Music Ghost Stories
Join host Donny on an extraordinary journey where music and spirituality intertwine. Explore synchronicities, heart-touching moments, and the profound connections between music and our inner selves. Discover the magic of harmonious encounters and unravel the mysteries of why we connect with music so deeply on "Music Ghost Stories".
Music Ghost Stories
Finding Yourself Through Music with Martin MacAlister
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Host Donny welcomes Martin McAllister, head of school at Fusion Academy in DC’s Dupont Circle, to discuss how music and music technology intersect with learning, intuition, and confidence for students navigating academic and personal challenges. Martin shares his path from playing in bands and self-taught recording to teaching one-on-one music production in a studio classroom, where students write and record original work. He reflects on formative listening moments, authenticity in songwriting, and flow states, plus how music affirms emotions rather than changing them. Martin explores legacy through his grandfather’s artwork. He highlights student success stories, and emphasizes embracing individuality through creativity.
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Welcome back, dear listeners, to another episode of Music Ghost Stories. I'm your host, Donnie, and today we're continuing our exploration of the places where music meets the challenges young people face, academically, and in between, and how it can build confidence, sharpen intuition, toward a brighter future. Our guest today is Martin McAllister. Martin is the head of school at Fusion Academy in DC's Dupont Circle and someone who has dedicated years to supporting and uplifting students one-on-one, teaching them the power of music through music technology in a small classroom studio. Like a lot of us, Martin's worn many hats, chasing passions, navigating different worlds, and slowly finding the thread that ties it all together. what music has meant to him, not just professionally, but personally, how it shaped the way that he sees learning, connection, in helping young people find their footing. Let's get into it.
Meet Martin MacAlister
DonnyAll right, Martin, welcome to the Music Ghost Stories podcast.
Martin MacAlisterThank you for having me.
DonnyTell the listeners a little bit about who you are and maybe some of your accomplishments that you're proud of.
Martin MacAlisterI am currently an educator. I am the head of school of a small school called Fusion Academy. We're located in DuPont Circle my background is in producing music playing in bands. But kind of had a pretty traditional education path I went to the George Washington University for undergrad and then went back to get my MBA. I was always really looking for a way to join music and more of a traditional path into the professional world. Eventually it led me to the classroom. I spent five years teaching music production for credit at this high school Fusion Academy. My classroom was a, two room recording studio and I just worked with students one-on-one teaching them how to write and record music. I like, couldn't believe what it was that I had found. was just this like unique school and, their music teacher instead of, formal lessons teaching music theory or teaching band or teaching orchestra, they're teaching music production to high schoolers.
DonnyDid you have a, Music production Formal education.
Martin MacAlisterNot at all. Undergrad degree is like an economics degree and then I have a master's in business administration. Took a gap year after high school before going to the George Washington University I went to high school in England, and my high school band. Shout out the Sheline disaster. We were awesome in a charmingly terrible way. But they, we all split up. They all went to Penn State and other American, like other colleges. I was like, I play drums, guitar, bass, and sing. So if I just get some recording equipment, then I'll just be the one man band I'll just record myself one at a time. That was just this deep, well, that I've Just been exploring since that day discovering the artistry of production and documenting music
Donnydid you grow up in a
Donny (direct)household?
Martin MacAlisterYeah, my dad, he plays a 12 string acoustic and he's a singer songwriter. He loved The Stones and Led Zeppelin, but was way more like on the folk side of things.
DonnyYeah.
Martin MacAlisterLike Steven Still's, a huge inspiration for him. I just watched my dad play this, impossibly large instrument, like if you know what a 12 string is like my dad was like, he was it,
DonnyYeah.
Martin MacAlisterthis is so cool when I'm big enough, like I'll pick up that guitar and I'll
When Music Became Something More
Martin MacAlisterdo my thing.
DonnyWhat was the moment that you'd say you became deeply attached to music?
Martin MacAlisterI feel like the first time that I learned Last Resort by Papa Roach the guitar,
DonnyYeah.
