GRAMMY Music Educator Award nominee Drummer / Percussionist Martin (pronounced mar-TEEN) Urbach is a Latine Immigrant, educator, activist and youth organizer. His work in the classroom is based on facilitating brave spaces for young folks to fall in love with music and to promote social justice through music making in their community.

He holds a BA in jazz performance from the University of New Orleans, a MA in jazz arts from the Manhattan School of Music, an Advanced Certificate in Music Education from Brooklyn College and is currently a Doctoral candidate in Urban Education at the CUNY Graduate Center.

Martin has been an educator in New York City since 2006. He has taught well over ten thousand children; from pre kindergarten to doctoral students. Martin’s first days in the classroom were in 2006, as a bucket drumming teaching artist through the Manhattan School of music (MSM). Shortly after graduating with his MA from MSM, he began teaching residencies for Urban Arts Partnership, Lincoln Center Institute, Marquis Studios, Bash The Trash, and Carnegie Hall. Martin’s teaching and curriculum design programs are as original, inventive and diverse as the students he has taught! Having taught courses from drumming bucket brigades, to rockband & songwriting, to musical theater, to beatmaking, as well as courses based on social justice and activism, as well as courses on restorative justice, critical consciousness and youth participatory action research.

Martin has served as music educator, Restorative Justice Youth Organizer, advisor, dean of students, and school leadership team co-chair for The New York Public Schools from 2008 until 2025. He is currently the Executive Director of The Circle Keepers

Martin has presented workshops, talks and keynotes on the intersections of social justice activism, music technology, music education and youth development at conferences such as the International Symposium of Music Education (ISME) in Baku, Azerbaijan (2018), the Association of Popular Music Education (APME) at Berklee College of Music (2016) and at New York University (2019), at the Freire50 conference at the University of South Carolina (2018), The Sustaining Peace Forum at Teachers College, Columbia University.

Martin lives in Brooklyn, NY. When not teaching, organizing or activating youth, he is either baking cookies, eating cookies, or imitating cookie monster.