As a trumpet player myself, I find it fascinating to see how each hornline will compare to its previous year's hornline. There are plenty of factors that go into a successful brass line, from the judges perspective. Brass judges must consider the technical skill being required of the members, or more simply put, the written music itself. They must consider the actual skill with which that written music is being executed by the brass players. The judges must scan each player's individual skill while also analyzing the "macro" perspective of the entire brassline as a musical ensemble.

Those are just a few of the things that, when achieved at the highest level, make a Jim Ott Award-winning hornline. We've compiled all of the brass scores from Jim Ott Award winners over the last 10 years and revealed some interesting statistics. One quick note before we get into the numbers, the brass score is out of 20 and is a subsection of the scores included within the "Music" caption.

Year	Corps	Prelims	Semis	Finals	Average
2007	Blue Devils	19.600	19.800	19.800	19.733
2008	Blue Devils	19.500	19.700	19.700	19.633
2009	Carolina Crown	19.500	19.500	19.600	19.533
2010	Blue Devils	19.300	19.300	19.800	19.467
2011	Carolina Crown	19.500	19.500	19.500	19.500
2012	Carolina Crown	19.400	19.700	19.800	19.633
2013	Carolina Crown	19.300	19.800	20.000	19.700
2014	Blue Devils	19.700	19.700	19.800	19.733
2015	Cadets	19.100	19.700	19.800	19.533
2016	Carolina Crown	19.200	19.300	19.600	19.367

Getting Into The Numbers

The highest average score achieved by a Jim Ott Award winner is 19.733, which is tied by the Blue Devils of 2014 and the Blue Devils of 2007. The Blue Devils' 2014 show, "Felliniesque," broke the record for highest overall score, receiving a 99.65 points on Finals night.

In the last 10 years of High Brass award winners, only four corps improved their brass scores each night of World Championships (Carolina Crown '12, Carolina Crown '13, Cadets '15, Carolina Crown '16).

You can check in with your favorite hornlines live all season, only on FloMarching. Also, don't forget to keep track of their scores through all three nights of 2017 DCI World Championships so that you can find the average score, or check back here. I will be keeping a close eye on them all season!

Who do you think will win the coveted Jim Ott Award this season?

Take the poll below!

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