While every group really stepped it up here in their competitive divisions, I just wanna give credit where credit is due.
Auburn “Men at Work” almost literally brought the house down. Easily one of the best guys performances I’ve ever seen live or on video. The entire auditorium was jumping up and down with them throughout their entire show. Cheered on by their girls and mixed group, the nation got to see how to really have fun on stage. I was left completely floored when they walked off stage. If you missed their show, I would be searching for it on YouTube somewhere, because they have a must see show this year. Genuinely one of my favorite shows of the weekend.
Preach I loved "Men At Work" especially when they were on stage for awards are showed no emotion with their beards it was pure comedy and I miss seeing shows like that
Can someone please explain how the 'Band Caption' (Best Combo) is decided? The Show Choir Nationals at the Grand Ole Opry were amazing & very intense competition going into finals on Saturday! How does the scoring work when the professional bands (Carmel, Los Al, & Petal) are in-eligible, though still get points even given, knowing that they are not able to win (even getting points that are 102 & 101)? How does a band go into finals with a score of 91 (Daniel Hand), then end with a score or 97 (a 6 point jump)? Is the judging criteria different in preliminaries versus finals?
There is a scoresheet for band specifically that does not factor into a group’s score. Robert Allen is usually, if not always, the judge for this caption. Everyone is scored, but only the ones that are eligible (up to one adult in the band) can win the award for best combo. Los Alamitos, Carmel, and Petal all have more than one adult, so they are not eligible for best combo.
The score can go up or down depending on the performance, and Daniel Hand improved in finals. Prelims scores are irrelevant to finals.
Thank you for the explanation. Do the bands know their scores from preliminaries, so they can adjust accordingly for finals (similarly to the other score sheets for the show choir directors)?
The band scores are given with all of the other scores directors get in both prelims and finals. It's up to them whether they want to share direct scores with their band, or just give them comments. I was not at this competition this year, but in previous years, we have not talked with our band about specific scores between rounds.
Robert Allen a) has a TON of experience putting together combos and b) has a TON of experience judging at this competition where there is ALWAYS a mix of adult and student bands. He doesn't seem to give any preference to the "type" of band (some are more guitar heavy, or more horns, or synth, strings/aux/other exotic instruments, etc). There have been years/rounds where he has scored professional bands underneath at least one student-led band, and sometimes multiple.
I am in VIBE's Band, and our director did share Robert Allen's feedback from prelims with us, so we were able to adjust accordingly for finals. As for our 6 point improvement from prelims to finals (yes, an unusually large jump), much of it can be attributed to taking Allen's very helpful suggestions into account to the best of our ability. Beyond that, we also had a much better understanding of how loud our winds and brass should play during our second performance of the competition. We were too quiet in prelims, even during the softer moments of our show, but improved considerably in that sense during finals.
I did not have direct access to the scores this weekend and merely posted information that others shared with me. I do not know what the Thursday night scores look like.
