Michael Martin conducting the Hilliard Darby High School choir which started in 1996 with only 18 females and one male student. Credit: Courtesy of John Jewett
More than 25 years after graduating as a Buckeye, Ohio State alumnus Michael Martin has brought more prestige to the Ohio State School of Music.
In October, Martin, choir conductor at Hilliard Darby High School, received third place recognition in the American Prize Award for Excellence in Conducting Award in Choral Music. Martin said he started Hilliard Darby’s choir when the school opened in 1996.
The American Prize awards are a national nonprofit competition where schools submit applications to receive awards but candidates cannot nominate themselves, Hannah Sterman-Wilson, assistant conductor to Martin and an Ohio State alumna, said. Not only did Martin walk out of the competition with an award, but so did the Hilliard Darby Symphonic Choir, winning third place recognition in the Ernest Bacon in American Music award, which recognizes the best performances of American music from ensembles and individual artists worldwide based on submitted recordings, according to the Ohio State School of Music’s website.
“Dr. Martin had submitted footage of him conducting. And then that got rated in terms of conducting and overall musicality performance, things like that. And so then that was with other people who would have sent in,” Sterman-Wilson said.
Martin said he graduated from Ohio State in 1994 with a doctorate in musical studies, where he studied under Robert Shaw. During his time there Martin worked with Shaw in various Ohio State choirs and workshops to improve his craft.
“He was a disciplinarian, but his methods of rhythmic sense, count-count singing and the human heart coming together to create art in real time was an experience like no other. I think of him each day that I teach,” Martin said in an email. “He changed my life by often-times offering saged wisdom and guidance to a young college student.”
Martin uses that wisdom and expertise to help his students, Sterman-Wilson said. Martin has established a reputation of prestige for Hilliard Darby’s choir, and that reputation helps counter young singers getting into their own heads and not performing to the best of their ability, Sterman-Wilson said.
Sterman-Wilson said Martin’s excellence helps her and his students succeed.
“There is an expectation of it. And the kids who come into the program, knowing Darby choir because it has a reputation. Some of them are more OK with it when everyone else is doing it,” Sterman-Wilson said. “If no one was singing, you don’t want to be the first person. If everyone’s singing, then it’s if you don’t sing, that’s weird.”
The ensemble has grown to more than 250 people with a variety of choirs including men’s, women’s, symphonic and concert choirs, Martin said. The original choir in 1996 had a total of 19 people: 18 girls and one boy.
The prestige Martin set at Hilliard Darby drew Sterman-Wilson into the program in 2014. In their time together, the two have grown to be very close, Martin said in an email.
“Hannah brings a different perspective to our program. She is passionate about her craft and has introduced many different styles of music to the program,” Martin said “She has been a wonderful supplement to the department, and we are of one mind when it comes to quality of music education.”
The relationship goes two ways. Sterman-Wilson said she learns from Martin’s daily practices and he continues to help her become a better singer and teacher.
“I feel comfortable with him coming and helping me with my conducting gesture, but then also, he doesn’t step on my toes. And we can do things how we like to do them. So that’s a really great thing about him is he’s made me more confident in my teaching,” Sterman-Wilson said.
