Scene(s)

Role(s)

Orchestra, Classical
Performing, Recording

Informant
Name

Chris Martin

Position

Principal Trumpet

Institution

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Image

Principal Trumpet, Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Biographical Christopher Martin was appointed principal trumpet of the Chicago Symphony
Notes
Orchestra in 2005. Martin came to the CSO from the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra,
where he served as principal trumpet since 2001. Before joining the Atlanta
Symphony, Martin was associate principal trumpet of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and
has also performed as principal trumpet with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the
Seattle Symphony, and the Grand Teton Music Festival.
He was an affiliate trumpet professor at Emory University in Atlanta and Temple
University in Philadelphia, and has given master classes at conservatories and
colleges throughout the United States, including at the Manhattan School of Music.
Martin, a native of Marietta, Georgia, comes from a musical family. His father, Freddy
Martin, is a band director for a prestigious Georgia private school, and his mother,
Lynda Martin, sings in the Atlanta Symphony Chorus. While a member of the Atlanta
Symphony Youth Orchestra, Martin trained with then-Atlanta Symphony Orchestra
trumpeter Larry Black. In 1997, he received his bachelor's degree in trumpet
performance from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, where his
primary teachers were Charles Geyer and Barbara Butler.
As principal trumpet of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, he can be heard on a number
of recent recordings, including the ASO's 2003 Grammy Award-winning recording of
Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Sea Symphony conducted by Robert Spano.
Sex
Ethnicity

male
Caucasian

Type

Interview (in person)

Date

07 February 2008

Transcript

Jason Bergman: Thank you for meeting with me.

Chris Martin: You bet, happy to do it.

JB: I wanted to cover three general topic areas: first, discussing your early
influences and growth; second, working in the CSO (Chicago Symphony) now;
and then some general American music topics.
CM: Ok, sure.
JB: Starting off, what would you describe as your early influences on the
trumpet?
CM: I grew up with a musical family. My dad was a band director and still is. My Mom
was a chorus teacher. My dad started a drum and bugle corps when I was younger,
and so I grew up around music, particularly brass. Every summer of my childhood,
from the time I was 2 years old until I was ten or eleven, I was on the road with his
drum and bugle corps. During the rest of the year I was around either the drum and
bugle corps rehearsals or I was around my fathers band rehearsals. I dont think I
realized until later that I assumed that I would play; I wasnt sure I would play
professionally, but I always knew that I would play something. Brass naturally seemed
to be the right thing. In fact, I actually started playing the horn because my fathers
instrument was the horn. And he had two lying around the house, two old Holtons. So,
I played horn for two weeks and I hated it! It just didnt feel right and it was too big, and
I didnt like carrying it around. So, trumpet to me was much cooler. I was kind of a
quiet kid, a little bit shy, and the trumpet appealed to me in that it was not that, at all,
obviously. So, I switched to trumpet after just a few weeks on the horn and it felt much
more natural to me. It just really clicked for me. I would say that I started there and
after that, just before high school, I started with my first serious teacher--Larry Black
from the Atlanta Symphony. He has taught so many good players; he has taught Bob
Dorer who is playing with the Minnesota Orchestra now, and I think he taught Pete
Bond, also so, a lot of great players. So, I started with Larry and he really helped me
formulate my idea of an orchestral sound. I knew what good brass sounded like from
growing up around my Dads ensembles. But as far as an orchestral style and
sensibility, Larry was really the one who crystallized that for me. He used to make
excerpt tapes, this was before CDs, for me off of his old LPs. Mostly with the Chicago
Symphony, with Bud (Adolph Herseth, former Principal Trumpet of the Chicago
Symphony) of course, and the New York Philharmonic and Phil (Phil Smith, Principal
Trumpet of the New York Philharmonic), some with Cleveland, and a lot with Jim
Thompson and the Atlanta Symphony. With Larry, through those exercises, I worked
with him every week, sometimes twice a week, from eighth grade until I graduated
from high school. And then I played for him every time that I was home from college.
That was my earliest first brass idea of sound and the orchestral idea of sound. And
then I studied with Jim Thompson when he was in Atlanta during my last couple years
of high school and into college, too. He is a beautiful soloist and has a wonderful
sound and a good sense of what it means to be a soloist and what it means to be
musical. So, I would say that those are really the first things. Then, of course, being at
Eastman with Charlie and Barbara helped to solidify all of that.
JB: So, would you say that those players you mentioned, Bud and Phil, were
who you looked up to while you were younger?
CM: Sure, absolutely. I would say Bud was for sure my idol, Phil was as well. And Phil
really became a mentor of mine. I spent a couple of summers when I was 19 and 20
years old at an old brass camp called Harmony Ridge in Vermont. Its been defunct for
a while, which is too bad, but it was a week long thing. It was a really intimate, small
college campus in the mountains in Vermont with nothing to do except play (laughs).
We had access to Phil all day, every day, 1012 hours a day. It was really a wonderful

