World of Pageantry

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGAAk1CIcw0


How are they so good?

There's about a hundred reasons. Here's a few...

1. Incredible directors. Goes without saying.

2. Incredibly strong elementary and middle school music programs.

3. Mostly upper-classmen. The Tulsa area schools tend to segment into "Intermediate" High Schools (9th and 10th) and "Senior" High Schools (11th and 12th). Broken Arrow is a Senior High School, with over 2,200 students JUST juniors and seniors. I believe the band also pulls kids from North Intermediate HS and South Intermediate HS (both about 1,100 freshmen and sophomores), including most of their alternates. But the majority of the band every year is 11th and 12th graders, and they never really suffer or have to "Reload" because of graduation.

4. Money. A ton of it. The districts in the Tulsa region make sure the performing arts are well-funded in schools. On top of that, Broken Arrow's band booster organization is a juggernaut that raises a ton more funds each year. This pays for the top of the line staff Broken Arrow has every year. In 2011, Tulsa metro area put three bands into BOA Grand National Finals (Broken Arrow, Owasso, Union), becoming the first city/metro area outside of Indianapolis to do so since the Chicago metro area put three into Finals in 1995 (and it was the Top 14 that year).

What is said above is completely true. The sad thing is that the three schools mentioned, Broken Arrow, Union and Owasso are so far ahead of the rest of the state, it is not even funny. The OBA state championship is three giants and 7 mice. These are three awesome Bands.

I'd refer to Edmond Memorial and Jenks as cats, at the very least.

But yeah, three giants, two cats, and a whole buncha mice.

One big reason for the three big schools is that compare the number of schools in each class and their enrollment under OSSAA vs UIL

Class 6A OBA
32 Schools
Enrollment from 1272 to 4,610 (BA) 4284(Union) 2643 (Owasso)

UIL Class 5A
250 Schools
Enrollments from 2085 to 5,450 2975 (LD Bell) 3350(Duncanville) 3275 (The Woodlands)

Class 5A OBA
1271-700
32 Schools

Class 4A UIL
245 Schools
1085 to 2084

Class 4A OBA
32 Schools
699-494 enrollment

Class 3A UIL
185 Schools
389 to 1085 Students.

The difference between TX and OK is that the big three in OK have far more students than the rest of their class. Much different in UIL due to our having more schools and a closer dividing line in enrollment.

We have very little competition between the two states due to OK Bands being primarily focused toward AR and MO competitions. However last fall at the Putnam City Competition in OK under OBA rules, Randall High of Amarillo, a Class 4A Band defeated Edmund N in both the prelims and finals and took the sweepstakes there. Thus one of the Cats is probably a Big Cat in a small ring.