Jonathan Maerkl and the Providence School Stallions

“Whenever you have your students renting their instruments with Virtual Booster Club, it's a win-win situation. They're getting quality instruments that are easily serviceable and RentMyInstrument.com takes care of them, making sure they're serviced if they need to be. At the same time, you're getting credit to spend on whatever else you need from B.A.C. and 825 Marching, which includes some great professional models used by well-known people in the industry.

Last year was my first year as a VBC member and I had a beginning band class of around 50 students. Most of them rented through Virtual Booster Club, and we had around $11,000 worth of credits—just from them renting an instrument that they needed anyway. On top of that, my students get a 50% discount for paying off their instruments early. The parents are paying less, we're getting a great instrument, and we're also receiving credit to get other instruments for the program. It's a fantastic situation.

So far I have used my VBC credits on an intermediate open-hole flute, a 4-valve Washington euphonium, and a Plaza trumpet. I always tell my friends the best things you can spend your money on are good-quality instruments, good-quality music, and good-quality instruction, so that's what I want to spend most of my money on. Sometimes to get a kid to know what they can work towards, you have to lead them there. No one in my school has an open-hole flute, so I got this intermediate open-hole flute and now all of a sudden they're like, “Oh, I want one of these.” More of the kids want one and working toward developing their playing. The euphonium I received sounds beautiful and my son is playing the Plaza trumpet in my band right now. It looks beautiful and sounds fantastic.”