Martin MacAlisterI am not like reading treble clef and playing just the little basic chords that my teacher wants me to learn from the out of this book. And I'm not playing like my dad's music or like the, you know, the Steven Stills riff that he showed me I'm playing to me I was like real music, coming from me. Like, that was like, that was mind blowing. Those songs and like Green Days International Super hits, and then really it was when I got my basic recording equipment and was really frustrated with like, how it sounds I've always been like a decent student, but didn't really have a passion for, I don't know, Math or science or English or history. But all of a sudden I was like hunger information and learning techniques and trying new things and I don't know, like dreaming about microphones, just like fully falling in love with music production and like how to record music.
DonnyReally things that were outside your familiar territory, that resonated with you on a deeper level, I guess. Uh,
Martin MacAlisteryeah, I remember just like sitting at my computer and think I was just listening to either something that I've recorded or I was listening to. Like a huge band for me at that time was under Oath. And like the album Define the Great Line was like, Like I, that album like larger than life for me.
Donny (direct)It is,
Martin MacAlisterremember I like, I don't know what, I was just had this like spiritual level moment and I like, stopped listening to what it was, and then I like went upstairs and I told my mom, I remember just being like mom, I don't know like why? I want to say this, but like, whatever I'm supposed to do life, I think it has to be about like really heavy music. Like really like angry heavy music
DonnyLike you felt this calling.
Martin MacAlisteroh man, it was just like, yeah.
DonnyHow do you think that happens? How do you think somebody listens to, Define the great line and then. Is moved so much that they'll go tell their mother like, I don't know what it is about this, but I feel like this is my life's purpose.
Martin MacAlisterYeah. That's the magic. I think a lot about, and I talk a lot about, self-reflecting on what, motivation is for me. The thrill is like whatever I record next has to sound better than the last one. Or like, later, I've gotten really into like, exercise. I'm like, it's gotta be, I just have to be like, stronger? than
DonnyYeah.
Martin MacAlisterYeah. And if it's not, then it's not worth it or something,
Donny (direct)yeah.
DonnyHave
Music, Memory, and Emotional Connection
Donnyyou ever listened to something. That really was sort of outside of your creativity where you felt like you were really just, Existing in the moment. Not critically thinking, if you will.
Martin MacAlisterYeah, totally. There's this band called Alexis on Fire They have this song called Rough Hands on the Album Crisis. Even just like thinking about it, like that song like, gives me chills. I think it's the follow-up record, like Young Cardinals, old Crow's Young Cardinals, there's a song called Burial and, it's both of those songs for me that like, burial in particular, I guess I would say, like at that time I was like living alone for the first time and I was living in my parents' house that I built the home studio in. But my parents had moved internationally and I was like. House sitting for them and living there in between places. And, I had a girlfriend and the relationship was not going well, and she put us on ice a little bit so we weren't like broken up, but I didn't know like where we stood, but we weren't really like together it, was cold. And this song is all about, some lyrics are like, when will this winter end? it ends with this acapella thing. It is like really chilling, and I was like, I think it was something about You just imprint your experiences on the stuff that you're listening to and I don't know what, Dallas Green maybe was writing that song specifically about, but like in that moment you're like, this scratches whatever, like, itch. I'm feeling so deeply and this is about, me. Like specifically what I'm going through.
Donny (direct)The music
Donnyattaches to our experiences There's something associated with music and memory recall and the ability for music to transport you throughout time. A lot of it's based on Our association to that music
Donny (direct)through
Donnyour experiences.
Authenticity in Songwriting
DonnyDo you write With a listener in mind
Martin MacAlisterThis latest band that I'm doing called Mend, we made some creative decisions to say like, okay, let's try to really focus on choruses and not overcomplicating things. To make it more accessible for people. But when we're writing specific songs or lyrics, we're not keeping that in mind. Oh, how's this gonna land? 'cause I think you might just miss out on some authenticity,
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterIs really what, people connect when you really mean it, or Right. Even like if it's just about nothing at all and the sounds you're hearing musically or inspiring words just because phonetically and sonically that's musical and it's doing something cool for you.
