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Monday Memory: When it took three days to get a contest finished
In modern days, drum corps pull into a power regional and perform once. But it used to be to play the regional Final, you had to place high enough in prelims. Twenty years ago that was a same day gig, doing prelims in the morning and those who made finals got to play again that night. At best a corps might spend two days in town for this one show. But there was a time when it took three days to figure out who was in Finals. And it wasn’t for a regional.
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.
Monday Memory: That time when we had a billboard!
While the Bluecoats were officially born on December 3, 1972, the corps did not hit the competitive field until summer of 1974. The first Bloo summer was as a parade corps that stayed fairly close to headquarters at the Canton Police Boys Club. But in 1974 the corps fundraised for traditional corps uniforms and produced its first field show and hosted the very first Innovations IN BRASS.
Monday Memory: When it all clicked 25 years ago
25 years ago this week the Bluecoats were making preparations for pre-season for the 1995 season. Little did anyone realize how this season would be a transformative one and also foreshadow the future of the activity.
Monday Memory: When Easter Weekend meant a Bus Trip to Drill Camp!
30 years ago this past weekend, the Bluecoats were coming off their 5th consecutive Easter Weekend Drill Camp. In 1990 the corps returned to 5th Regiment Armory in Baltimore, Maryland, where they had first come in 1986. The idea of “hitting the road” for a drill camp was something that (then) Director Ted Swaldo liked as a way to do a dry run on touring to get the kinks out six weeks before setting out on Summer Tour for real. In the first few years, the corps did standstill performances in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor tourist destination before hundreds of downtown spectators.
Alumni Council ORGANIZES VOLUNTEER WEEKEND AT CHAMPION EVENT CENTER
Our Alumni Council Chairperson, Bluecoats Historian, and baritone alumnus Jay Wise recounts below his experience at the first-ever Alumni Council Volunteer Weekend at the Champion Event Center.
Bluecoats would like to thank the dozens of alumni, board members, and community members who joined us to volunteer this weekend.
Bluecoats announce 2022 Alumni Corps Design Team
BLUECOATS ANNOUNCE 2022 ALUMNI CORPS DESIGN TEAM. Preparations continue for The 50th Anniversary Bluecoats Alumni Corps! Key to the success of this major project will be the selection and development of a program honoring all former Bluecoats while entertaining the vast Bluecoat fan base as well as the greater DCI audience.