Inspired by music teacher, former student helps raise her salary | People

When Nathan Hale sophomore Jonah Falk performed a poem about his time at Salmon Bay School during the school’s March 26 auction, the reaction – a standing ovation from 200 attendees – was like nothing he could have expected.

“This young man made that room cry,” said Megan Ratcliffe, Salmon Bay’s volunteer coordinator. “It was a great moment.”

Falk’s performance also had a more tangible effect, helping raise enough money from the community to pay the yearly salary of Salmon Bay’s vocal music teacher, Mary McNeill, a woman who has had a profound impact on Falk.

“Personally, she has changed my life,” Falk said. “I still remember all the songs and the morals she taught us through music.”

McNeill, “Mary K.” to her students, has been singing – everything from African songs to Woody Guthrie to made-up songs – with Salmon Bay elementary students for more than a decade. She leads a once-per-week singing class as well as a Friday morning sing-along for all elementary students.

Ratcliffe said no matter how old the students get or what phase of their development they are in, they still sing with McNeill, give her hugs and act the songs out with her. She said parents and students alike are sad to move on to middle school and leave McNeill behind.

“It’s like a salve for the soul,” Ratcliffe said.

For a class project at Nathan Hale, Falk was asked to profile someone who has gone above and beyond expectation in helping the community; he chose McNeill. He said she has a great way of telling stories, explaining the songs to students so they can understand what they are about.

When he returned to Salmon Bay to job-shadow McNeill, Falk still remembered the words to the songs he hadn’t sung in five years.

“That’s really how strong the songs are,” Falk said.

McNeill’s songs have led her to honors, such as leading a choir of 1,000 adults and 800 children in song at Qwest Field during a visit from the Dalai Lama in 2008. But, they have also gotten her in trouble. In 2003, she left her job at Olympic View Elementary after they asked her not to mention war in the songs she was singing.

McNeill said she likes to choose songs that aren’t necessarily children’s songs but that speak to the students’ souls.

“I tell them songs can be their best friends throughout their lives,” she said.

After Falk’s job-shadow, McNeill asked him to share some of his poetry with Salmon Bay students. Falk decided to write something new, sharing memories of his time with Salmon Bay and McNeill.

The poem he wrote touches on sentiments from how even students who put up a shield can’t help but sing with McNeill and how coming back to his elementary school is a gift, allowing him to be one of the children singing with McNeill again. The experience was a big deal for him, he said.

“Some of the ideas he expressed were really profound,” said McNeill, who was moved by Falk’s performance at the auction.

Ratcliffe said during that performance, Falk became a role model Salmon Bay parents wanted for their children. And, they responded by donating enough to fund McNeill’s position for another year.

“One of the reasons I want to stay is because of the community here,” McNeill said. “To feel that kind of support is wonderful.”

Though McNeill's position was not in jeopardy, raising her salary through the auction will give the school more money to spend elsewhere, and McNeill can carry on with what she sees are her mission.

She said children come to her with open minds and hearts, already loving music. Her job is – through songs, games and stories – to keep it that way.

“I love what I do,” she said.