Donny (direct)There's something, uh, it comes to creating, who's the guy from the White Stripes, who's just kinda Yeah. Jack White. So, Jack White's, Thing is, he perceives as a receiver, like an antenna receiver. He doesn't even consider his songs his, because he receives them from wherever the thought came from.
DonnyThere's something in the atmosphere that's, Transmitting
Donny (direct)signals. And if you wanna
Donnytake it from a business background, business
Donny (direct)exist in many
Donnypeople's minds. But the ones that execute on those
Donny (direct)ideas are different. Even if you saw a product and you're like, I thought of that, I had that idea. They stole my
Donnyidea.
Donny (direct)And the idea is that song or that riff, is out there, for anybody matter of Who's doing it, who's open to it,
Martin MacAlisterYeah, another sort of like business speak people talking about flow states it doesn't feel like you're trying to hard or you're expending a lot of energy. Every decision you make just feels like, yeah, like that's the right one it was cool 'cause I was a, standalone vocalist in this like progressive metal band and that was like totally brand new for me. And I was doing like screaming and clean vocals and I remember writing and recording like a demo for this song. And it took me like all night I didn't sit down and I was like, I'm gonna pull an all-nighter and bang out vocals to these songs. It literally was just like the hint of like a melody was like in me and I was like, let me just try it out on this like demo and see if that lands, see if that's cool. And then it did, and then I did one more line and then I was just in, the whole night, and at the end of it I had like entire song, which these songs were like super dense as well. It was like a million different parts and long and stuff. I guess I did feel like the antenna, like it was, the
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterthere and I was like accessible to it it just used me and I just sort of listened and
Donny (direct)Yeah,
Martin MacAlisterdown one more line and then another one, and then before I knew it, the whole song was
Donny (direct)It makes you wonder is it just a, product
Donnyof practice
Donny (direct)essentially, Mental and physical practice, or
Donnyis it something else? And in, in, the music world, were you just doing that a lot? Were you writing a lot at the time? And then the other part is just like, Was there something in your life that made you more accessible? If you were to make yourself more accessible, how do you think that would happen?
Martin MacAlisterthat's a good question because I do feel like what everyone would want to know is
Intuition and the Creative Process
Martin MacAlisterlike how to conjure it. How do I get to more of being in that state? Definitely an essential part I think is like having fluency of whatever artistic tools you're working with. It would be very hard if you don't know anything about, playing guitar to sit down and then write a song. Or if you had just a really basic understanding of it. You need some sort of like fluency that you feel like, okay, I can be creative with this. And I'm not thinking too much about Mechanics I'm doing it. I think that something to that. Every time I've been in like those states, there's like a, humble or a quiet, confidence, I'm like assured, that This is cool and I love this and wanna keep doing this right now.
Donny (direct)I think what you're touching on is a bit of intuition.
DonnyIt could go back to
Donny (direct)to music. You just gotta listen, And listening alone will probably open you up. Usually when you're listening to music, you're always on the go
Donnyrarely are people at home listening
Learning to Listen With Intent
Donnyto music.
Donny (direct)And I think that's why Vinyl Records made their comeback Relationships with their records because they're to
Donnythat spot. You can't take that with you on the go unless you're gonna play it at somebody else's house. But you're of bound by your setup,
Martin MacAlisterYou are.
DonnyI think there's magic in vinyl for that reason, is that it gets you to listen with intent on listening Once you get to that point where you're in it, and you've experienced music from that perspective, not as an afterthought. Not as Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a while I listen to b,
Martin MacAlisterYeah,
Donny (direct)Like, when you were listening to define the greet line, what were you doing?
Martin MacAlisterI sometimes I would like, I'm like, I'm gonna go to the library and study and I'd be walking to the library and I'd have my, have my audio Technica on And I'd be listening to something and listen to define the great line a lot.
