The Latest
Monday Memory: When There Was No Off-Season
Back in the earliest of days, the Bluecoats never heard of "Spring Training." We trained all year round, every week on Tuesday and Thursday evenings with the occasional weekend camp, and just transitioned our work based on the season. In the fall, we would focus on basics at the old Boys Club. In the early '70's, it was about teaching many of us to simply play our instruments. Some of us learned on ancient equipment (I started on a single piston bugle...google that!) and the marching staff would teach us all about posture and military-style marching. It was mostly a time to keep us together from the previous season and to welcome newcomers.
Bob Barker: the unlikeliest of traditions dies with Barker’s real death
It was the staple hoax of every drum corps summer. It was a tribute to our gullibility as members with news from the “real world” when we were living within the drum corps bubble. And it was something that spread, annually, across many drum corps each summer. But how did this annual “tradition” get started? Chalk it up to a couple of Bluecoats who wanted to test the waters on how far a rumor could spread in a drum corps summer.
Monday Memory: When a Viral Outbreak Stopped Bluecoats from Attending Finals... the First Time
Sometimes history does repeat itself. 2021 is not the first time the Bluecoats returned to the field following a virus outbreak in America. In 1976 an outbreak of virus labeled Legionnaires disease (named for the outbreak being connected to a Legionnaires convention) hit the east coast of the United States. The 1976 Drum Corps International World Championships were scheduled for Philadelphia, capitalizing on the nation’s Bicentennial celebrations in the location of our nation’s founding.
Bluecoats Alumni Corps just 12 Months from Debut Weekend!
July 5, Canton, Ohio. Coming off a pandemic and a canceled year of drum corps, Bluecoats were anxious in announcing the formation of its 50th Anniversary Alumni Corps as to how many former members and staff would register to perform. Expectations were blown away when over 90% of those who had over the past few years expressed interest in participating signed up to put on a Bluecoats uniform one more time. By the time registration closed, over 300 brass, 100+ guard and three times the normal size of a drum line had signed up to perform in a once-in-a-lifetime production. CEO Mike Scott is thrilled at what has developed so far. “Bluecoats are excited to represent the Drum Corps activity on not just our, but DCI's, 50th Anniversary in 2022,” said Scott, “it’s going to be such a special year for us and the community.”
Monday Memory: When You Carried the Pit on your Shoulders
Back in the early days of Bluecoats the drum corps front ensemble looked very different than it does today. Actually, there was NO front ensemble. During the early 1970s everything on the field had to be carried and nothing was “grounded” anywhere. Tympani? Carried it. Marimba? Carried it. Chimes? Yep, carried it! By the end of the decade corps were allowed to “ground” a few items, but they still had to be carried on and off the field. By the mid 1980s the rules changed and a boundary off the field was allowed for “pit” equipment but on-field performers weren’t allowed, at first, to enter and leave this area between the 30s and off the front sideline.
Monday Memory: When the News Traveled by Snail Mail
Today Bluecoats can notify their members, fans and the entire activity in moments by simply dropping a Social Media post. Between text, social media, e-mail and the website, you are never far from fresh information. But that’s not always been so. Keeping the members, parents and activity notified of Bloo news was a bigger chore “back in the day” and relied upon Director Messages and then later the Blue Review.
Monday Memory: When Some of Us Rang in the New Year in Dallas
It started out as a typical winter break drum corps camp in late December 1987. There was plenty of excitement on its own because this was the second off-season rehearsal following Bluecoats cracking into the top 12. But for about a dozen members of the corps, this camp would be different. They would leave early and travel over 1,000 miles to do drum corps. In the off-season. On New Year’s Day.