French horn player Abigail Martin, senior, has been involved with music from a young age and it is paying off.

Martin is the 2011 winner of the Richard Gaarder Award which highlights the most talented music education student in Wisconsin.

Each year, universities and colleges in Wisconsin nominate who they think is the best music education student in their program. Martin was nominated for UW-Whitewater and had to go through a rigorous application process.

After writing an essay, getting letters of recommendation and creating multiple résumés, Martin was forced to wait all summer to hear whether she won the coveted award.

When Martin found out she won, she said she was beyond excited–and not just for herself, but for the university.

“It is a huge pro for the music school here,” Martin said. “Out of the 20 some odd years it’s been offered, a Whitewater student has won it over half the time. It’s not only great for me, but it’s great for the University to say we have all these great athletic programs, a great business school and an outstanding music education program.”

Her entire family is involved with music, so in the summer before fifth grade, she began playing French horn. Her father is a professional horn player, her grandmother teaches opera lessons and her older brother was in band.

In high school, Martin said she was a student her guidance counselor hated because she could not make up her mind about what she wanted to pursue.

Martin said she decided on a music education career because she felt music was something she could not give up.

“If you stopped, how would you feel having to give something up?” Martin said. “And I was like ‘Oh, I can’t do that.’”

Martin’s mother is in early-childhood education, and Martin helped with an instrument petting zoo. Instruments were brought in and the children were allowed to touch and play the instruments.

“I saw how music can help kids develop and how it can influence their motor skills,” Martin said. “Music connects all parts of your brain.”

Being a music education major, Martin has to learn how to play every instrument, but her primary instrument is horn. She can also play trumpet proficiently.

She has grad school auditions this spring where she will pursue a performance degree. Martin said she would love to do what her horn teacher Linda Kimball does.

Kimball plays with the Madison Symphony and the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra but also gives lessons at a university,

Martin is very much involved with many groups and teams on campus. She has been an officer in Collegiate Music Educators National Conference (CMENC) for the past two years and was on the UW-Whitewater tennis team for four years.

She is also involved in marching band, orchestra, wind ensemble, Chamber Winds, a student woodwind quintet and a student brass quintet, Golden Key which is an honor society and she plays in the Lake Geneva Symphony.

“Abby is truly a special person,” said band director Dr. Glenn Hayes. “Her love of music, passion for teaching, commitment to excellence and phenomenal work ethic guarantee her success.  It has been an absolute joy to work with her in classes and ensembles.”

Martin said her tennis coach Frank Barnes and Hayes really helped with the scheduling conflicts.

“Every day I would go to an hour of lifting and conditioning for tennis, then I would run to an hour of marching ba

nd and have to go back to the last hour of tennis.” Martin said.

She said she is so happy she came to UW-Whitewater because the school allowed her to participate in all the things she wanted to do.