1: Zionsville - 1/1/3/1/3
2: Carmel - 2/2/1/4/1
3: Los Alamitos - 3/3/2/3/2
4: Petal - 5/4/4/2/6
5: Daniel Hand - 4/5/7/5/5
6: Auburn - 6/6/5/6/4
7: Olentangy - 7/7/6/7/7
8: Madison Central - 8/8/8/9/8
9: Rosa Scott - 9/9/9/8/9
10: Musselman - 10/10/10/10/10
Just for kicks, we can take a look at points:
Overall
1: Carmel 1120.5
2: Zionsville 1118
3: Los Alamitos 1115
4: Petal 1073
5: Daniel Hand 1047
6: Auburn 1025
7: Olentangy 1004
8: Madison Central 940
9: Rosa Scott 872
10: Musselman 826.5
Vocals
1: Zionsville 537.5
2: Carmel 536
3: Los Alamitos 525.5
4: Petal 507
5: Daniel Hand 497
6: Auburn 480
7: Olentangy 477.5
8: Madison Central 437
9: Rosa Scott 403
10: Musselman 388
Visuals
1: Los Alamitos 317
2: Carmel 315.5
3: Zionsville 311
4: Petal 305
5: Daniel Hand 298.5
6: Auburn 292
7: Olentangy 281.5
8: Madison Central 268
9: Rosa Scott 244
10: Musselman 230.5
Show Design
1: Los Alamitos 272.5
2: Carmel 271
3: Zionsville 269.5
4: Petal 261
5: Auburn 253
6: Daniel Hand 251.5
7: Olentangy 245
8: Madison Central 235
9: Rosa Scott 225
10: Musselman 208
Band
1: Carmel 100
2: Zionsville 96
3: Los Alamitos 95
4: Petal 94
5: Auburn 93
6: Daniel Hand 91
7: Olentangy 89
8 (tie): Madison Central/Rosa Scott 88
10: Musselman 81
Groups eligible for the band caption: Zionsville, Auburn, Daniel Hand, Olentangy, Musselman
Groups ineligible for the band caption: Carmel, Los Alamitos, Petal, Madison Central, Rosa Scott
With Carmel's grand championship, it's now three straight years of first-time SCN winners (Center Grove 2024, Linn-Mar 2023). This is the first time that's happened since the infancy years of SCN (2003-2005).
Carmel's win puts them in a group with Linn-Mar (2023), North Central (2018), and Glenwood (2015) as choirs within the last decade that won SCN in their debut appearance. That feat happened a lot in the early years of SCN as the competition was just starting off, but has been a bit more elusive in recent seasons.
This is also back-to-back for Indiana; Indiana now has 4 SCN crowns, trailing only California (6), and Illinois (8). Indiana has taken 3 of the last 6 (Illinois won 7 of the first 10). Kudos to Indy metro area choirs for getting out of circle city and sharing their talents on the national scene; it's been happening a lot more in recent seasons and I think folks have taken notice of the fierce level of competition within the Indy circuit. Congrats to Carmel for finding the city of GOLD on one of show choir's biggest stages!
I love a good recap after a competition so here’s mine. First of all, keep supporting this event. It was harped on by folks at the competition all weekend, but I’ll say it again. This is the best ran and most competitive competition on a yearly basis, take your students to compete and watch it as spectators, it’s important that we do so. This was seriously such an awesome experience (yet again). In the interest of space, I’m gonna share my thoughts about the mixed groups, but the Single-Gender competition on Thursday was terrific as well.
Rosa Scott: What a perfect way to start the day. It’s a tough thing, to start the day off at 8:30 am for a competition like this. The energy was there from minute one with a great theme and terrific performance from the students. In particular, I was super impressed by the energy of the dancing. Everyone was so in to it and seemed truly dedicated to giving the audience a fun experience. I had also never heard of this group prior to today since I don’t follow the south super closely, so it was awesome to see them for the first time.
Musselman: Was I surprised when the soloist came out and started with what was essentially a punk/metal song (My Chemical Romance to be specific)? Yes. Was I disappointed? No. Sometimes it can be difficult to get a set and have a song like their opener because it’s so musically different, but the students were completely into which is always so much fun. The soloists were terrific performers and wonderfully talented. This was a super fun show.
Madison Central: This was easily the show I got the biggest kick out of. A Buc-ee’s themed show that opens with Bucky (apparently the name of the mascot) rising above a merchandise shelf to the prelude of Zarathustra by Strauss? Absolutely iconic. Students sang and danced really solidly, the choreography looked nice on stage and I enjoyed their sound. They also had an awesome set. Highly recommend checking out this show if you get the chance, so so much fun.
Olentangy: Bag pipes! Bag pipes! This kid deserved his own award for the weekend, what an absolutely terrific moment in a great show. I’m not sure how many show choir programs have a bagpipe player on hand in case they want to do an Ireland show, so I’m pretty sure this is one of the only groups that can do this specifically. Beautiful set, nice costuming. The Parting Glass and Danny Boy are some of the most beautiful melodies ever written, this ballad was a pleasure. This was Ohio show choir at some of its best.