time for me and he really became a mentor of mine. We still talk actually every now
and then.
JB: As you were growing up, and really for most players, they were our heroes
on the trumpet. How do you feel now that you are in that same league,
especially for a lot of younger players?
CM: Right, well, I think its good. The thing that makes me feel good is that I
remember when I was 18 or 19 looking at Phil and Bud and they were in their 40s, and
Bud was in his 70s by then. I find, for me, that its important to let young players know
that you dont have to be 40, or 50, or 60 years old to have a career playing music, or
to be successful, or to play the way you want to play. And thats what I mean by being
successful. Not necessarily having this job, or playing that gig, or whatever. Its
sounding the way you want to sound and its possible to do it when youre still young.
Im not as young as I used to be (laughs), but Ill always be younger than Phil, so at
least I have that, right? (laughs) So, I think that makes me feel good. When I do
classes and I meet students, and I teach at Northwestern a little bit; when I talk to
them, I can tell that its inspiring for them to see that you dont have to be 45 years old
to make it. You can be young if you apply yourself the right ways and youre smart
about how you practice and you dont hurt yourself, you can do it. So, that makes me
feel good.
JB: I read your article that you posted two years ago on Jay Friedmans website
entitled Six Months in Chicago. You talked about the six months following
winning the job here in Chicago and the changes that you went through and
sought after and what you aimed to improve. You mentioned specifically
sound, stamina, and dynamic contrast. What would you say that you have
been working on in the two years since then and how have you evaluated your
progress?
CM: Thats a good question. That first six months was probably the hardest period that
Ive ever had musically. In terms of work load, and really being honest with myself of
where I was falling short and where I needed to do better. And since then, its gotten a
lot easier. It was a pretty steep bell curve there for a while, and its kind of tapered off
now, which is nice. The things that I work on the most still are my sound, getting the
right sound. Ive been working on finding the right setup with equipment that is most
efficient for my job. Because what I used to play, particularly in terms of mouthpiece,
was good, but it wasnt as efficient as I could be for performing this kind of repertoire
all the time. So, Ive spent a lot of time working on that and, still sound is the number
one thing. If you go back and listen to records, just to talk about the CSO, and listen to
Herseth in his 30s, and then listen to him when he was in his 40s, 50s, and 60s, his
sound changed a lot. There were big differences. It was all great, and it was all
fantastic, of course, but it changed a lot. So, Ive paid a lot of attention to that and
trying to mature musically. And the other thing Id say, is that Ive spent a lot of time
trying to figure out how to make the trumpet section and then the brass section work
well together as best we can. One of the hardest things about this is that Im 32 now,
and was 30 when I started, and Im playing with guys whove been in this orchestra
longer than Ive been alive. That doesnt mean that you back down and that you
acquiesce to what people say because your job when youre 1st trumpet is to lead the
brass section, but lead it in the right way, the smart way. So, Ive spent a lot of time
cultivating relationships in the right way and getting feedback from people, and giving
feedback to people in the right way. Its about engendering respect and collegiality. So,
Ive done a lot of that in the last couple years. But then as far as trumpet playing goes,
Im trying to get stronger, trying to get better, and trying to be more prepared for
everything that comes at you all the time.
JB: On to a different thing, I attended your recital and master classes this past

summer at the ITG (International Trumpet Guild) in Amherst, Ma.

