Maybe we can bypass the arguments that always unfold when this comes up.

Best Corps. Style Bands in East Texas?

In no particular order:
North Lamar
Canton (border line East Tx)
Atlanta
Wills Point (border line East Tx)
Queen City

Best Military Style bands in East Texas?

In no particular order:
Lindale
New Boston
Longview
Nacodgoches
Spring Hill

This is a forum and this thread is open for debate. And by debate I don't mean because you go to school there, or because "we have the best marching shoes" or "we have the best low brass in AA because I say so!".

Bring facts or "What have you done for me lately?"

Military band: Union Grove-18 years of straight sweepstakes awards, known for our precision and timing in our marches. UG is always a contender when it comes to just about any contest.

No argument there...Sounds like someone works there

No, I dont work here, just a member of the band who knows that we are good. lol

Ha ha I like that! What can you say? When a program is doing well there is nothing negative to say about it...There is a school that's coming up to compete with yall...Maybe a year or two and it will be noticed

who is this school?

Union Grove?? 2A on highway 271 in Upshur County in between Gilmer and Gladewater. Mr. Mark Melton is the head director and he is wonderful. (and no, I don't work there either!!)


and 2008 C Honor Band (junior high)

Some say White Oak is the band that's about to do big things

corp:
robert e. lee??

military:
sorry gilmer is better than spring hill...i mean they are the reigning best in class at NAMMB

Gilmer?? Cleveland got first place in 3A last year... Spring Hill got second.

What about Robert E. Lee HS in Tyler? That band will be pushing 300 members this next year and marches at least 3 contests every year competing and making finals shows in the DFW Area. Last year, placed in the top 10 at Area!!! Great staff that is doing some really great things over there. Check them out! www.relband.org

longview probably has the best military band around!!!!.seen others and longview is outstanding!

I enjoyed both Longview and Lee, but Lee just a bit better.

I union grove had the numbers that those two bands had, then I would have to put them up there in the top military bands. Even with small numbers, UG always seems to impress the crowd and the audience. I look for UG to continue on the road to excellence and impress even more people.

Sorry Not related to topic but it is music related:
I saw an episode last Night on Texas Country Reporter about an elderly gentleman there that make Dulcimers from scratch. I thought that was very neat being that the art of making musical instruments is very rare now days.

Back on Topic now!

White Oak will not be better than Union Grove next year, and after next year UG shouldn't have to worry about it because hopefully White Oak will move back up to 3A where they belong.

IMO opinion in 4a it isnt even close in no particular order its easily

Hallsville
Pine Tree
White House

Not to mention these three excel in state year after year, and noone has the size of Hallsvilles band.

Maybe I'm biased, but I think Longview is better than Hallsville, Pinetree, and Whitehouse. But I would say that Hallsville is probably better than PT and WH.

best military band? nacogdoches. best corps? canton.
its funny to see people think their hometown bands are the best. look beyond the pride. post says best. not good. not up-and-coming. best.

a few good military bands: spring hill, gilmer, union grove, new boston, athens. none are the best. new boston beat the other military bands to advance to state. nammb is not a fair measuring stick since many bands do not attend. union grove has gotten beat by dekalb more in the past 4 years than they have beat other military bands.

a few good corps bands: queen city, atlanta, north lamar. pickins are slim in our neck of the woods for these bands folks. rel is hit miss at uil. dunno how anyone can say they are the best, or better than other bands.

Mainly because of the new director they got last year- Jason Steele. He and Randy Whatley, who is the J.H. director at white oak now, used to work together in Pittsburg, where they did VERY big things. Now that they're back together, you can guarantee something big.

Jason Steele is just a good person all the way around. I used to go to church with him, he taught me a thing or two about music and God.

Gonna get an argument going here -- but Lindale is better than Pine Tree and whitehouse and bigger than Hallsville. Hallsville, I will give them the concert band last year (2009) but still, in marching, Lindale ranks second only to Longview in overall program size and superiority. Hands down.

Give it to me now--I can take it!

I agree with you. Lindale has been outstanding the last several years. Pine Tree and Whitehouse just look and sound tired and or bored while on the field IMO.

Carthage.
36 Years of being a sweepstakes band.

