Rifuarian Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 (edited) The amount of corps style marching bands in the South seems to be very small proportionally to how large the area of the South is. I consider the South pretty much everything East of Texas and South of Kentucky or Virginia. So that would be Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky. What does grokking mean? Read Stranger in a Strange Land. Great book! And I don't mean to be insulting, but you are completely, totally wrong about this. It's okay . . . a lot of Southerners don't seem to realize it either. Like you they just count up the elite programs and forget about the rest. Edited July 19, 2012 by Rifuarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeD Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 What does grokking mean? Robert A. Heinlein Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decompressed Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 "grokking" is from Robert heinlins "a stranger in a strange land" where an Earthling turned Martian uses that term for a myriad of things Particularly for understanding or consolidating ideas and concepts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Read Stranger in a Strange Land. Great book! And I don't mean to be insulting, but you are completely, totally wrong about this. It's okay . . . a lot of Southerners don't seem to realize it either. Like you they just count up the elite programs and forget about the rest. Oh, sorry then. I'm not from the South, I've just marched with and been taught by people from down there, and they were never the most positive about the band situation down there. I'm just a Californian. I just knew about the few bands I've seen at BOA for the high schools, and all of the college bands I see on TV every fall. Don't mean to put out any wrong information. I'll go edit down my original post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kickhaltsforlife Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 (edited) I would not consider Texas a part of the Southeast... as this thread is about the Southeast, not just the South. Let me clarify... Texas is in a grouping all by itself really. But I personally relate it more to the Southwest... but really you cannot relate Texas to anything... Edited July 19, 2012 by kickhaltsforlife Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fsubone Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 Just because you haven't heard of them doesn't mean they aren't there. I'm completely serious when I say the South has more corps style bands than any other part of the country, especially if you include Texas (and I think you should). My home state of Kentucky has roughly 140 corps style scholastic bands. Tennesee, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida all have highly active band communities. Alabama and Mississippi have a fair number of bands themselves. There may be not be as many elite programs (but again, if you include Texas the South easily has more of these than any other part of the country) but there are hundreds of smaller bands of a reasonable level of quality. Show bands may be the most well-known type of band to come out of the South, but corps bands have outnumbered in many, many places. Your other two points are more or less correct. A lot of the bands are from rural areas where kids struggle to afford marching band. Drum corps is most usually out of the question, particularly when there are so few open class options left. Yeah, I did not know that at all. I don't usually consider Texas the South, I've always considered them to be the line between Mid-West and South, but I'm sure everyone sees it differently. I did not know there were that many programs. I guess things are a bit skewed for me, since California has so many corps style band programs, where show bands really are not seen, and everyone does the corps-style thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rifuarian Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 (edited) Oh, sorry then. I'm not from the South, I've just marched with and been taught by people from down there, and they were never the most positive about the band situation down there. I'm just a Californian. I just knew about the few bands I've seen at BOA for the high schools, and all of the college bands I see on TV every fall. Don't mean to put out any wrong information. I'll go edit down my original post. There's no need to apologize, or to edit! Honestly, I used to think the same thing about California. Even southerners can be willfully ignorant about the band situation in the South. That's because they compare it to places such as Indiana, and aren't really aware of what things are like in other parts of the country. Band is reasonably healthy throughout much of the South. Texas is always a slippery subject. Like kickhalts says, it's usually best to keep it in its own category. Except for when you need to prove a point. Edited July 19, 2012 by Rifuarian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mboogey73 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 I've been in South Florida for decades and I've always wondered why a Florida corp couldn't get it together because there's enough talent in Florida to field more than one competitive corps. When I was in BD in 94 there were many members from just from the southern parts of Florida. I marched a one year A60 corps back in the day that was based in Southwest Florida and a ton of us went on to march with big time corps. It makes no sense really. I do know one of the reason BAC has made a big push in recent years is because they tapped into Florida big time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Coffey Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 What does grokking mean? I'll tell you, but only after you answer one question. How are you with a little barbecue sauce? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musicman1084 Posted July 19, 2012 Share Posted July 19, 2012 The south has never been a big hot bed for corps. Unfortunately.... I think the Boston Crusaders of the 2000s would have something to say about this. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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