was with 46 people.

[LakeTravisAlum]

Originally Posted by fluffysquirrel

Cedar Park High school 2011 2012 school year won 1st at state. But, Vandegrift, being only 3 years open, made it to state and was ORIGINALLY places 4th before finals, and after finals finished in the ranking of 9th in the state. But that shouldnt matter. Vandegrift is ONLY 3 years open. and their second time ever doing the competition. their 1st year was with 46 people.

Dripping Springs finished 2nd and Lake Travis finished 5th at that '11-'12 state competition. That just goes to show how good the Austin area marching bands are.

If I had to rank the Top 5 marching bands in the Austin area, it would be:

1. Bowie
2. Cedar Park
3. Dripping Springs
4. Westlake
5. Lake Travis

Other good ones are Westwood, Round Rock, Vandegrift, and the Pflugerville schools.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Hutto band, of course.

[woodinvilleguy]

From what I have seen the LISD schools from Middle school up all have a really good band program. For Middle school, there is a friendly rivarly between Henry and Cedar Park. They typically don't compete against each other and take home the sweepstakes trophies from the competitions they enter. I don't think you could go wrong with any LISD band program. I can't comment on other school districts.

[tiara27]

im an LT band fan and i have to say that all the bands in there district are really good!! its a hard area to compete in because every band bring something different to the field! for example

lake travis- there cymbal line has there own style.......they are the only line in austin that does what they do.....(round rock line is starting to copy them)

roundrock-every drumline in the area knows that they are the best .......everyone wants to beat them

[cwl1994]

As someone else mentioned: Reagan High School. They may not be the best on paper or anything but go visit on of their performances and you will see why they are easily the most entertaining band out there. Round Rock, Cedar Park, Westlake (westlake jut has good everything), Lake Travis, Bowie, and McCallum all have good bands. Anderson recently started to be recognized and was ranked in the top 15 bands in the state last year too.

[BandDad91]

For whatever reason, seems like central Texas and the DFW area are particularly strong in marching bands.

If we were to rank based just on last year (2011), I think Bowie is almost in a class by itself and the one central Tex band that can go head to head with certain north Tex power houses. Otherwise, we have a solid group of very strong bands, primarily (in alphabetical order):

Anderson
Cedar Park
Dripping Springs
Lake Travis
Round Rock
Vandergrift
Westlake

And that doesn't include the strong San Antonio area bands.

[phone man]

Round Rock, specially the ROCK DRUMS!