The Woodlands, TX (AAAA)

Title: Life Is a Cabaret!
— “Cell Block Tango”
— “Roxanne”
— “Maybe This Time”
— “Reach for the Gun”

Director: Joni Perez

Drum Majors: Alexis Debeaudry, Allie Flynn, Karl Schroeder, Kaitlyn Maresca, Jess Smith

View the current Top 30

4th on 10/05/21 (Week 4)
4th on 09/28/21 (Week 3)
10th on 09/21/21 (Week 2)
11th on 09/14/21 (Week 1)

14th on 11/19/19 (Week 9)
13th on 11/05/19 (Week 8)
15th on 10/29/19 (Week 7)
15th on 10/22/19 (Week 6)
15th on 10/15/19 (Week 5)
14th on 10/08/19 (Week 4)
14th on 10/01/19 (Week 3)
14th on 9/24/19 (Week 2)
14th on 9/17/19 (Week 1)

14th on 11/13/18 (Week 9)
14th on 11/06/18 (Week 8)
13th on 10/30/18 (Week 7)
11th on 10/23/18 (Week 6)
11th on 10/16/18 (Week 5)
11th on 10/09/18 (Week 4)
11th on 10/02/18 (Week 3)
10th on 9/25/18 (Week 2)
10th on 9/18/18 (Week 1)

13th on 11/14/17 (Week 10)
14th on 11/07/17 (Week 9)
12th on 10/31/17 (Week 8)
12th on 10/24/17 (Week 7)
11th on 10/17/17 (Week 6)
11th on 10/10/17 (Week 5)
6th on 10/03/17 (Week 4)
5th on 9/26/17 (Week 3)
5th on 9/19/17 (Week 2)
6th on 9/12/17 (Week 1)

5th on 11/15/16 (Week 10)
5th on 11/08/16 (Week 9)
18th on 11/01/16 (Week 8)
14th on 10/25/16 (Week 7)
14th on 10/18/16 (Week 6)
14th on 10/11/16 (Week 5)
12th on 10/04/16 (Week 4)
13th on 9/27/16 (Week 3)
11th on 9/20/16 (Week 2)
10th on 9/13/16 (Week 1)

9th on 11/17/15 (Week 10)
14th on 11/10/15 (Week 9)
14th on 11/03/15 (Week 8)
12th on 10/27/15 (Week 7)
11th on 10/20/15 (Week 6)
10th on 10/13/15 (Week 5)
8th on 10/06/15 (Week 4)
7th on 9/29/15 (Week 3)
8th on 9/22/15 (Week 2)
9th on 9/15/15 (Week 1)

12th on 11/18/14 (Week 10)
12th on 11/11/14 (Week 9)
12th on 11/04/14 (Week 8)
8th on 10/28/14 (Week 7)
11th on 10/21/14 (Week 6)
6th on 10/14/14 (Week 5)
2nd on 10/07/14 (Week 4)
2nd on 9/30/14 (Week 3)
2nd on 9/23/14 (Week 2)
2nd on 9/16/14 (Week 1)

1st on 11/19/13

Summary

The Woodlands Band is a past Grand National champion, a consistent regional and super regional finalist, and a recipient of both the Sudler Shield and the Sudler Flag.

In 2021, The Woodlands is expected to compete at the Conroe (Houston I) Regional, the San Antonio Super Regional, and the Grand National Championships.

2019

The Woodlands (TX) performs at the 2019 Grand National Championships. // Photo by Jeremiah Wooten
The Woodlands competed at the Conroe Regional, the San Antonio Super Regional, and the Grand National Championships.

At Houston, The Woodlands finished second, with a significant margin behind Ronald Reagan. At the time, it seemed like a bad sign for there to be such a significant score gap, but the scores were more indicitive of Reagan's exceptional season than a slacking performance by The Woodlands.

In San Antonio, The Woodlands again finished eighth in finals, but this year, they had two weeks instead of one to prepare for Grand Nationals. They again placed eighth in Indianapolis, less than a quarter of a point behind William Mason.

The group's 2019 show was one of our personal favorites that season, and one of our favorite The Woodlands shows of all time. It was full of energy and truly designed to show off the many talent individuals and ensembles through the band.

2018

The Woodlands (TX) drumline performs at the 2018 San Antonio Super Regional. // Photo by Jeremiah Wooten
The Woodlands competed at the Houston Regional and the San Antonio Super Regional.

In Houston, The Woodlands again found themselves behind two of the best Texas Bands Ronald Reagan and Vandegrift. The group won the visual caption in prelims and built on that visual performance to finish third overall in finals.

