A perfect summer sun was set to the sounds of the reggae moroccas and bell beat as the Blue Coats Drum and Bugle Core out of Canton, Ohio were warming up for the night.

The 135 drum, brass, color guard triple threat shook, cooled, and wowed the hundreds of color guard camper spectators at O’Brien Stadium during their Smith-Walbridge clinic last Thursday. According to Christine Beason and Jake Stauffer, administrative assistants with Smith-Walbridge Clinics, the Core rehearses 12 hours a day.

During one of their sets, a light jazzy number began tickling the xylophones, and proceeded to spread into trills and thrills as the brass entered and the Core caught the jazzy fire in their movements. The color guard spun in pinwheel fashion, and later in the same piece, the brass would unconventionally sway to the meandering jazz.

Moving in a v-shape duck formation doesn’t last long when you’re the Blue Coats, as not even seconds later they are in a row, symbolizing an 18th century British army, came marching forward. In this number, they displayed how playing soft is just as powerful as playing loud, keeping everything light from the sounds of the brass, to the stretching motion of the color guard.

Dave MacKinnon, co-brass caption head, said he doesn’t know if it’s hard to be in the Core, but that they’ve auditioned 605 kids for the 135 spots, all throughout the US.

“It’s quite a commitment, but there is a fair amount of time involved,” MacKinnon said, “If they’re selected for a position, and come May 20, they’re asked to move in right up until August 15, which is the championships. So there’s no going home for that period. We’re a professional marching band seven days a week, except they don’t get paid for it.”

The average age of the players is 19, but regardless of age, hard work, dedication, and of course a good handle of their respective equipment or instrument come with the territory.

“Rehearsals start maybe around 9:30 [a.m.],” MacKinnon said. “And from 9:30 to 12 would be the visual so they work on the marching drill. We have an hour for lunch, and then from 1:00 to approximately 4:00 is the music portion of it.”

“During those sessions, the brass will go by themselves, the percussion will be going by themselves, the color guard will be going by themselves and then later on after dinner, all three of those sections will get together from approximately 6:30 to 9:30 to start putting the marching and maneuvering on the field,” he said.

This is the second time the 40 show a year group has been to Eastern, and Beason has said the Core loves coming.

“They sleep on gym floors, they travel on the tour buses,” she said. “So for them to be here because they actually get to sleep in beds, they love being here.”

The Core is off next to Illinois State University and is gradually gearing up for there championships versus teams from all over the US and Canada in Madison, Wis. Next year, they’ll be at the Rose Bowl in Anaheim.

“I think it’s terrific that we allow for these kinds of things in the summer,” said Dr. Milton Allen, new director of Bands at Eastern and one of the spectators on the night. “It’s great for the school; it’s great for the students. To get the Blue Coats in here and for all these campers to see is just terrific.”