LAPLACE — Pilar Martinez has always loved music.

So when she got to Emily C. Watkins Elementary School three years ago, she was naturally drawn to the budding music class at the school.

Like every student who begins music class, she then had to find the right instrument. For her, the trumpet was the right fit.

“I never actually knew what instrument I would like to play,” said Pilar, whose parents are Mexican immigrants. “Typically, all the instruments I heard of were unique. When I blew this mouthpiece, I heard a unique sound come out of the trumpet.”

Howard Gauley, the music director at Watkins, said Pilar’s choice is unique, adding many girls choose the flute or the clarinet. Gauley said he encourages his students to think outside the box.

“Here, I try to push them in different directions,” he said.

Pilar has proven to be one of Gauley’s best music students. He likes to call them N.E.R.D.S. — Necessary, Essential, Responsible, Dependable Students.

“She is one,” he said. “She’s always organized, always has a positive attitude and she’s one that’s always ready to work hard. She’s a leader in the band in every aspect that a student should be. She’s dedicated.

“She practices. If I ask her to do 15 minutes a day, she’s going to do 30 or 45.”

Pilar says that’s because she loves to surround herself with music.

“I put my mouth to the trumpet and I hear the sound of color,” she said.

She said she also likes that the trumpet is part of the music of her Mexican heritage.

“It’s the music of my country,” she said.

Gauley, a Louisiana Tech University graduate, has been seeing Watkins students fall in love with music for four years. It was the first elementary school in St. John the Baptist Parish to receive instruments and music books from VH1 through the Save the Music Foundation.

The organization has since supplied several other schools with instruments and music while working with the District to incorporate music education at all schools.

“Within the next two to three years, I hope every school in the parish has a concert band program,” Gauley said.

Pilar said she intends to continue her music career, not just playing the trumpet, but also composing. She already has written two pieces, she said, inspired by her love for video games and she enjoys drawing the characters.

“It’s based on the Japanese role-playing game EarthBound,” she said.

“Even without lyrics, the melody lines and the harmony of it are beautiful.

“I like to draw the characters from video games. If I can put them together, I can make magic.”