At an age when most are preparing for retirement, musician Martin Lund has plunged headfirst into a new vocation: teacher.
Lund has replaced Lizz Hanks as band director for the Orcas School District, teaching elementary, middle, and high school students the ways of the musical world.
“I applied because I love working with kids and I love passing on my passion for music,” Lund said. “After all the great teachers who have helped me along the way, now it’s my turn to give back.”
There aren’t many instruments that Lund doesn’t know how to play. His specialities are the clarinet, saxophone, flute and piano. He has performed with some of the greatest blues artists of our time and has worked in the studios of Los Angeles as a composer, arranger and musician. Lund has knowledge of all styles of music from classical to rock to jazz to Broadway. He is known on Orcas for his One World concerts and as a member of Orcas Horns.
“We are really lucky to have the expertise of Martin on our staff,” said superintendent and high school principal Barbara Kline. “He brings not only his many years of professional experience but a real love of teaching and joy of watching students learn music. Plus, he has a really strong connection to the community.”
Lund has two music degrees from the University of Washington as well as a teaching certificate, but it has taken him several decades to finally stand before a classroom of students as an instructor.
“I am different from most music teachers in that I have been out there as a professional working in the music industry,” Lund said. “If you are able to make a living by playing your instrument, there is a certain joy you experience and the knowledge you learn from that is something that the kids can really use.”
Although Lund has taught privately for years, managing a room full of energetic youngsters has been his biggest challenge.
“Every day is a new day and there is something large to learn. You cannot have this job without a sense of humor,” he said. “The kids coming into this class want to learn. They want to be able to play their instrument. There is a lot of energy and it is my job to channel that and help them grow musically.”
Lund and his students are already deep into rehearsals for their annual Christmas concert, which will feature traditional songs adapted in “ways you have never heard before.”
Lund’s primary goal for the music department is to establish a solid band program.
“It takes several years to build a band program,” he said. “You start out with fifth graders, who then go into middle school, and I don’t want to see them quit in high school.”
Lund’s musical connections are vast, and he has already brought in colleagues to work one-on-one with his budding musicians. Lund says he is teaching his students to not only read music but to also use their ear.
“You don’t see that in many public music situations,” he said. “I am passing on the art of improvisation along with the traditional ways of the music program.”