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterI get to the library and I would be like, there's no studying that is happening. Here and like
Donny (direct)Just listening. Yeah. Yeah. That's, so that's what's happening.
Martin MacAlistersucked in.
Donny (direct)Yeah. Yeah. I think That's where it gets really captivating. Once you're in that world and you're familiar with music in that way, then when it, comes to creating it, I feel like you've opened yourself up So this sort of all ties back in together. You're like, there's something about our experiences in music. There's also something to be said about experiencing music itself. When those two come together, It's Now You're familiar with the opportunity that music can present, Once you have familiarity, then when your brain is sort of spit balling these ideas, it's almost into those two moving parts of music itself. And combine that with intuition. There has to be something about that creative process that says, this is right. Good decision. And in music it's almost like there are no bad decisions. But that's where I think that's what plays into authenticity is
Donnyit's your intuition that's sort of steering that creative process.
Martin MacAlisterWhat is intuition? Because it's, sometimes either like an original thought or it's a combination of two or multiple points of inspiration like where does that come from? It's so related to confidence Do you remember like the, first song you wrote?
Donny (direct)Yeah. I think it was
Donnycalled The Dream, actually, which is, whoa, this is, crazy.
Donny (direct)That fits
Donnythe dream catcher thing.
Donny (direct)Yeah.
DonnyYeah. Dude, that's wild.
Martin MacAlisterSo the dream you wrote your first, how
Donny (direct)yeah. Ah, that's a good question. I think I was like, probably like
Donny10.
Martin MacAlisterOh, nice.
DonnyI started recording. Yeah. I
Donny (direct)recording my own music when I was 12.
Martin MacAlisterWow. That's amazing. Such a moment where it starts you, like on your journey, on a completely new path. And I loved getting to experience that so much, in the classroom, I'm like, you can write your own music. You could do that right now. Just being
Building Confidence Through Music
Martin MacAlisterthere for so many students, like writing their first song or their first like creation. It is there's something very primal and like I created
DonnyHmm. Do you think that's helping, build confidence in your students?
Martin MacAlisterdude. Absolutely. Every class is one-on-one. So it's like very personalized, very like high level of support education. A lot of our students have had to like pause their education and they're like behind a year. So if you imagine you're like in ninth grade, 10th grade and like you had a family or a medical event or some reason that you couldn't complete a year. And now all of a sudden you're like behind, it's like the race is over. Like you just, you get so depressed and school becomes this big scary thing so quickly and so easily part of the reason that my school has this uniquely awesome music program is students can discover like that they're musically creative and artistically creative. They kind of Come and their personalities, like all hidden and the light just feels dim. The more that they learn that they're a creative person, their personality just starts to reveal itself. That's like a privilege to be around that or to guide that.
Donny (direct)By providing music in, an environment,
DonnyMakes the students more accessible. Especially students experiencing
Music as Emotional Affirmation
Donnysomething emotional. Just like you said earlier, When you were going through things With that one girlfriend that you had, then music sort of affirmed your emotions
Martin MacAlisterYeah.
DonnyIt's not like it makes you feel better, it's just
Martin MacAlistergonna say
DonnyYeah.
Martin MacAlisterfeel better.
DonnyIt allows you to exist.
Martin MacAlisterAlso maybe for me, I think it what it was doing in that time in my life, it was like giving a little bit of like punctuation or something to think about that was like, this time is really hard, but in that hard time, like there's something important about this that's happening right now that like, I'm gonna learn something from this, having music connect on that spiritual like level, if you will. It does something to like, don't know, hang onto in that space. I'm not looking to music to soothe or change the way I feel. I am looking yeah. To affirm the way that I'm
Donny (direct)Yeah, exactly. It's a special in a traditional sense. It's more so a program that is aimed towards students, like you said earlier, that are experiencing something that's interfering with the progress of what's expected in other places, Taking a kid out of their school and explaining to them that you don't have a problem, But we got a solution for you. To a kid, it's like, well, if there's nothing wrong, then
DonnyWhy is this happening to me?