CM: Oh yeah, the 100 degree recital. (Laughs) I think trying to wear a suit was the
dumbest idea I had that day.
JB: I think everyone who wore suits that week regretted it. I remember talking to
Paul Merkelo and he told me how hot it was when he played, and he wished he
wouldnt have done that, he was dying.
CM: I had lunch with him right after he played, the day before I played. He told me,
too. He said, Man, its so hot in there! Its crazy. And I didnt learn my lesson.
(Laughs)
JB: Well, Ive observed that youve been doing more solo playing. For example,
you just recently played the Haydn Trumpet Concerto with the CSO. Do you
enjoy all the solo work, and how does it impact your orchestral playing?
CM: Yeah, its hard actually. I deal with it a lot; Im actually dealing with it right now. I
love to play solos, and to me its actually more fun. Playing in the orchestra is great
fun, but its more difficult I find because you have less control. You have very little
control; the conductor has all the control. But also, you play and then you rest, and
then you play and you rest, and then you sit for 15 minutes, and then you play. Playing
solos is actually kind of, not relaxing, but its very calming to me. You have complete
control. You choose the piece you want, you chose your tempi, and you chose how
you want to balance to the ensembles. So, I actually enjoy it and its really healthy for
my playing, and I know colleagues of mine, particularly in the section if youre playing
2nd, 3rd, or 4th, that playing solos and chamber music is really vital. I remember when
I was in Philly, and I was the associate principal, doing chamber music and playing in
quintets really kept me motivated and fired up to practice and to stay in the best shape
I could. Its true here too, but its not so much about being in shape. I find it more
musically very rewarding and it keeps things fresh. And I find that when I come back to
the orchestra, Im really excited to be there because I always learn. When I did the
recital at the ITG, I learned so much about preparing, and how I shouldve prepared,
and maybe a little differently for that. Playing a lot of different music, bam bam bam,
and using many different horns in a row is not something we usually do here. We play
mostly German repertoire and we play C trumpet, mostly piston, and a good bit of
rotary. Thats about it. We almost never play piccolo, almost never play D or Eb
trumpet, or anything else for that matter. We rarely play cornets. So, you can really get
into a zone and you do those things really well. You know, I remember warming up
about a year or so ago and looked at my Eb trumpet not remembering the last time I
had played it. I picked it up and it was a horrible sound and it felt really terrible. And I
remember thinking, what happens if I need this next week and they change the piece
and I have to play Eb trumpet? So, outside stuff really helps keep your whole
spectrum of technique and mentality sort of fresh. But balancing it is hard, its really
hard. You know, Bud wouldnt do much of anything outside. He didnt teach anywhere,
he coached the Civic orchestra, and he rarely did solo work. He was very careful
about how he managed it. Im finding that he was really onto something. I dont do
nearly as much as I could, or I want to, but its just not possible to do that much. Im
finding that Im probably turning down about 80 percent of what I get called to do.
Which makes me sad, but my priority is the orchestra, and being the best that I can be
in that chair at the CSO. Thats my job and thats my priority. Thats what I grew up
wanting to do. So, you make choices and thats ok.
JB: You mentioned teaching at Northwestern, and youre also coaching the Civic
orchestra brass section. What are your goals for teaching in the future? Do you
have any goals outside of that?