Finalists:
Daniel Hand: This group has been a personal favorite of mine since 2019 and they continue to be so, especially after seeing them live. This was a really cool show about Anne Bonny and Mary Read (I think I’ve gotten their names right). They had absolutely terrific soloists and an awesome narrator who kept the show moving along nicely. They sang and danced well, the band did a terrific job (congrats to them on beating out Zionsville for best combo in finals). They also took on one of the most famous ballads in show choir with their arrangement of “Morning Glow” and absolutely crushed it. If you aren’t familiar with this group, check them out!
Auburn: What a fun show. This is a great example of how a seemingly silly show concept can become something meaningful to students and audiences. When they said it was a Science Fair theme, I was interested and the students kept me hooked from the start. No other group at this competition performed this show like this. Not a single student was disengaged from the audience at any point whatsoever, you could look anywhere on the stage and they were interacting with people in the audience and giving it what they had. Great singing, great dancing, I was so glad I got to see this show live.
Petal: Petal is another one of my favorite groups. They dance so, so well. Lexi Robson choreo continues to look terrific and innovative on stage, especially when paired with Braxton Carr. They had some super unique ripple choreo and some just really interesting visual moments. Vocally, they did a really nice job. They sing they heck out of their ballad and have some super fun songs between, in particular this was a killer version of Crazy Train for the Soprano/Altos and Freeze Frame was one of my favorite numbers of the weekend.
Zionsville: Man. This group can fill a room. By far the loudest group of the weekend and my favorite blended sound of the weekend. I truthfully could not pick out a specific singer in their sound. This ballad was absolutely stunning and beautiful, some of the best singing any group did all weekend. Visually, they were very clean and all were pretty much exactly together. This soloist wasn’t highlighted I don’t believe, but the young man who sang the solo in their closer was absolutely incredible, my favorite solo of the weekend hands down.
Los Al: This wound up being my favorite show design of the weekend. Everyone stepped it up in finals, but Los Alamitos did so in the biggest way. Stunning vocal sound, this was my group with my favorite tone in finals, and the visuals were absolutely top notch. This show has to be seen in person, if you can. It was poignant from the start, features a great gimmick number in “Welcome to the Internet” and a ballad in “Hymn of Acxiom” that I have wanted to see performed for a long time in show choir. There is a moment in which the performer, whose name I don’t know unfortunately, breaks the fourth wall and goes into the audience (later the whole group goes into the audience) that might be one of the most special and unique experiences I’ve had at a competition. Bravo to them, this is the type of show you only get out in California.
Carmel: The group of the weekend. I was starting to think I was bad luck for this group, they had never won a GC (I don’t think) while I was in attendance or watching a stream. This is show choir excellence, pure and simple. A terrific vocal sound with great tone, blend, and intonation featuring Dwight Jordan choreo being executed at a high, high level. This ballad was my favorite of the weekend. Awesome soloist and giving me chills on multiple occasions with the arrangement and intonation? Doesn’t get better than that. It’s also a monumental achievement to beat Los Al at this competition - while flipping 3!!! judges from the prelim round to final round. Congratulations and well deserved to them on a terrific end to their season.
Sorry for the overly long post, but congrats to all these groups on their performances this weekend. What an awesome trip for a guy out in Wyoming.
Don't be sorry for the long post. For those of us that couldn't be there or tune into the stream, we really appreciate your thoughts on all of the groups.
These are my favorite kinds of posts! I loved reading this and getting to re-experience the comp again. Nationals, like you said, is such a special competition and I LOVE going to watch and bask in all the show choir goodness from across the country! I concur with almost every point you made for these groups; excellent analysis!
Auburn “Men at Work” almost literally brought the house down. Easily one of the best guys performances I’ve ever seen live or on video. The entire auditorium was jumping up and down with them throughout their entire show. Cheered on by their girls and mixed group, the nation got to see how to really have fun on stage. I was left completely floored when they walked off stage. If you missed their show, I would be searching for it on YouTube somewhere, because they have a must see show this year. Genuinely one of my favorite shows of the weekend.