texas has the best marching bands. they dominate BOA
however california, especially southern california, dominates indoor drumline.

there are several good ones here in Alabama, and then there is the one high school in Arkansas (just kidding) that have a huge, and very good band

Texas has some very good ones too

There are some strong groups in Tennessee, like Munford and Houston and a couple others around the state. But I'd probably Texas is tops in the marching area.

This makes me feel great about my state

Gotta represent the Lone Star State!

Erm...

Aren't all students who don't sign up for any extra curricular activities put in their high school's marching band automatically in Texas?

Thought that my BD said something to that effect.

But Georgia has some decent bands, though it's not very consistent. About every ten to fifteen years, there's a drastic change in power of the bands, and some have 300+ while others have 15- members.

:x

And I hear Indiana is a powerhouse at BOA Nationals.

At my school (in Texas) the band directors came to the to our fifth grade music class and talked to us about getting in band....so the kids put what they wanted to play if they got in band but they had three slots for backup plans....but no they dont make you get in band but you do have to choose an extracurricular activity....i guess Texas schools just do good at getting kids interested in band.

Gerga5214....you guys are ridiculously great....i go to Atlanta....i saw yall at the Northwestern contest...and of course at the state marching contest last year....you guys are definetely the best 3A band in the nation:)

Whoa, there. I'm sure Gerga's band is awesome, but the best in the nation? Orly?

Here is the results of Canton's last five trips to the Texas State Marching Contest:98'Bronze, 00'silver, 02'Gold, 04'Gold, 06'Gold. May i remind u that this is Texas.

Here in texas, band is kind of a big deal. And no, unsigned kids don't get put in band. Wouldn't that make our bands full of undedicated slackers anyways? =P

But yeah, it's really a matter of pride. Also you get a lot of great instructors coming out of UNT, like our percussion dir. who played on the "A" drumline. And those instructors are really good at motivating kids, as well as coming up with some amazing show concepts. I watched the Raiders DBC West Side Story show from last year today, and thought 'I saw at least two highschool bands who did as good a job or better with that show'.

I think partially it's because football has such a strong tradition in TX, so the marching band naturally gets a bit more support here, even in small towns, than arts groups would generally get. In fact a lot of places have their bands now bringing in attendance that dwarfs the football team fans. =D

But yeah, rock on Texas!