Monday Memory: When There Was No Off-Season
Contributed by Kevin Armbruster, an original Bluecoat, staff member and 2022 Bluecoats Hall of Fame inductee.
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.
In the winter, it would get more exciting, as we were introduced to actual music and sectionals spread all around the club, from the bowling alley to the gym. This was when "Show and Tell" began for us, and the guard would excitedly record our first attempts in order to get a jump start on imagining work for the field show. Fundraising would be a large part of what we did at that time, including participation events, like the rock-a-thon, and door-to-door sales of things like candles, etc.. There was no Facebook fundraising out there!
Drum music and guard work would follow as we moved into spring, with all of us anxious to get outside and rattle the neighbors around Souers Junior High School. Camps would become more frequent as we began to put the music together and would await our first bits of the drill. Ultimately, we would be at our practice field in order to put the entire show together by the time school let out.
Shows back then were scheduled as early as mid-June, so we were practicing as much as we could while not being at a site together. Things didn't really start clicking until mid-season, as the whole group wouldn't gather until all schools were out for the summer break.
