It was through the miracle of social media I even knew he was in town. I saw a post on Michael Martin’s Instagram about “coming to Indy.” As a member of the famed Boston Symphony Orchestra, Michael Martin is a rising star in the trumpet world and I knew he was a ChopSaver fan, although we had never met in person. A few Facebook messages later, we agreed to meet once he was in town.
He was to appear as a guest soloist with the Honor Orchestra of America as part of the Music for All National Festival. It is a gathering of some of the top high school music talent from across the country. Michael and I talked about our different musical journeys and our extra-musical activities – mine being ChopSaver and his being cross fit training. The very definition of “tall, dark and handsome”, Michael is also the nicest, most humble young man you will ever meet, along with being an incredible trumpet player. Here is snippet of him and the Honor Orchestra performing the Trumpet Concerto by Alexander Arutunian.
But the coolest thing happened the next day. Michael had kindly agreed to meet again the next morning to tape an interview with me. While I’m no Larry King, I thought we could generate some great content and information for young players by just having a conversation and making it available online.
In order to pull it off, friends old and new had to pitch in, all at the last minute. First, I solicited questions for Michael the night before on the ChopSaver Facebook page. My new PR firm agreed to have a videographer there as I knew this was not something I wanted to shoot on my phone! Friends I knew from many years of playing at the Circle Theater helped me line up a nice room to hold the interview. But once I got there, things really got interesting. I realized there were several young brass musicians in the orchestra who might really enjoy hearing the interview live. I stumbled into a meeting of orchestra parents and chaperones and asked if the students had any break time during the day. They all thought it was a great idea and after a few phone calls and consulting of schedules, it was determined the kids would have a 20-30 window of time around 4:30, and perhaps more if their rehearsal let out early. And of course, Michael had to OK the last minute schedule change and he graciously did, agreeing that it would be more impactful with young musicians in the room watching us.
The result was a 30 minute interview with one of the great young brass players in the world on topics including his personal musical story, auditioning, practice tips, and life in a major symphony orchestra, among many others. The full interview will be available very soon, so stay tuned for that. To top it all off, Michael agreed to shoot a short ChopSaver “commercial.” Thank you Michael, for your time, talent and insight!
