I agree with the suggestions about just cutting the closer if you have enough time. I had it happen to me twice. The first time, the drill I wrote for the closer was too hard and we didn't have time to rework. The second time, we could play the closer sitting down and march the closer to a recording but try as we might, we couldn't do both. I both instances, I did a short 30-45 second reprise of the opener with minimal drill and clocked the drill in a little over 5 minutes. Both bands made 1s.

How about where you are, then skipping to the very last set. Hold and move one last time at end?

These days I feel like you can justify standing still a lot more, but that would at least make it look like a choice - not a ‘we didn’t learn it’

Option 1 - march as much of the closer as you feel confident with, and hold & play to the end. If you stand & play for too long, you may run afoul of the "frequency of movement while playing" bullet on the sheet.

Option 2 - If you have 5+ minutes of music, that you're really confident in, just don't play the closer. There is no programing requirement other than the time minimum/maximum. Save the closer for Area.

I saw a band go to UIL and line up on the field, have three players move six steps to the left, and that was the sum total of their drill. They stood in place and played the rest of their show.

They earned a 3.

The judges' job is to evaluate only what you put on the field, not to criticize show design. Do what you need to do to have a successful performance.

Maybe you can get away with it by adding a visual?

Through a series of bad decisions on my part, I ended up having to cut my closer and end with a ballad at UIL (we ended up using a soft ending with a soloist, which sorta fit the theme of the show). The judges actually went with us as the kids played and marched well. Got killed at area though.

If your kids march and play well and do their best out there, you can do well. I personally would not park and play the entire closer. Try to clean as much as you can, then make the final decision.

I've seen it done one about 25 years ago. It didn't turn out well. Granted, the rest of the show wasn't great either, but standing still didn't help. Early in my career, I had to throw the closer on at the last minutes. For us, we just kept getting rained out. We literally taught and cleaned the closer the week of UIL. We just ran through the rest of the show, but taught and cleaned the closer as we went along. Straight 1's at UIL, but I swore to never be in that predicament again. I've spoken to a few directors who are rethinking how complex their shows might be going forward due to the lost outdoor time because of the WBGT. You still have a week, work the closer like your life depends on it.

As long as you have 5 minutes of music, it doesn't matter if you play your closer or not. Don't stand and play. Just leave the closer out. BUT if you don't have at least 5 minutes without it then ok, you can stand and play.