In San Antonio, visual continued to be The Woodlands forte, earning seventh in ensemble visual performance. The band finished 8th overall, but likely by too large a margin because of the dynamics of the top half/bottom half draw.

2017

A soloist from The Woodlands (TX) performs at the Grand National Championships in 2017. // Photo by Jeremiah Wooten
The Woodlands competed at the Conroe Regional, the San Antonio Super Regional, and the Grand National Championships.

The group's first performance of the season earned a fifth place finish behind Vandegrift, Reagan, Leander, and James Bowie. While the margins were narrow, it continued the pattern of Austin and San Antonio-area bands driving over to Houston and giving us a preview of what would come at San Antonio.

That pattern held up, with The Woodlands falling to 11th place at San Antonio. It may have seemed like a disappointing finish after earning second at the 2016 event, but unlike the 2016 season, The Woodlands still had Grand Nationals to look forward to. At Grand Nationals, the group finished the season strong placing 7th in finals.

2016

The Woodlands (TX) front ensemble performs at the San Antonio Super Regional. // Photo by Jeremiah Wooten
The Woodlands competed at the Conroe Regional and the San Antonio Super Regional.

At Conroe, The Woodlands finished behind some stiff competition from a few San Antonio-area groups that made the trip over. The Woodlands earned third place in both prelims and finals. With these scores and placements early on, we assumed this would be a very similar season to 2015, but we were wrong.

By San Antonio, The Woodlands had made some drastic improvements and were close on the tail of returning champion Flower Mound. In prelims, The Woodlands were able to capture the GE caption over FloMo, but in finals, the group finished in a very close second place overall.

2015

The Woodlands (TX) performs at the San Antonio Super Regional on Nov. 5, 2016. // Photo by Jeremiah Wooten
The Woodlands competed at the Conroe Regional, the San Antonio Super Regional, and the Grand National Championships.

This group tends to have much better shows during the years they attend Grand Nats if for no other reason than that they have an extra week or two to rehearse and perfect the show. With UIL limits on practice time, Texas bands are able to improve exponentially in just two weeks time.

At the Conroe Regional, The Woodlands placed third in prelims right behind Ronald Reagan and Claudia Taylor Johnson. Because of a scheduling conflict with a football game, they were unable to compete in the finals competition.

On Halloween, The Woodlands competed at the San Antonio Super Regional, placing seventh in finals and prelims and setting them up for a good showing at Grand Nats, but placing a grand national champion title out of reach.

Just two weeks later, The Woodlands competed at the Grand National Championships earning sixth place in finals. While it may be surprising to see a group that won this competition just two years placing so low, it's important to look at all of the extremely tough competition this group had to face. The bands that compete in finals at Grand Nats truly are the best in the nation, and there are so many variables that affect their placements year-to-year.



2014

The Woodlands (TX) performs at the San Antonio Super Regional on Nov. 5, 2016. // Photo by Jeremiah Wooten
The Woodlands competed at the Conroe Regional and the San Antonio Super Regional.

They won both of these competitions in 2013 and many people thought they could repeat that pattern this year, but instead they fell several points behind Claudia Taylor Johnson at both competitions. We thought Hebron would be their toughest competition after they had lost to The Woodlands by only 0.05 of a point at San Antonio 2013, but they managed to beat Hebron by 0.05 for the second year in a row.

Over the summer of 2014, two assistant band directors, Ivan De La Cruz and Brian Eisemann, left the program. Head director Joni Perez and percussion director Andy Salmon remained and two new directors Jason Harvey and Joseph Eck replaced the two departing directors. While it's always sad to see people leave, it doesn't appear that there was any sort of scandal or situation at the school that caused these two directors to leave. Sometimes staff changes can destroy a program and sometimes it can really help a program. We expected little or no change to The Woodland's level of excellence since head director Joni Perez remained in charge, and it turns out that we were right.

2013

The Woodlands were the clear winner at the 2013 Grand National Championships, earning first place in every round of competition. The power on their opening hit in Finals was striking, and they were consistently captivating from start to finish. The horn line was perfectly blended the entire show, and we thoroughly enjoyed their arrangement of "Different Trains" by Steve Reich. Typically, Texas bands come to Grand Nats on a rotating basis of somewhere between 2 and 4 years, and, following in that standard, The Woodlands won't be able to defend their title in November 2014. They'll instead be devoting their attention to the San Antonio Super Regional and UIL (Texas) State Finals. We can't wait to see what is next for this program that's #NotAboutTrains.