Patrick Martin, Class of 2011
When did you graduate from HHS and where did you go from here?
I graduated from HHS in 2011 and then went on to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston where I earned a Bachelors Degree in Music Production & Engineering.
Can you tell us a little bit about the company you work for?
I work two different jobs. As a songwriter, I’m signed with Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) and I also work as an A&R for Capitol Records which is also a label in the Universal system. As a songwriter, I write and produce music for recording artists, films, TV shows etc. At Capitol Records, I am an A&R (Artist & Repertoire) and my job consists of signing and developing artists, overseeing their songs and records (sometimes writing/producing them as well) and pushing the creative vision for our label and artists.
What does your workday look like?
My work day is very different day-to-day and it’s 7 days a week. Work life and home life are really merged together, and I’m only able to do it because I love what I do so it’s not as taxing on my mind or my body as those kind of hours would be if I were a lawyer or something…not my calling…and my wife is also insanely hardworking so we both push each other to be our best and pursue our dreams. We have to work really hard on finding time to shut off and just be together.
Because my days are constantly changing, I try to have a couple staple things to make a “routine.” Those things are working out every day and “getting quiet” which is something new that I’ve been trying after a mentor of mine recommended it. Besides prayer and devotionals, I try to get quiet for at least 10 minutes a day and listen for God, rather than talk to him, input vs output… Besides those two things, any given day I’m either at my office for label meetings, meeting managers, artists, songwriters etc around town, pitching my songs to other labels and artists, etc and then in the evenings I’ll go down to the studio below my office to actually write with an artist or other songwriters and producers. Lots of phone calls and answering emails and I’m ALWAYS listening to music. I put in a lot of hours, more than I probably ever realized I would back when I was in high school imagining this. During college is when I figured out I had to abandon the notion of a “weekend” and from there I started working harder and harder, building up the hours I could tackle week to week.
Can you tell us what your time at HHS was like?
I loved my time at HHS. The teachers are the best in the community. They care about the kids and the community and what it means to be a hornet. Do other high schools even do things like this article? I doubt it. Hornets care. I also love how small Hillsdale is. I can’t imagine having gone to a large high school or growing up in a big city. I love that I went to college in a big city and that I now work in a big city, but coming back to Hillsdale for holidays or for different events is something I always get excited about. Especially during the summer. I love the ocean, but nothing beats the lake. Hillsdale will always be home for me, I just probably won’t ever get to live there again.
How did your time at HHS help you now?
If you go to HHS, you matter. You matter to your teachers and to your fellow students. If you say, “After high school, I’m going to do this…or I’m going to be a …” they hold you to it. HHS is small so you can’t be forgotten. If you dream out loud while you’re there, they’ll check in when you aren’t and make sure you’re doing what you set out to do. This helped me down the road. During hard times at college, Amy Goldsmith was a constant source of encouragement for me to push through adversity. From Mr. Tucker I learned how to approach a problem from different angles, think outside the box and succeed through persistence. For instance, when I was denied from the major I wanted to study at Berklee (despite having a 3.95 GPA) I read the Chair of the Department’s personal book on the Major, scheduled an interview with him personally after, schmoozed him, and showed my dedication to the major. I didn’t give up. I didn’t wait a semester to re-apply like most other students would have. I took a different approach and ended up getting in to my major right on time.
Is there a teacher who had a significant impact on your life?
As mentioned above, Amy Goldsmith + Mr. Tucker. Amy helped me create The Outlier Scholarship, now The Word Scholarship at HHS. Philanthropy has always been a passion of mine that I’ve wanted to experience more and more and giving back to the HHS community was always the first place I wanted to start. We’re now on our fourth year and the scholarship is growing bigger and bigger, becoming more significant to the HHS community each year. Mr. Tucker pushed me further than any other teacher during my time there. Without him, I wouldn’t have dared to attempt to go further than AP Calculus at HHS. Because of him, I was able to study both Calculus II and Calculus III at Hillsdale College during my senior year at HHS. He taught me how to push the limit and to set the bar higher and higher. I’m so lucky for the success I’ve already been able to experience at 24. It’s because of teachers like Amy and Mr. Tucker that I made it to this point and still have much, much further to go.
Advice for current students?
1 - get quiet and listen.
2 - soak it all in. Homecoming, the football games, the basketball games, the assignments, the Prom, etc. Take a look around and see the moment for what it is. High school is an amazing time. It’s definitely not perfect, but you’ll have so many memories there that you’ll look back on for the rest of your life.
3 - don’t be scared to voice your dreams. There will be people who laugh or who tell you that’s impossible. Once you find those people, ignore them, avoid them, cut them out. There will also be people though who tell you they believe you can do it. You need to cling to those people, listen to them, love them and thank them.
Anything else?
APPLY FOR THE WORD SCHOLARSHIP!
