True Reds' Own Incentive Program

By Mr. Taylor (Reposted From October Band Newsletter)

This year the Lakeview band is using a new incentive program to motivate students to practice and accomplish tasks on their instruments. The new system is called “The True Reds’ Own” and it is based on the ranks of “The President’s Own” band which is the top band of the Marine Corps.
As students accomplish various tasks on their instruments, such as completing assignments in their lesson book or playing scales, they move up in ranks. The fifth grade students advance through the enlisted ranks of the Marine Corps while the sixth grade students advance through the officer ranks.
Students can also earn “medals” by volunteering to participate in various band activities such as rehearsing and performing with a small ensemble, practicing 100 or more minutes for multiple weeks in a row, composing a piece of music for their instrument, learning all of their scales, helping clean up after band rehearsals, getting accepted to perform in an honor band, or attending a band concert in which they are not performing. The students are encouraged to earn as many medals as they would like.
There is a set of posters in the Lakeview cafeteria on which the student name tags are placed according to rank. The name tags also have stickers on them that represent the medals that they have earned so far. Many of the students have already received many medals on their name tags and competition has gotten underway among the students to get the most.
The students also will have tags on their desks in their classroom that will show the rank that they have achieved. This will help the students to keep track of where they are in the incentive program.
Since we have based our incentive program on “The President’s Own,” the students will learn about and listen to recordings of that ensemble over the course of this school year. This will give the students a great aural example to follow in playing their instruments.
There are various recordings of The President’s Own and information that you can read about them on-line at www.marineband.usmc.mil. The President’s Own band was founded in 1798 and has a rich history that includes many great band leaders including John Phillip Sousa. Since The President’s Own is one of the most fine musical ensembles in the whole world, I am proud to be able to teach students about this group. For more information on the rank system, visit the Lakeview Band page on the Music Department webpage.