However, playing devils advocate, Twinsburg beat Solon head-to-head at Marysville where Solon won Best Vocals and Best Band... so at Marysville's competition, Solon's vocal and band scores were slightly higher, but Twinsburg's choreo must have been significantly better to pull ahead for the GC. In addition, Twinsburg is coming off a really impressive sweep over Buffalo Grove whereas Solon doesn't have any signature wins over nationally-known groups such as BG
A good point. If the judges are more traditional, Ohio, judges, then I definitely see Solon winning. Marysville had a couple of judges that preferred California style show choir which makes sense that they bought into Twinsburg's genius theme. But, if you're going to bring BG into it, you need to remember that BG beat Twinsburg just a few weeks previous. I can see Solon pulling a Twinsburg on Twinsburg.
No, I said IS hard and meant it that way. Not everybody speaks like you do in your part of the country and things are stated in ways purposely sometimes.
Not to sound rude, but it's grammar, not a culture thing.
I'll just leave this here.
I'm aware Solon beat Fairfield this year (and last year), but at the competition this year that Solon beat Fairfield, Solon was beat by Twinsburg (which goes back to my explanation providing context about predictions). And Rian if that's all you got from my multiple points, then you really honed in on one isolated sentence and missed my overarching idea/opinion/theme.
In addition, Twinsburg is coming off a really impressive sweep over Buffalo Grove whereas Solon doesn't have any signature wins over nationally-known groups such as BG, which is personally one of my biggest critiques for Solon. The lack of competition against elite show choirs and traditionally staying in-state for show choir competitions. It's difficult to gain national respect when you're only competing locally.
Fairfield "Choraliers"
I'll just leave this here.
Lastly, I hope everyone has a fantastic time at Medina Midwest Showcase. Be careful driving up here ladies and gentlemen as it is snowing!
Speaking as someone on staff with Solon... the Music in Motion choir has been around a very long time and the idea of the choir initially was a community showcase piece, who dabbled in some local competitions. Although the program has changed over the years the thinking process from the system has been much slower. As all of you know its much more difficult to say we are going out of state if the precedent has not been set. Other programs in the state of Ohio have been traveling out of the boarders for more than a decade, so their school systems are used to their groups traveling farther distances. From an administration standpoint its easier to swallow allowing 100 students to travel within state lines vs. traveling over. Some school systems have more "red tape" to cut vs others. This does not mean one groups success is more or less than anyone, or other programs have more value. This just means things are ran differently from district to district. I believe traveling out of your area is great for any choir, mainly because it allows you the chance to see how others do things and thats a win/win regardless of the outcome if you ask me. Long story short change takes time, and I am confident that in the future Solon will also be traveling outside of the state.
Best of Luck to all choirs at Medina this weekend Tyler Skidmore and Mike Sferro put on one heck of a well ran event. Also congrats to Randy and Twinsburg students on an amazing year! Solon and Twinsburg High Schools are less than 10 miles from each other and both programs are extremely supportive of the other. I predict that both choirs will be happy for each other regardless of the outcomes because both choirs personally know how hard each one has worked to achieve the goals they have.
Wow I've never gotten 9 thumbs down for a prediction before :/
I would guess the reason for the down votes is because of how high you predicted ETC. While ETC has been an incredibly improved group in recent competitions, it would be a notable upset for ETC to place higher than Solon or Findlay.
I think you were pretty spot on with finalists though and the order was good for the most part, especially for a non-Midwesterner. Impressive.
Oy, so I made A huge response and It took so long that it logged me out and was lost and I just simply cannot stay awake another minute to type it all again, but dang it was a good response lol.
Ahh, this happens all too often! I always encourage people to routinely click the "preview post" button as it helps refresh everything. I preview my post basically after every sentence. I'm kind of OCD about it and it's easier to read via the preview option.
