Brian Martin began playing the trombone because his older brother had one. “He played because of [the trombone-playing character] William Riker in ‘Star Trek,’” said Martin. “Being a responsible 10-year-old, I didn’t want my parents to have to spend the money to buy, say, a saxophone.” Martin took to the smooth, deep-toned instrument, majoring in music in college and going on to get a master’s in jazz composition. This school year, Martin joined the Needham High School faculty as a music theory teacher and director of the school’s Symphonic Band, Concert Band, and Jazz Ensemble. He’s taking to this moment, too.
With the students’ first concert under Martin’s direction coming up next week, he reports having a very positive introduction to the music community in Needham. “This is the first school I’ve worked at where practicing seemed like a cultural norm,” said Martin. “Which is always the dream, right? The kids seem generally quite motivated. It seems like there’s a culture of practice that is coming up from Steve (Heldt) through Pollard and Katie (Iatesta) before him at High Rock.”
There are, of course, students for whom music is not the topmost priority. “They’re going to go be an astrophysicist or a painter but their friends are here and they enjoy it.” Even then, Martin said, they want to do it well. “So that’s been really great.
“I feel really supported by my coworkers and my administrators. I feel really supported by the students. And maybe even most importantly so far I feel really supported by their parents.”
It did not have to be that way. The band director Martin replaced had been arrested for possessing child pornography. But not only has Martin been welcomed personally, he knows parents are helping to ensure that students practice and take music seriously.
“The most essential ingredient to a successful program is having the message reinforced at home that what we do matters.”
Listening to Martin’s own music shows the versatility that he needs to help students across the range of ensembles and repertoire. His latest project is an album from Brian Martin’s Big Band called “Old Home/New Home,” which may be the way he feels about coming to Needham.
Martin said it was a little tricky putting together the repertoire for this first November concert without having worked with the students for very long. He researched previous concerts to get a read on what Needham musicians are capable of. Then, for the symphonic band, he introduced pieces he had played as a college student, the “Chester Overture” and “Elsa’s Procession to Cathedral,” a famous, majestic concert band arrangement of Richard Wagner music from an opera. “And then we’re doing a piece called “Ponte Romano,” which I’ve never performed, but it pays homage to their Italian trip. It’s based on a bridge in Italy.”
For the concert band, which is nearly all ninth graders, Martin looked for music that “straddles the line between really hard eighth grade music to decently difficult freshman music.”
And for the jazz ensemble? Martin went pro. “Our jazz ensemble plays well enough that I don’t need to find the kids’ version. One of the tunes we’re doing is Thad Jones’s “Us,” which is a Big Band funk anthem. It is a really challenging, professional-grade piece. But they can handle it.”
Martin is finding that even as he challenges the students, they challenge him back. He reports that students voiced concern that all of the composers were white males. “I have a lot of students who are not white males,” he said. “So now that’s something I’ll be looking for as I prepare for the next concert cycle.”
Students have also been putting in requests. One student brought Martin the chart for a version of Steely Dan’s “Home at Last.”
“It’s really cool to see them take ownership of their experience,” Martin said. But he also took it as a personal message that he is welcome here. Maybe Martin, who grew up in Iowa and went to grad school in western Mass., is home at last.
Save as PDF