Free Day? What About a Free Week?
by Jay Wise, Corps Historian
Recently members of Bluecoats and many other drum corps celebrated the big San Antonio, Texas regional performance with a free day on Sunday. The San Antonio free day has become an iconic part of the modern drum corps landscape. Today, with members of any corps having friends or classmates marching in other corps across the country, the San Antonio free day is that chance to catch up in person.
The 2024 Bluecoats will enjoy four free days once tour started on top of every Monday off during Spring Training. When you add up all the off days, the modern corps almost resembles time off Bluecoat members had almost 40 years ago.
Kind of.
Prior to making Top 12, the Bluecoats were a part-time drum corps operation. The directors of the corps in the 1980s had real jobs outside of the organization. There really wasn’t a “tour” for the summer, but a series of smaller tours. For the 1970s and early 1980s, it was primarily weekend touring in the region with one slightly longer trip to DCI Finals. By the mid 1980s, that became a series of tours that might last 4 to 9 days, then home for a break. It wouldn’t be until the mid 1990s, that the corps would leave home and stay on the road continually through Finals.
Free Days? Oh, there were a bunch. In 1986 (see image), there were 19(!!) days off during the summer, including a NINE day “Mid Season Break”.
All of these “days off” were in Canton, Ohio. As a member, if you saw nothing on the calendar for a day (or three), that meant there was NO REHEARSAL, and more importantly, no housing! Members would bunk with other local members in their homes during these off days. Some members during the mid 1980s could hold down part time jobs during the summer that had scheduling flexibility.
After Bluecoats made Finals in 1987, the idea of these “mini tours” of 4-7 days became a full season of touring, but still included the iconic Mid Season Break. In 1989, the corps scheduled an incredible 33 contests, 4 parades and 6 other exhibitions between mid April and Finals! The Mid Season Break was still a lengthy 5 days. That Mid-Season Break was a complete and total break. Members drove home for laundry, sleep, home-cooked food, sleep and a chance to catch up on sleep. There were no practices scheduled and mostly the members didn’t touch their instrument or equipment during this time off!
By 1992 that break was down to 4 days and by the mid 1990s it was eliminated and the idea of free days became singular days, sometimes once or twice during the season with days (sometimes half-days) scheduled for laundry.
So the 2024 Bluecoats having 14 “Day Offs” from move-ins until Finals? It’s not something new, but certainly not like it was.
MONDAY MEMORY IS AN ON-GOING SERIES THAT
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