Reymart B. Marticio, a 33-year-old Filipino band director, has been selected for a South Dakota Bandmasters Association Midwest Clinic award recognizing his work building young musicians at McLaughlin Middle/High School on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, theglobalfilipinomagazine.com reported.
Marticio spent five years constructing the school’s band program from the ground up, teaching beginning band, preparing students for concerts and competitions, establishing a pep band, and providing individual support to students who needed extra help, according to the publication. He joined the school in 2021 as a J-1 exchange teacher after previously serving as band director at the University of Nueva Caceres in Bicol, where he taught instrumental music and directed ensembles for marching and concert performances.
The award included a trip to the Midwest Clinic International Band and Orchestra Conference in Chicago, where Marticio connected with educators whose work he had followed online. He told the publication the experience also let him represent the Philippines through his profession.
Marticio’s J-1 program ended in 2026, and he has returned to the Philippines to fulfill a home-country residency requirement. He now teaches private music lessons online and in person. He has pledged to return to McLaughlin to continue strengthening the band program and hopes to eventually apply what he learned in American classrooms to Philippine music education, the publication reported.
For more information, visit theglobalfilipinomagazine.com.