Donny (direct)There
Donnycan be A whole mix of emotions that happen to a kid. Even if they don't display it,
Martin MacAlisterdo you remember how long high school felt to you?
Donnyit felt so long, school in general just felt like forever.
Martin MacAlisterThat is a long time.
Donny (direct)Emotional weight too will weigh much greater on a kid than it would us,
DonnyIt almost ties in therapy To your program at that
Donny (direct)in my
Donnyopinion, and I think it's really important, music education needs to be explored more as well as music therapy.
Donny (direct)We did have a neuroscience professor on
DonnyEpisode 10.
Martin MacAlisterto that one.
DonnyYeah. He said that you're never too old To get the cognitive benefits of learning music. So even if you wanna pick up an instrument when you're, Retired, Your brain will still, Have the same activity.
Martin MacAlisterAnd parents all the time. When I have these amazing experiences with these students and they're like, okay, they've taken three, four years of in high school, and they're thinking about going to like Drexel for audio engineering or like, There's this cool, school in Vermont called Champlain and they have video game sound design. I had a student that went there for that major, these parents are like, man, like this is so cool that that my kid is like learning this. I, I never learned an instrument like I wish I had. And I'm like, just pick one up, man.
DonnyYeah. it's never too late.
Martin MacAlisterit's, yeah. Yeah, you should, if you really want to, then you should,
DonnyYeah.
Donny (direct)Yeah. We learn at a slower pace, When we're older. I mean, kids They can adapt so fast and they also learn very quick too,
DonnyYeah. Yeah.
Donny (direct)have two, two one's two years old and one's five months old.
Martin MacAlisterOh my
Donny (direct)Yeah. Yeah. He, yeah. Yeah. He was, he's, he just got here.
Martin MacAlisterBut don't you get jealous of like the 2-year-old, like how quickly he's like, new things
Donny (direct)He,
Martin MacAlisterlearn things. Like how did you do,
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterthat yesterday. Now you're doing it today. and
Donny (direct)it's of the stuff's embedded in our, DNA in our genetic code. And that might be like, when we talk about tapping into
Donnythis, Realm Part of it has to be, Genetic In some way. Something that's like In our brains or in our nature. Put it that way. Part of it has to be nature in some
Donny (direct)weird way, because it's like some of the stuff he
Donnyhe does, You
Donny (direct)wonder like, where did you even
Donnylearn that? Or how do you know what this is? Or there's especially
Martin MacAlisterdoes he do
Donny (direct)in the phone.
DonnyYes. I was getting ready to, that's what I just said too. Yeah. Children in
Donny (direct)phone, and I'm like, That has to be somehow embedded in us, Like, technology.
Martin MacAlisteryeah, but My daughter Cece Will, will do this and phone and then be like papa and hand it to
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterBut who anymore holding the phone up like that.
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisternever seen me do that.
Donny (direct)I'm usually on the AirPods. Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterit in your hand in your own speaker. So like, is my baby like doing? She doesn't even see anyone do
Donny (direct)right.
Martin MacAlisterand so Danny, my wife and I are like, it's gotta be like, it's gotta be baked by now.
Donny (direct)That, that's what I'm saying. That's Yes. I You're not alone on that. I guarantee there's somebody listening right now They're like, yes, I'm, telling you, There was probably one point in our lives where children were really good at like training pigeons, But now it's just, they know how to pick up the phone, you know?
DonnyLet's, sort of delve into the mystery. So the reason I call this podcast Music Ghost Stories is because there's something supernatural with music that we don't quite understand But some of the coolest stories we get, If you've ever encountered something that's unexplainable or what you would consider a coincidence involving music
Martin MacAlisterI was reflecting on that, and I think this ties in so much with the nature versus nurture or like nature meets nurture because.
