Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps

Bluecoats
Drum and Bugle Corps

Location	North Canton, Ohio
Division	World Class
Founded	1972
Director	David Glasgow
Uniform	(2014) Dark Blue jacket w/white trim White sash, epaulettes, and tilted white cummerbund Dark Blue pants Black shoes & socks Dark Blue helmet w/silver trim & White plume

The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps is a World Class (formerly Division I) competitive junior drum and bugle corps. Based in Canton, Ohio, the Bluecoats are a member corps of Drum Corps International (DCI).^[1]

History

Bluecoats quads and guard perform at the 2014 DCI World Championship Finals in Indianapolis, Indiana.

The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps was founded in 1972 by Canton businessman Art Drukenbrod and Canton Police officers "Babe" Stearn and Ralph McCauley, the director and assistant director of the Canton Police Boys' Club. The corps members chose the name both because of their sponsorship and to honor the city's police officers, particularly those who had retired from the ranks. The corps made its competition debut in 1974 and, in their first major show, finished thirty-second of thirty-seven corps in the U.S. Open Class A prelims in Marion, Ohio. The corps improved year by year, and began touring in both the U.S. and Canada and making U.S. Open finals in 1976, taking second place in 1977 and third in 1978. The Bluecoats made their first DCI appearance in Denver in 1977, scoring in thirty-fifth place among forty-five corps.^[2][3][4]

Although the Bluecoats corps was maturing musically, it was struggling to survive financially. 1979 saw the corps performing only in local parades, as it attempted to reorganize its financial situation. With the return to the field in 1980, the corps was competitive in Class A competitions but only managed a thirty-eighth-place finish of the forty-four corps performing in Open Class at the DCI World Championships in Birmingham, Alabama. In the next two seasons, the corps attempted to compete exclusively in Open Class, but they met with small success. In 1983, it was announced that the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps would cease operations.^[2][3][4]

The present–day Bluecoats' convoy is typical for a DCI World Class corps in 2014.

At the time that the corps' folding was announced, present-day corps President Scott Swaldo was a marching member. When he told his father, Canton industrialist Ted Swaldo (now the corps' Director Emeritus), the elder Swaldo stated his determination to prevent it and stepped in to try to save the corps. One of Swaldo's first moves as corps director was to see that the organization was run like a business, a concept that has since been spread to numerous non-profit youth organizations around the country. With successful fund-raising projects and a solid business plan in place, the corps returned to the field after only a one-year hiatus. As a full-fledged Open Class corps the Bluecoats improved with each passing year until, in 1987, the corps became the first corps from Ohio to earn a place in the DCI World Championship finals, finishing in eleventh place. Since then, the corps has failed to make DCI Finals only once (1999), and the Bluecoats have become a consistent DCI contender, finishing as high as second place in 2014.^[2][3][4]

In the early days the corps traveled in blue-painted surplus Army buses, then in used school buses, later moving up to used, but air-conditioned, motor coaches. At first, meals were served from a U-Haul trailer towed by a parent's car, later from a van, then a travel trailer, before the eventual acquisition of an eighteen-wheeled semi-trailer kitchen. Today the corps travels around the country during its summer tour in a convoy with chartered buses, an equipment truck, cook truck, souvenir trailer, and staff vehicles.^[3][4]

Sponsorship

The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps is a 501 (c) (3) musical organization that has a Board of Directors, corps director, and staff assigned to carry out the organization's mission.^[5] The Executive Director is David Glasgow, and the Corps Manager is Bill Hamilton. The Bluecoats organization also sponsors the Artistry IN BLUE Winter Guard and the Rhythm IN BLUE Alumni Ensemble. Additionally, the corps owns and operates the Champion Event Center, a community bingo, banquet and special events center in North Canton.^[5]

Show Summary (1975-2015)

Sources:^[6][7]

Gold background indicates DCI Championship: Pale shaded background indicates DCI Top 12 Finalist.

Traditions

2014 Drum Major Willie Veenstra turns to the crowd after the corps' closer.

• At the Bluecoats first appearance at DCI Finals in 1987, their over-the-top arrangement of the Joseph Kosma-Johnny Mercer song Autumn Leaves, with a fifteen-member snare drum line brought forth the spontaneous long shouts from the audience of, "BLOO-OO-OO BLOO-OO-OO BLOO-OO-OO..." This has since come to be the audience's traditional greeting as the corps enters the field and response as they finish their show, which has become perhaps the most recognizable act of audience participation in the drum corps activity. Newcomers to drum corps are often shocked by this reaction, until it is explained that, "They're not booing; they're blooing." ^[8][9] (See and hear that 1987 DCI performance at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH-aDgFbzpQ )

• The Bluecoats' corps song is, as might be expected, "Autumn Leaves." The song has remained a part of the corps' repertoire since 1987, and has reappeared in their 1988 and 1998 shows. It can also frequently be heard being performed during impromptu parking lot concerts after competitions. The corps' first official song was "Bridge Over Troubled Water," by Simon and Garfunkel, and has been played at encores since the 2012 season, in honor of their 40th anniversary. The song changed to "Autumn Leaves" after the 1987 season in honor of the corps making its first finals appearance. An unofficial second corps song is "The Boxer" from their 2008 production of "The Knockout". This is considered due to it being played at their encores since the 2012 season.^[8][9]

• Although there have been departures over the years, the Bluecoats are widely known for performing big band jazz arrangements of their musical programs.^[9]

• Like most drum corps, the Bluecoats hold an annual "home show" near their hometown. It has become a local tradition that the Bluecoats' home show is a part of the induction festivities for Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is also located in Canton.^[9]

• The Bluecoats have a tradition of giving each member a blue necklace made out of shoelace with silver-plated pennies attached with a link from the chin strap of a Bluecoats helmet. Each member gets one penny or equivalent currency from each nationality represented in the corps that season, each year that they march in the corps. Members also receive a nickel after marching their fifth year in the Bluecoats.^[8][9]

References

External links

• Bluecoats website
• Drum Corps International website