Jeff, I hope you don't feel I attacked you. I was just pointing out I dont think "national respect" has anything to do with two choirs from Ohio competing against eachother at a certain competition. It might give a nice little speech before your choir performs but I pray the judges dont give two hand fulls about what is said or what has happened in the past, its all about that performance. And lets be real, we're all gonna have our own opinions about whether they were right or not lol
No worries I don't feel attacked at all. Häakon really did an excellent job of interpreting my post. I threw the "national respect" part in there simply to provide context. I was responding to Kyle who was mentioning why he was predicting Solon to win GC. My response was explaining why most people were predicting Twinsburg to win GC instead of Solon. Twinsburg has more of a national presence since they have competed in the South against Clinton, in Illinois and Indiana against Wheaton, Buffalo Grove, Eisenhower, etc., and they will be venturing out to California in March. Another example is that on the Wheaton 2013 topic, some people are predicting Clinton (who hasn't even competed yet) to win that blood bath based solely off of their reputation.
In general, Indiana is right next door and is home to some of the best show choirs in the nation. The state has so much depth it's ridiculous. I think it is reasonably within the budget to consider adding a strong Indiana competition to the schedule (tons of Ohio groups already do!). I'm not saying that have to go to SoCal or FAME Orlando, but c'mon man, diversify that competition schedule so the students get to experience different types of show choir, learn from, and be inspired by different groups! I just personally think it's a disservice to students to not expose them to all the wonderful groups outside of Ohio.
Back to Medina, as I said in my earlier post "when you're as good as these two, sometimes it just comes down to personal preference". I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Solon beat Twinsburg, but again, I could see Twinsburg beating Solon as well. They are both strong groups and I'm looking forward to the live stream!
Oy, so I made A huge response and It took so long that it logged me out and was lost and I just simply cannot stay awake another minute to type it all again, but dang it was a good response lol.
Jeff, I hope you don't feel I attacked you. I was just pointing out I dont think "national respect" has anything to do with two choirs from Ohio competing against eachother at a certain competition. It might give a nice little speech before your choir performs but I pray the judges dont give two hand fulls about what is said or what has happened in the past, its all about that performance. And lets be real, we're all gonna have our own opinions about whether they were right or not lol
BTW I like both Twinsburg and Solon, I have equal "national respect" for both of yall. lol
Break legs at Medina Errybody. (And yes patrick, I meant eRRybody)
Wow I've never gotten 9 thumbs down for a prediction before :/
I wouldn't take it personally. Some people don't like to be predicted any lower than GC and take their frustration out on the post; that's just the breaks.
Predictions (as always, I'm not from the Midwest):
GC: Twinsburg/ETC
1RU: ETC/Twinsburg (ETC is undefeated so far this season)
2RU: Solon
3RU: Findlay
4RU: Olentangy
5RU: Beavercreek
BC: Twinsburg
BV: Solon
BB: Solon
Wow I've never gotten 9 thumbs down for a prediction before :/
But forreal, It's really not that important and holding that against Solon is rediculous.
I don't think Jeff was holding it against them. His point about traveling out of state was not a criticism of their ability, but rather that it's difficult to compare choirs (and then be able to make predictions, which is what the topic is about) when there isn't a good frame of reference to go by. Specifically, he said "it's difficult to gain national respect when you're only competing locally," and I think that's true. Groups like Clinton, Burroughs, and Wheaton are willing to step out of their comfort zones and put what they do on the line in places where perhaps their style isn't the "the norm." That's always a risk. They're the best groups in the country not only because they win competitions, but they win wherever they go. When they don't, it's almost always because they're competing against each other.
Obviously it takes money to travel, and certainly the situation is different for every group. Some will be more fortunate than others, and no one is saying you're a worse group because you don't travel. However, if you never compete against other established groups then there just isn't a direct way to determine who's "better." You can watch YouTube videos and make your own judgements, but unless both groups go head to head, it's all speculation. Because of that, it's difficult to grow your status on a national level when you just stick to the home games. Again, nothing wrong with that... but that's the statement Jeff made.
I also think he made some very good points in backing up his comparisons, including the fact that Twinsburg has already beaten Solon this year (which has nothing to do with traveling). Both groups seem pretty evenly matched, given that they split captions and placed right next to each other on their previous encounter. The only way to really base a prediction on what you think might tip the scales in one group's favor is to look at who else they've beaten. That's what Jeff did and I don't think he came to an unreasonable conclusion.
No, I said IS hard and meant it that way. Not everybody speaks like you do in your part of the country and things are stated in ways purposely sometimes.
Medina Midwest Showcase 2013
