Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps

Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps

Location	North Canton, Ohio
Division	World Class
Founded	1972
Director	Mike Scott
Championship titles	2016

The Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps, or simply The Bluecoats, is a World Class competitive drum and bugle corps. Based in Canton, Ohio, the Bluecoats are a member corps of Drum Corps International (DCI).^[1] The Bluecoats were the 2016 DCI World Class champions.

History[]

Bluecoats tenor drum players 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 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]

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.^[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]

In 2010, the corps medaled for the first time at the DCI World Championships, taking the bronze with their production "Metropolis: The Future Is Now." In 2014, they made corps history again by taking the silver medal for their show "TILT." In 2015, the corps performed their production entitled "Kinetic Noise," taking home the bronze.^[5]

At the 2016 DCI World Championships, the Bluecoats won 1st place in World Class Finals, becoming only the tenth corps to be DCI Champions since the competition began in 1972. The winning show, "Down Side Up," earned the corps' highest DCI score (at the time) of 97.650 while winning the General Effect and Music captions on finals night. For 2016, the Bluecoats abandoned their traditional uniforms blue coats in favor of a more informal costume designed with the show's near-constant motion in mind; the brass and percussion wore white and the color guard yellow, both with a swirling, sequined blue accent stripe running from the left hand to the shoulder, across the chest, and down the right leg; Bluecoats also became the first corps to win the DCI title while not wearing hats, helmets, shakos, or any other type of headgear.^[6] This trend of non-traditional uniforms has continued since then, and has been emulated by numerous other corps since 2016.

At the 2019 DCI World Championships, the Bluecoats came second place while scoring the corps' highest ever score of 98.238, winning the General Effect Caption and tying for 1st in Music on finals night.

At the end of 2016 it was announced that the Bluecoats had been selected to send a team of 30 people to Hong Kong to perform with Pegasus Vanguard in Hong Kong's 2017 Chinese New Year Celebration. They were invited to perform in Hong Kong again for the 2019 Chinese New Year Celebration.

In 2017 shortly after WGI World Championships in Dayton Ohio, the Bluecoats announced a formation of their own WGI World Class Color Guard unit, named Bloo Indoor. In 2018, the guard finished in 12th place, making it into finals their very first year. In 2019 they broke into the top 10, finishing in 9th place. ^[7] It was announced that the group would not be competing for the 2020 WGI season.

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.^[8] The Director Emeritus is Ted Swaldo, the President is Scott Swaldo, Mike Scott is the Chief Executive Officer, Genevieve Geisler is Chief Financial Officer & Chief Operations Officer, former CEO David Glasgow is the Executive Advisor, and the Corps Manager is Bill Hamilton.^[9][10]

The Bluecoats organization also sponsors the Artistry IN BLUE Winter Guard and the Rhythm IN BLUE Alumni Ensemble.^[11] Additionally, the corps owns and operates the Champion Event Center, a community bingo, banquet and special events center in North Canton.^[12] In April 2017, the corps announced the founding of a second Winter Guard that will begin competing in 2018; Bluecoats Indoor will be based in the Indianapolis area.^[13]

Show summary (1974–2021)[]

Source:^[14]

Caption Awards[]

At the annual World Championship Finals, Drum Corps International (DCI) presents awards to the corps with the high average scores from prelims, semifinals, and finals in five captions. The Bluecoats have won these captions:

Don Angelica Best General Effect Award

• 2016, 2019

Traditions and trivia[]

This Traditions and trivia contains a list of miscellaneous information. Please relocate any relevant information into other sections or articles. (January 2017)

2014 Drum Major Willie Veenstra turns to the crowd during the corps' encore performance.

Blooooo...[]

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, "Bloooo... Blooooo... Blooooo..."– a crowd reaction that began with one former member during the 1985 and 1986 seasons and amplified by legendary Drum Corps Midwest announcer Joe Bruno and grew throughout the 1987 season. 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 one of the most recognizable acts of audience participation in the drum corps activity. Newcomers to drum corps are often shocked by this unique reaction, until it is explained that, "They're not booing; they're blooing."

Corps' song(s)[]

The Bluecoats' corps song is, "Autumn Leaves", which became the corps' song after the 1987 season, in honor of the corps making its first DCI Finals appearance. The song has remained a part of the corps' repertoire since 1987, and it 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 Paul Simon, which was a huge hit for Simon and Garfunkel shortly before the corps was founded and was performed by the corps in 1976 & '77. It had been played at encores since the 2012 season when it was brought back in honor of the corps' 40th anniversary, but it has since been replaced as an encore piece by an earlier Simon and Garfunkle hit, "The Boxer" (also written by Paul Simon) which was a wildly popular tune in the corps' 2008 program. Another song that is frequently performed in the lots and at encores is "Creep" by Radiohead from their 2011 show "A Brave New World". Occasionally The Bluecoats perform their 2014 ballad "The Hymn of Acxiom" by Vienna Teng during camps and home show encores.

Musical identity[]

Although there have been departures over the years, the Bluecoats were widely known for performing big band jazz arrangements of their musical programs. More recently, however, the corps has created an identity based around innovation in electronics and creative design in DCI.

Hall of Fame home show[]

Like most drum corps, the Bluecoats hold an annual "home show" in Massillon, OH 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 located in Canton. In the 2019 summer, the corps performed during halftime for the NFL Hall of Fame football game.

Members' mementos[]

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 on the morning of finals day. Members also receive a nickel after marching their fifth year in the Bluecoats.

Show Announcements[]

In 2016, The Bluecoats started a tradition of becoming the last corps to reveal their show for the season, often waiting to reveal the uniforms roughly 3 hours before their first performance and waiting later to announce the show title itself. They do announce their show repertoire within 2-3 weeks of this first show.

"Six Words"[]

In the early 1990s, the Bluecoats created the secret phrase "Six Words" and is only told to new members after performing their first home show of the season. The phrase is said to unite members of the corps from any timeframe, linking all Bluecoats past and present. In addition to the Bluecoats logo and the autumn leaf, many Bluecoats members even have the phrase "Six Words" tattooed.

References[]

External links[]

• Bluecoats website
• Drum Corps International website