CM: You know Ill be honest with you, for me right now, I really feel motivated to play
and to be the best I can be on stage, particularly in the orchestra. Thats really my job
and thats what I was put here to do I really feel. Teaching, I really enjoy it, but it takes
a lot of energy for me. It takes a lot of focus. I try very hard to connect with students
and to really help them. The best teachers I had were really the best confidants and
mentors. I would spend hours with Larry Black analyzing a problem. Wondering, why
is this happening? Why it the high G so damn sharp? Why do I keep missing that B
natural? (Laughs) You know, its hard for me to have that kind of energy with this
schedule. It just doesnt work. So, what I do at Northwestern is minimal. Its really one
lesson per quarter with each student, but its really more coaching. Thats really all that
I can do and feel comfortable. I dont have my own studio because I dont feel I could
give them what they need in their development. I couldnt take that responsibility and
do it the right way. So, I dont do it. I think that as long as I have this job, thats
probably the way its going to be. Unless the CSO suddenly starts doing a lot of Haydn
and Mozart, which I dont think is going to happen, at least not any time soon.
(Laughs) So, for the foreseeable future its going to be like this. Some classes here
and there, and some coaching and thats about it.
JB: I wanted to ask you about recording and the new CSO RESOUND series with
the new recordings of Mahler 3, Bruckner 7, and the brand new Shostakovich 5.
How is recording in the orchestra different than recording a solo CD? And how
do you enjoy that process?
CM: Doing these recordings is actually different. I did a lot of session recordings in
Atlanta for Telarc. Those start fun, but by the end, theyre really incredibly stressful.
Because you start with all this time, 3 or 4 sessions to make a record for example, and
its usually repertoire youve been performing recently or that week. So, you start with
a lot of time and youre relaxed and youre enjoying yourself, but as it gets later and
later, there are inevitably sections that just arent happening the right way. Or there are
disagreements between the engineer and the producer and the conductor, which
happens often. And so, by the end, youre kind of scrambling to get things finished and
get the quality that you want. I have to be honest, I dont particularly enjoy sessions
with an orchestra. Doing sessions on your own, thats different. Thats OK because
youre only responsible really only for yourself. I just did a recording two weeks ago of
a Carmen Fantasie with a college wind ensemble in Georgia. The band was
impeccably prepared, ready to go, and very professional. There were 2 soloists and it
was a lot of fun. We did the whole thing in 3 hours straight and it was over. It was
great. Recording here on the RESOUND label is all live. With the costs that are built
into American orchestras these days contractually, theres really no way to do sessions
and do them in any kind of affordable way. So, it depends on who you ask about how
they feel about that. Im of the mind that if you had two choices, one being to drop your
rates and do a session or this way, Id prefer this way. For one, the quality is better. All
the records I have of me playing in various ensembles in sessions always seem cold
and sterile. These never seem that way. Of the records that weve made here on
RESOUND, theyre not perfect, theyre not perfectly vertically aligned, but they have
this incredible energy to them because its like being in a live concert. And the CSO
plays the best live concerts of any group Ive ever been in, or heard. When its really
on, theres nothing like it. So, to capture that energy is really what its all about. If I
were going to buy another CD of Shostakovich 5 or Mahler 3, thats what Id want. You
dont need to hear perfect notes because you already know how it goes, but what you
need is to capture the live experience. Thats what Im most happy about with these
recordings. The Mahler 3 we recorded 3 concerts and a dress rehearsal and there was
no patch session. With the Bruckner we did 4 concerts and there was a patch session
for 10 minutes to fix some soft things where people were coughing and there was
noise. The Shostakovich was just concerts, no patch sessions. So, I think its great.
Thats what we do, we play live music. Shostakovich 5 is great on a record, but theres
nothing like hearing it; hearing people play for you live in the same room.

JB: Well, there are a lot of people who want to hear the Chicago Symphony, but
arent in Chicago and cant get here. It took me a long time to get to Chicago to
hear the CSO. Once you hear them live, you realize its not the same as a
recording.
CM: I totally agree. And the Shostakovich they did on iTunes is cheaper, around $8,
and thats good. You know, I think the days of $20 classical CDs are kind of dead. Its
such a small number of people who care enough, and would be excited enough, to
pay a lot of money, $20 is a lot of money to buy a CD. So, I think that anything we as
musicians can do to regulate the costs for our audiences is good and what we should
do it.
JB: Well, talking about that that issue, which is a cultural issue, and being in the
Chicago Symphony, which is really an American institution, what do you see as
some of the issues at the forefront of American music today?
CM: When I was at Eastman, all these studies were being done one after another
about the decline in audiences for classical music. Since then, Ive been on a lot of
orchestra committees, and have talked to a lot of mangers, and I dont find its so
much that the sky is falling anymore; its more that things have changed
demographically. Audiences are certainly getting older. Theres a much higher
percentage of older audiences now than there has ever been, but I dont think that
going to orchestra concerts was something that young kids, like 20 somethings, did
on a date. Its rare that thats happened. And I find now that there are more young
people going to concerts because: A., theyre in universities studying music, or B.,
their grade school teachers and staff make it a priority to take them to concerts. I see
more students in our concerts here than Ive ever seen before anywhere else. I think
that you owe that to teachers and to the education system, and also you owe it to
orchestra staffs. The CSO staff works incredibly hard. They have a large education
staff that makes it a priority to reach those demographics; not just students, but people
my age, 30 and 40 somethings, who are just looking for a night out. There are two
prongs to that issue also: one is the education aspect which is important because the
best audiences are those who play; for example, the best audience of a trumpet recital
are trumpet players. You want to target those people. Its the same for an orchestra.
And the other aspect, are people who arent particularly musically inclined or
interested, but still can get something from the experience and finding ways to target
them. Thats what they do here at least and it seems to work quite well most of the
time.
As far as the rest of the American music scene, I feel strongly that its incumbent on us
as musicians, and particularly performers, to be active and do more things outside the
concert hall to bring the experience of live music to people. If you have an iPod with
8,000 of your favorite tunes on it and you just stick your headphones in and go to
work, and you go home to listening to your iPod or XM radio, you have exactly what
you want all the time, and its great and its really convenient, but there isnt much
opportunity to grow outside yourself. The concert experience, if nothing else, showed
me from the time that I was a kid that there was a whole different world outside of my
experience. I thought I was a pretty good trumpet player when I was 15, until I heard
some of the concerts I heard; until I heard Mahler 8 and thought, wow, I dont think I
could do that! (Laughs) So, a lot of my colleagues, not just in Chicago but generally,
who have been in orchestras for a long time, for many decades, they really never had
to deal with this issue. Their audience was just built in and it was more socially
accepted to go to concerts; not just symphony concerts, but Broadway and other
shows because there wasnt really anything else do. Thats what you had to do, so you
did it. Radio kind of stunk, and TV was just getting started, and listening to recordings
was rare, so thats just what you did. To bridge that gap, its necessary for performers

