After spending the majority of his life in North America, Marty Leonard decided to relocate to Kaua‘i. “It’s Kaua‘i,” he said. “You just fall in love with this place.” Leonard decided to move to Kaua‘i while visiting his daughter, his
After spending the majority of his life in North America, Marty Leonard decided to relocate to Kaua‘i.
“It’s Kaua‘i,” he said. “You just fall in love with this place.”
Leonard decided to move to Kaua‘i while visiting his daughter, his son-in-law and his first grandchild in 2008. Since his move to Kaua‘i, Leonard has devoted his life full-time to music.
“Most of my life has been involved with music in one way or another,” he said.
Leonard grew up in Portland, Ore., and acquired his musical education at Dick Grove School of Music in Los Angeles.
“The knowledge I got from the music school got me into studio and recording work,” he said. “It got me to do work with Paramount pictures, Disney and Twentieth Century Fox — playing all kinds of drums, percussion instruments. I also worked on the first three seasons of ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation.’”
Later, Leonard moved his family back to Portland and owned a drum shop for 12 years.
“In 1989 I came back to Portland, raised my family and used my knowledge of music in a retail setting. We had that store for 12 years: from 1989 to 2001.”
Leonard said it he had a lot of fun selling music equipment and talking to drummers all day long.
In 2002, Leonard’s life took a turn for the worst as he was diagnosed with cancer.
“I went through a period with a tumor in my throat. I underwent radiation, chemotherapy and it took me away from music for a bit,” he said.
Now, however, Leonard is cancer free and doing what he loves best: devoting his entire time to his family and music.
“I’m currently the band director at Waimea High School; I have private students who I teach drums and percussion to and I play around town with several different groups,” he said.
Leonard is an advocate of live music. He and his wife started Live Music Kaua‘i three years ago, a nonprofit organization. “I started this company because I’ve been involved with music education all my life: private teaching and general education” he said. “I see that there are issues in the music programs in the school system here on Kaua‘i: funding problems, cutbacks.”
Leonard said that Live Music Kaua‘i gives something back to the schools musically. Live Music Kaua‘i offers music workshops and clinics to the schools on Kaua‘i.
“Here on the island, there’s only one elementary school out of the 10 elementary schools that has a full-time music teacher,” he said. “In the other nine schools, students are taught music by normal instructors who fill-in as music instructors.”
Live Music Kaua‘i looks for funding and offers programs for the musical advance of children. Leonard said Live Music Kaua‘i holds a band camp every summer for middle school and high school kids.
“We’ve done that for two years in a row and it’s been successful so far,” he said. Leonard said that he really believes in live music: to see artists play, to create music.
“There isn’t as much live music on Kaua‘i as there used to be, so it’s our passion to rejuvenate that scene,” he said.
Leonard is one of the nicest guys around, and he blew me away after he performed a quick demonstration on his drum set. The man knows his stuff. If you or anyone you know has any questions with your drumset or percussion instrument, call 635-6477. For more information on Live Music Kaua‘i, visit the its websites at www.livemusickauai.org and https://www.facebook.com/LiveMusicKauai.
