MarchandPlay

There is a video of the non age-outs playing the ballad for the age outs, and I count about 16 from the hornline. And the quality of playing still sounds great with the 64 members still playing. I don't see this number of hornline age outs causing any problems for them.

Frank is still arranging the music for them, so he is not out of the picture. It says that Ryan Mohney was a trumpet tech last year with them, so he knows the program. Just depends on if these two continue down the "breathe dah" path, or what changes they will make. I do not see this being as a detriment to the corps at all. I believe they will continue to have a great hornline sound. We will have to wait and see how they teach before we make very many assumptions.

Here is an average of every world class finalist's placing (ONLY taken from the top 12 - years corps were 13th and lower on any given year were not included in this simply because it would take even longer than it already did). Average Placement 1. Blue Devils - 2.421 2. Anaheim Kingsmen - 3.333 3. The Cadets - 3.500 4. Santa Clara Vanguard - 3.800 5. The Cavaliers - 4.553 6. Phantom Regiment - 4.947 7. Star of Indiana - 5.222 8. 27th Lancers - 5.750 9. Madison Scouts - 6.083 10. Bridgemen - 6.429 11. Oakland Crusaders - 7.000 12. DesPlaines Vanguard - 7.000 13. DeLaSalle Oaklands - 7.000 14. Muchachos - 7.333 15. Suncoast Sound - 7.429 16. Blue Stars - 7.500 17. Bluecoats - 7.958 18. Carolina Crown - 8.000 19. Kilties - 8.000 20. Argonne Rebels - 8.000 21. Boston Crusaders - 8.077 22. Crossmen - 8.500 23. Spirit - 8.944 24. Blue Knights - 9.000 25. Royal Crusaders - 9.000 26. Troopers - 9.000 27. Seneca Optimists - 9.000 28. Glassmen - 9.125 29. Freelancers - 10.000 30. North Star - 10.000 31. Purple Lancers - 10.000 32. St. Andrew's Bridgemen - 10.000 33. Black Knights - 10.000 34. Velvet Knights - 10.125 35. Magic of Orlando - 10.500 36. Guardsmen - 10.500 37. Sky Riders - 11.167 38. Colts - 11.250 39. Cascades - 12.000 40. Dutch Boy - 12.000 41. Bleu Raeders - 12.000 42. Commodores - 12.000 Average Score 1. Blue Devils - 95.499 2. The Cadets - 94.778 3. Star of Indiana - 93.544 4. Santa Clara Vanguard - 93.362 5. Phantom Regiment - 92.359 6. The Cavaliers - 92.258 7. Madison Scouts - 90.423 8. Suncoast Sound - 90.207 9. Boston Crusaders - 89.725 10. Carolina Crown - 89.498 11. Bluecoats - 89.453 12. Blue Knights - 88.345 13. Glassmen - 88.325 14. Crossmen - 87.506 15. Spirit - 86.911 16. Velvet Knights - 86.575 17. Anaheim Kingsmen - 86.433 18. Bridgemen - 86.207 19. 27th Lancers - 86.092 20. Blue Stars - 85.585 21. Magic of Orlando - 84.258 22. Oakland Crusaders - 84.050 23. Cascades - 84.050 24. Colts - 83.956 25. Freelancers - 83.480 26. Royal Crusaders - 82.400 27. Troopers - 82.361 28. Kilties - 82.292 29. Sky Riders - 82.292 30. Dutch Boy - 82.200 31. Muchachos - 81.533 32. DesPlaines Vanguard - 81.250 33. Seneca Optimists - 80.600 34. DeLaSalle Oaklands - 79.950 35. North Star - 79.567 36. Guardsmen - 78.300 37. Argonne Rebels - 78.025 38. Purple Lancers - 77.150 39. St. Andrew's Bridgemen - 77.025 40. Black Knights - 75.750 41. Bleu Raeders - 73.950 42. Commodores - 72.250 And now I am done making long lists like these that take up way too much time...

Sorry, I didn't mean to phrase it like that, and I adjusted my post accordingly. He has done some great work for them for the past few years, but I think it's time for a big change visually for the Blue Stars. A new drill designer with a fresh perspective for their consistent design team could help a lot.

I agree, I would love to see them get a new drill writer(not that Kevin Ford is doing them a disservice, but to get a change in drill design for them), and have a visual staff that will push them to the next level. Their playing has been fine, now all they need is a more refined visual and great things could happen. I also don't know much about the two guys, but as far as I can tell they seem like good choices. Oh, I also hope last year helped them learn that props might not always be the best route to choose (not to say that they never work, but certain aspects of props do not).

With most of the main staff at Blue Stars returning in some sorts or another (including Sullivan from caption head/arranger to solely arranger) it looks like they are keeping certain aspects consistent for next year. Thoughts?

I predict that none of this will happen