Many of us will only gaze from a distance at Gracie Mansion, the Mayor’s formal, white-columned residence. Some might gawk at its fancy rooms during a guided tour. But on Friday, May 1, while many Stuyvesant students were unwinding after a long week of cramming for Advanced Placement exams, sophomore Emily Martin was cruising in a limo to the mansion on the East River—for the second time. She was on her way to play the piano for Mayor Bloomberg and “some congressmen,” Martin said modestly, just two weeks after being invited to entertain “a bunch of UN ambassadors.”

The gig at Gracie Mansion came about as a result of a last-minute recommendation from chorus director Holly Hall.

“Two days before it happened, Ms. Hall asked me if I could play background music at Gracie Mansion,” Martin said. “I didn’t know until I got there what a big deal it was.”

But this kind of high-brow gig isn’t so new for the spunky 4’ 11” pianist. She has also played at Carnegie Hall, among other prestigious venues.
Martin’s love of the piano began when she was just a baby. Her parents placed their rickety 1829 baby grand—which they bought from a friend—next to baby Martin’s playpen in the hope that it would spark an interest. Apparently the experiment was a success. In preschool Martin began taking lessons at the Third Street Music School, then went to the Special Music School on West 67th street for elementary and middle school.

In the fifth and sixth grades Martin attended the New Hampshire Music Festival, a two-week sleep-away camp. This past summer, she¬ went to Belvoir Terrace Performing Arts Camp in Lenox, Massachusetts on a scholarship.

“It helped me a lot with things like my sight-reading, but also showed me what it was like to do chamber music with a bigger group of people,” Martin said.
Playing piano in so many places has exposed her to a wide variety of music. Her favorite artists range from Chopin to Cat Stevens, and from Rachimanoff to the Decembrists. Her iPod, which she listens to on her commute home to the East Village, “has a lot of stuff on it,” she said.

Despite her focus on the piano, Martin isn’t a one-note gal. She has been in Stuyvesant Theater Community productions, and recently landed a role in the spring comedy Arsenic and Old Lace. She’s also an active member of the Speech team; in the recent New York State Forensic League Championships Tournament, she placed third in junior varsity Oral Interpretation.

Juggling so many activities while trying to keep up her grades can be difficult. “Sometimes it comes down to, do I do my homework, or do I prepare for the concert I have this week?” she says. “I think it is important to focus on my grades, but also do what I want to do. My music is top.”

This year, Martin began playing for the Stuyvesant Chamber Choir and finds it “a totally different thing,” Martin feels that being a part of both chorus and the Soph-Frosh SING! band has helped her develop as a pianist. “It has really exposed me to working with other people, rather than just being a soloist.”
Sophomore Huei Lin, Soph-Frosh SING! band director, considers Martin one of the most talented piano players he has have ever met. “When she plays she is really immersed in it, almost like she forgets everything except for her and the piano,” Lin said.

“[Martin] has brought a very nice spirit to the chorus,” chorus teacher Liliya Shamazov said. “She’s very eager and self-motivated.”
Martin admits that she doesn’t know yet if being a professional pianist is the route she should take. “I think about it everyday,” she said. “When I play […] it’s the closest I come to understanding myself.”