As Creative Director of Watchfire Music, probably my favorite perk of the job is working with young artists.  “Young” is a word used here with great latitude.

One of my young artists I’m working with is a man who just turned 50, two are in their late 20s and one in her very early 20s.  Perhaps “young” here means simply ‘early in their development’.

Teaching has always been for me a necessity of life.  I taught Sunday School for 25 years, midi classes for 22 years, and an audition class for actors at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater here in NYC for another 20.  The ability to pass along what I’ve learned in all these years is most precious to me.

I even think it’s a shame that when we leave this world we can’t leave behind a selected databank of our brain cells for others to explore if they so desire.  Some of us don’t have time to write a book.

One of my most exciting students is a 21-year old young woman named Megan Neale.  I first became aware of Megan through Watchfire Music artist, Mindy Jostyn, who was her aunt.  Mindy passed on a few years ago, but often raved about her talented niece back in St. Louis.

Because I so deeply respected Mindy, I kept her niece in mind, remembering to catch her act when I got a chance.

That opportunity came a couple of years ago at a gathering of about 200 teenagers here in NYC of a kind of teen religious weekend convention.  On the first night, when the kids had just arrived, they all met in a YMCA gymnasium.  The room was pandemonium.  All the kids were so excited to see each other – many of them had attended summer camp together – they were all so jazzed to be here in the Big Apple, and, besides, they were 200 teenagers strong – all in the same room.

The organizers of the event were not prepared to focus this chaos and the poor woman who first got up to talk and welcome them with no sound system support and in a noisy gymnasium, was paid little attention by the talking crowd.  On top of that, there were no chairs for the kids, so they were all standing and milling about the room.  I stood at the side of the room and watched, shaking my head, as several adults tried to quiet the noisy kids to no avail.

The kids were verging on being rude, but it was the adults who were really at fault.  They just had no clue how to tame and focus the chaos.

Then, still being paid no attention to whatever, the poor speaker of the moment made her worst mistake.  She introduced Megan Neale who was there to sing an opening song.  The chaos continued as Megan walked to the center of the room – no one had heard the introduction, she had no mic, no stage, and she was about to sing a soft song a capella – no accompaniment.

I groaned inwardly at the hopelessness of the chaotic moment.  This poor 19-year old girl was in for the roughest of performances.  As the room talked, laughed and shouted on, Megan began to sing.  She did nothing, really.  She just stood very still in the center of the room surrounded by the chaos and sang softly.

Within 15 seconds the room was dead quiet, focused on Megan in awe, and totally attentive to the song.  She finished to thunderous applause and for the rest of the evening the gang of 200 kids was totally focused on the events of the evening.

I became a fan at that moment.

What does it take to do something like that?  I don’t know what it’s called, but few of us mere mortals have it.  Call it chutzpah, talent, presence, magic, whatever, but I knew that it was an intrinsic special something that can’t be trained, but is probably something that one is just born into.

I decided then and there to mentor her.

Well, I was right.  This girl/woman has it.  It’ll take a little time to fully craft the package, but put the name Megan Neale in the back of your mind for now and remember it.  Soon enough, you too will be paying close attention.

That’s a promise.

For more inspirational music, thoughts and ideas from Peter Link,
please visit Watchfire Music.