to get out of the chair and go to wherever people are. Ive done it in all kinds of bizarre
situations and in situations that worked really well. I played with a new music group
last Saturday at a festival in the park over here. It was an ice sculpture festival and
they wanted a band, and so a friend mine has a group and we played some
compositions that were really cool and groovin, and we played some that were really
out there and experimental and alleatoric. We played for a group of 90 people who
were at this thing and they were really into it. So, you never know whats going to
work. A good thing that I think about the younger generation of musicians is that we
know that and were a part of that world. You are a part of the iPod generation and TV
and we know what we like and dont like. So, I think the future is interesting and
challenging for us. Will there be symphony orchestras 100 years from now in this
country? Probably not in the same way that there are now, but thats alright because
things change. You know, we dont ride horses, we have cars and thats ok. Its ok not
to walk through horse manure! So, I think things will change and as long as we stay
engaged and show people the value of hearing music performed live by other human
beings, I think there will always be a demand for it.
JB: Well, one more question and then Ill let you go. Going back to the CSO,
inevitably the chair that you sit in is a chair filled with lots of awe and has its
own legacy.
CM: Yes, it has his name on it literally!
JB: Yeah, exactly. You encounter that every day that you sit in it. What would
you hope you legacy will be in 25 or 30 years?
CM: Thats a good question and Ive thought about it. You know, I have to be honest
with you, I dont think that Bud started off saying I want to be a legend. I think he just
loved to just play music and you still get that from him. He still comes to concerts
almost every week. We talk to him and he really loves to talk, and hell talk about
mouthpieces and horns a little, but hes not really into that stuff. You know, Ive said to
him before when were doing a Bruckner symphony or a Mahler symphony and that
Ive listened to him on records and what an experience it was for me and hes not
really interested in that. Hell say thats nice, but he mainly just wants to talk about
music. He wants to tell stories about conductors or composers he knew. He was telling
a story about Stravinsky the other day and how Stravinsky loved to drink whiskey at 9
in the morning before rehearsals and we talk about great concerts that he remembers.
So, I dont think he really thought about that, he just really loved to play music and
wanted to do it for as long as he could. I feel the same way. Its sort of a double edged
sword. When I got this job I was really excited and then I almost threw up when I
thought about that part of it. But, Im fortunate in that the colleagues I have, especially
Dale Clevinger and Jay Friedman and Gene Pokorny and Charlie Vernon, all those
guys who have been here for a long time, they feel the same way. Theyre proud to be
a part of this and they were proud to play with Bud, but mainly we all just love to play.
Theyve made it clear to me from the beginning that thats what they thought was
important. Nobody expected me to be the next Bud, or better than Bud. So, all I try to
do, to be honest with you, is I try to do the best job I can every day that I go in there. I
guess itll work itself out from there. But as far as legacy, I would only hope that
musically I uphold the tradition and standard as best I can and that, if anything, that 20
years from now I can say that this place is better than when I started. Whether its in
terms of chemistry or collegiality, you know you couldnt find a better 1st trumpet
player in an orchestra than Bud, so all I really hope to do is live up to his standard and
just be my own musician.
JB: Great, thank you so much Chris.
CM: Yeah, my pleasure, it was nice to meet you.

Keywords

Chicago Symphony, CSO, Trumpet, Principal Trumpet, Chris Martin, Adolph Herseth,
recording, playing in an orchestra, audience, outreach

Researcher

Jason Bergman

Researcher
Email

bergmanj@umich.edu

Reaction

It was an honor and pleasure to interview Chris Martin. His playing is first-rate and has
inspired me for a long while. His insights, experiences, and ideas regarding orchestral
trumpet playing and the American music scene are interesting and thoughtful. He was
very generous with his time and his thoughts. I certainly learned a lot and was thrilled
with this opportunity to meet him.