Corps style (no particular order):
Canton
Atlanta
North Lamar
Queen City


Military:
Longview
Spring Hill
New Boston
Lindale

Well, i love all the bands you've picked because it makes it kind of a hard choice. For Corps. i like Queen City because 2006 and 2007 2A Texas state marching titles. The real reason why i picked them though is because they had a band of small size in 2008 but they still could easily challenge the noise of any "3A!!" band.
As for military Longview is a huge band with nearly 50 sweepstake titles(thats my 5A) But when you talk about a great band... it has to be New Boston. New Boston challenges every smaller military band because they're going for 21 sweepstakes. As for NAMMB they beat out every 2A band in 2008, and in 2009, unlike any other of the NAMMB participaters, they were too busy at the Texas State Marching Contest! They became the first 3a miltary band ever to make the finals...
So Queen City for corps. and New Boston for military

Ahem, nearly 60. Just thought I'd throw that in there.
Haven't seen New Boston in a long time, but all I ever hear are good things about them!

Ha yeah i apologize. Yeah all i know is when your talking about consecutive sweepstakes, Longview is right on top, but sorry again...60. wow.

Is anybody gonna give Union Grove a mention in here, seriously, 19 straight sweepstakes awards. Countless other awards, not to mention, one of the best concert bands around.

Not the ones who advanced to state from Region IV this past year....Atlanta, North Lamar and New Boston. That is why they avoided them in 2008. Actually, at the Mesquite contest North Lamar was a few spots above them in finals competition and North Lamar was 3rd at Area...so you can infer that QC would have competed well but would not have necessarily dominated like they did in 2006.

In my opinion Longview band is big and loud, but that is pretty much it. I'm not the only one that says they are just Big and sloppy. In my opinion the only reason they continue to receive the 1st divisions at marching contest is because everyone is afraid to give them anything less. Either because they think it would ruin their careers or they mess up the " WOW they have 60 years". Its time and its more thank likely going to happen sooner than later. It shouldn't be all about contest. Yes its great to be successful I know that from experience, but it should also be about educating the students and helping them learn and enjoy at the same time. Along with other things.

I agree that Longview isn't as sharp as it was when Mr. Kunkel was there, but I've seen plenty of bands as sloppy or worse than Longview get ones at contest. There might be a kid turn on the wrong count or get out step every once in a while, but I've never seen anything that deserves a 2nd division.

So your saying the judging is rigged? i can see what you mean by that. I mean sometimes you hear 15 year sweepstake bands and hate them, then they get 1st divisions and you can't help but wonder if their reputation was what pulled them that judgement. I don't see longview in that position though, i mean they look great every year.

Not saying its totally rigged. It is very political and sometimes you might get people who are afraid to give their " friends" anything less. i'm not trying to start a fight or anything. Just stating my opinion and staying on topic

Yeah, i see what you mean.

um what about nacogdoches ?

Nac is a great band any way you look at it. Is Waymon Bullock still writing drills down there?

Yup, he's still writing the drills

You think UIL is hit or miss. Then take notice. QC has gotten straight sweepstakes for the past 9 years. Take that for hit or miss. For a thing such as best band you have to take into account funding. Everyone notices the big 4 and 5a schools. the A state champs two years ago were knockin a hundred people. QC had close to a hundred. Ill agree Canton is a very good band, but I think to level the playing field you would have to put a numbers limit for sound to be equaled because 25% of an impact is volume and if you've got 300 ppl ur gonna be 3x louder than 100. Simple math there

Well most large bands stop worrying about volume, they worry about balance of the band. Volume isn't everything, how well you play the music is the real challenge. I think you can agree that Queen City doesn't win events by blaring into the stands, you win events by playing your music well.

The bigger the band, the more problems they have getting everyone to play. Some people think they can hide because there are other people to pick up the slack. When ten or fifteen(or more) people start doing that, it really hurts the sound of the band. Bands like Longview's biggest problem would be balancing. Some people blare while others play mezzo forte, while others still, don't play at all.

Atlanta has never beaten queen city in the last four years. North lamar absolutely BA. ill give u that. and NB is 2A. and weve beaten em once and hoping to do it again at state this year. i can only pray its as close as it was two years ago.

Actually NB is 3A this year man, we will probably march at state with you guys in 2011 hopefully.

Didn't say Atlanta had beaten QC. But it would have happened last year. North Lamar beat you guys at Mesquite and Atlanta and New Boston bested North Lamar not once, but twice.

.......

Man I was so mad at the mesquite contest. Our whole band was ####. We missed finals by 2.5 points or something like that. and being on the drumline, we were pretty much forced to take the blame cuz we almost fell apart in our feature. which was really cool but had pretty technical marching if u saw it. Our band director actually graduated from north lamar.

Look for Union Grove to be very competitive this year in Marching Contests.

i'm glad to see alot more bands step up their game, competition is fun when it's tough

White Oak is going to be good this year also. J. Steele is really getting his band to look and sound great out on the field.