Monday Memory: When the season debut was in... April?
As the calendar turns to June and eyes anxiously check the calendar for the start of the DCI season, in the late 80s and early 1990s, Bluecoats debuted their season in April. April? No, not a finished field show, but it was a debut nonetheless. For years Drum Corps Associates (DCA) held a Spring preview of the upcoming season and several DCA and alumni corps would perform at the Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the annual Serenade in Brass. It was a way to provide a little hype for the upcoming season after a winter where corps have had a chance to rehearse the music for the upcoming year.
Bluecoats had a special DCA connection in their Program Coordinator, Larry Hershman, who had deep roots in the Senior Corps activity. And Larry’s production company ran the show. So in 1986 the Bluecoats debuted not just some of their upcoming season show, but also their world debut at Serenade in Brass. It was also a sly way for the previously 28th place corps to make a big splash in the activity as the corps was working hard to move up the ladder. It provided a great preview of what was going to be a stellar season.
The corps would return annually to Serenade and as the corps improved, so did the reception at the Forum where any corps would be loud, but when you put a top 6 horn-line in the facility? Blow the roof off was more than a simile. It may have been a goal.
Before the era of “top secret” programming, Bluecoats would bring the house down to an audience of drum corps fanatics.
