As one of the judges of the competition last night, I want to say a few things and thank some people.
First, the finalists last night were ALL FIRE!! All 5 shows (plus the awesome command performance by Norwell) were simply amazing in different and thrilling ways. Terrific bands, mesmerizing choreography, and vocals that were totally from the heart. Every group was an absolute pleasure to judge, and every group I did day clinics with represented their schools tremendously well....pure class!
Secondly, the judges were all laughing about this, but it may have been the most combined years of experience by a panel of judges in the history of show choir (in other words, we're all OOOOOOOLD!!!) Rich Taylor, Pete Eklund, Mike Weaver, Annete Layman, Marty and Mark Lindvahl and myself). But as we laughed about our gray hair, bald spots and tightening muscles, we also chatted about how we all still love ANY style of music when it's done well, and as it was over and over again last night. Hip-Hop, YES! Rap sections, YES! Heavy rock with blasting electric guitar solos, HECK YES! Great music is great music, and we loved every minute of last night's journey!!
Third, we're so thankful at Thirst Project for the support the audience gave our mission of giving dying people clean water. Last night, nearly $2,300 was raised at one competition, making HOA competitions responsible for nearly FIVE THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS of donations to saving lives through the gift of clean water this year alone! Our first HOA well will be drilled in the nation of eSwatini this fall
Finally, to the hard-working team at HOA, thank you! Chad and Andersen and Bobby and the Semlers and the entire team at all locations......what a great event! Great sound, great treatment of everyone attending, and great friends. You've all earned a few weeks of sleeping in, laying by a pool and sipping a pina colada. You guys run top-notch events, and it was an honor to be a part of it.
To everyone who participated, I hope the journey was fun, the judging was constructive, and that you all have had a great time at the Disney area. God bless to all for a remarkable weekend! Damon Brown
Congrats and amazing job to everyone and especially (get ready, my alumni bias is about to come out) my babies down at Shepherd Hill. You guys are amazing, love you long time. So glad you get to share your art with the rest of the world!!!
What I LOVE about big comps like this is seeing big groups from around the nation finally go head to head. It usually gives everyone a big shock and it's so interesting!
When we’re so close to finals ending it can be worrisome for most when they see blank placements in the comments so I thought I’d go ahead and deflect any confusion.
Let’s just say a few crew members received a message through the site that had placements. I’ve been away from the computer for awhile now so neglected to update it earlier but luckily Jared is awesome and did it. Thanks, Jared!
I’m a newbie here so forgive me if this is a dumb question. Norwell Night Stars won the overall day competition, but they are not competing tonight in the finals, only performing at 9:00 as exhibition. Why is that? Is it because of the size of the group?
It looks like they were in a different division, probably the director’s choice. Norwell typically competes in smaller divisions in Indiana. Perhaps they didn’t know that made them ineligible for finals? Just a guess.
It looks to me that you are asking about Norwell's girls group. The Single-Gender champion of the day show performs an exhibition show at 9:00 right before final awards are given out; that is how HOA set up the schedule. (Finals consists of the top five mixed tier one groups which is in this case every tier one group.)
Heart of America Orlando 2019
