World Champion Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps. return for the seventh year to Hamburg Area High School for rehearsals for their upcoming shows in Allentown and Buffalo, New York.
“This is the equivalent of having a professional sports team use our stadium for four days. Exciting stuff,” said Aaron Menapace, Director of Interscholastic Athletics at Hamburg School District. “There are many people who enjoy watching them rehearse in the stadium while here.”
The Blue Devils will arrive at 2 a.m. on Aug. 3, and stay overnight in the high school gymnasium until they depart for Buffalo, New York, at 11 p.m. on Aug. 6.
“I love that the Blue Devils rehearse in our very own backyard,” said Megan Reimer, Director of Bands at Hamburg High School and Middle School. “This is the music equivalent of having a professional athletic team here to practice at our stadium.
All rehearsals are open to the public and to the students.
“This is a fabulous opportunity for our community members, and particularly our students, to witness professional musicians in action.”
“The members of the Blue Devils are similar in age to our own high school students, just a little older, so they provide an excellent model, especially when we are about to begin our own marching season ourselves!”
Reimer hopes this influences local youth.
“Watching the Blue Devils rehearse will hopefully be inspirational for our own students. In rehearsals and performance, they demonstrate diligence, perseverance, strength, musicianship, responsibility, etc. It takes all of those qualities and more to create an award-winning, nationally recognized ensemble and program.”
The Hamburg Area Music Association opens their concession stand for the Blue Devils, their team and staff, and for all spectators.
For more information about the Blue Devils, visit https://bluedevils.org/.
According to https://bluedevils.org/, The Blue Devils’ mission is “to permanently enrich the lives of young people through a commitment to youth development and performance excellence while providing enjoyment for our local community and audiences worldwide. Music and the performing arts connect youth with their culture through a common language crossing generational, social, and racial barriers. The activities that a young person pursues influences the type of person he or she becomes. The experience that comes with participation in a performing arts organization builds discipline, character, pride, and self-confidence at a crucial age and forms the springboard to even greater achievements in adulthood.”
Hamburg Area Music Association posted on their Facebook page that they once again will open the concession stand during rehearsals to offer drinks, ice cream and candy to the members of the Blue Devils and also to any community members who stop in to watch rehearsals. HAMA seeks volunteers to help in the stand. Contact them at hama.officers@gmail.com or via their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/HamburgAreaMusicAssociation/?fref=nf.
