Here is a question - does Area or state really make bands as a whole better in the state of Texas?

Athletics have 1 purpose - to win. We can say teamwork and all that but it's really bs. The purpose of playing a football game is to win. Not pad stats and not get better but to win. There is a winner or a loser. As an athlete I understand this. I tell myself a lot analyzing an event how this or that got better which helps to win but at the end of the day, nobody cares how much improved the 4th place team at state is. It matters who won the last game of the season. Period.

Is area and state really making music programs healthier or is it hurting? We learn a lot being in an ensemble and truth be told, 99% of those in a high school marching band will never set foot on a football field after high school. (same is probably true for the football players as well). They aren't using lessons learned from going to state marching band in their every day boardroom, zoom call, or living room.

So, while Marching Band can serve a number of purposes I think the whole push to Area and State is actually less beneficial. Think of the time especially and money in some programs that could be put to other purposes, (like taking kids to see the Symphony and the ballet and music theater) instead of buying one more clinician or one more marching tech for a few more weeks to move from 25th to 23rd at state.... Imagine if the Nutcracker could do 3 matinee performances and fill the auditorium with high school students from the Greater Houston area. Imagine if every Broadway series event (that would be about 6 different shows a school year) at the Hobby Center could have 1 Wednesday morning performance with the understudies with a full auditorium of middle school and high school students seeing the performance and then maybe even a panel discussion from the performers on what it took to get there, (hint, it wasn't state marching band).

We want to know why music programs aren't supported? We have politicians and admin that don't support the activity because they were never exposed to the better sides of it. We have a symphony not supported in San Antonio because adults were never exposed to it as kids. Keep the arts alive by taking the competition away from it. Art was never about competition. It should always be about quality.