Freddy Martin (4)

Freddy Martin was a long time Corps Director of The Spirit Of Atlanta Drum & Bugle Corps of Atlanta, GA which was founded in 1976, almost single-handedly under the vision and determination of Freddy. From finding a local television station to sponsor the start-up of the corps, to building the staff and membership, Martin did it all. And with the start of Spirit and their signature southern swing sound, he was the catalyst for an explosion of drum corps activity in the South in the late 70s and 80s. Martin served as Spirit's director from the corps' founding through the 1993 season. A noted band director in the Atlanta suburbs, Martin brought a love of music and especially for the education process to the corps. Freddy Martin not only served as a teacher in music to the young men and women of Spirit, but he also imparted many life lessons to members of the organization. After Spirit hit a hard time in 1980 after the tragic passing of the corps' brass arranger, Jim Ott (1995 DCI Hall of Fame inductee), Martin led the corps through a grieving period that easily could have ended the corps' season. Today Martin continues to forge the way in the drum corps activity, in his free time away from building a private school music program, teaching the Phantom Regiment (2) brass line, judging band shows, and serving as a guest educator and clinician around the country. Freddy was inducted into the Drum Corps International (DCI) Hall of Fame in 2006.