Martin's Grandfather and an Artistic Legacy
Martin MacAlisterMy Mom's dad, my grandfather, was quite an accomplished artist he did Prince, and he also taught at the college level. My family's from, like the south of England. Growing up, my grandpa really tried to sort of like curiously probe at creativity and painting and drawing and stuff. I hate painting. Like I, I don't like drawing. I get frustrated with it and don't have patience for it. So it wasn't really it for me. And I didn't really connect with him on that. But then when I started getting interested in music, my grandpa was like, so invested and so interested in what I was doing musically. This is when I was probably 13, 14 years old, that I would like, want to play drums and he would just want to stand in the room, he's like very old at this point and kind of in poor health. And so he's like wincing From
Donnylike a snare.
Martin MacAlisterlevel? Yeah. And I'm just sort of more frustrated with him that. He's like making me feel self-conscious or like, he's asking me questions like I don't really get it. The drums on their own. I don't really understand, like that doesn't feel complete or like the whole thing. He was really just trying to understand more and he was just so actively interested. But I just feel like there's lost, like, I didn't have the time that I got, like he passed away when I was around 15, 16 years old. If we just had a few more years together, he and I would've really had something where we like understood each other much more and in these two very different mediums. I feel really connected to like his artwork and really connected to him like a lot. And I've written a couple of songs like about him. The cool thing is that, my mom was adopted, so I'm not even, blood related to my grandfather. So thinking about like his creativity and his artistic talent or like curiosity in art, is that genetic? And For sure, I think that there, there are like components of that, but it's just interesting to me that this is only the nurture side of things. That was really, what was like drawing us closer together. I've used my grandpa's artwork on a couple of, albums, like from my old band, deer Spring, and one of our, eps is called Nature Meets Nurture, if you Google Deer Spring Nature meets Nurture, it's a picture of him, like in his print studio, working. And there's like one song on the end of that called Tussic and Song is like just about him and it's like super emotional, just like thinking about it that, his house that my mom grew up in was called Tussic in England. They name all of their houses. Super cool. I don't know, there's just something even just thinking about my maternal grandfather, it's that same, like that affirming feeling of when you're hearing that song that like speaks to you or when you're creating something that you're like, this is so authentically me. This is channeling from like the ether or the muse or whatever. The interactions that we had before I was even really a creative person that have carried on like through time, like this significance and this like power that is like, an inspiration music that I make today.
Donny (direct)I'm really attached to music and legacy 'cause my dad, My dad passed away
Donnyin 2012,
Donny (direct)Years before my mom.
Donny's Father and the Goodbye Recording
Donny (direct)And he was a full-time musician. So that's why when I wrote my first song when I was 10, or recorded it when I was 12, it was on my dad's old
Donnytask cam. He wasn't using that
Donny (direct)He was using eight ATTs, which isn't even
Donnyas relevant,
Donny (direct)There's one sitting, Yeah, it's collecting dust over there. And actually the only reason I have that is to transfer some of his recordings into Pro Tools. If you get a chance to listen to episode one. It's The introduction to this whole podcast. But it was on those after he passed away that I started transferring them into Pro Tools. He was doing that song Beach Boys. My dad loved the Beach Boys
Martin MacAlisterOh my God. I love that
Donny (direct)song, This recording had been on the shelves for a long time. On the A Dat, you have eight on each tape, On one track. It was an acoustic guitar, right? And it was just strumming. And then all of a sudden the acoustic guitar just stops. I was
Donnylike, this is weird.
Martin MacAlisterSome like rough punch or
Donny (direct)yeah, I was like, did he punch in? Or whatever, so I'm just kind of sitting here waiting and all of a sudden his voice. starts echoing. So it also had a delay printed on it, so it was just like this ethereal, and He's And I'm like, but it's Not words. It's like a wo or an, And I'm like, what the heck? And he just says goodbye, but it's echoing, right? So it's like, goodbye, goodbye.
Donnygoodbye. And I'm like, oh God, this is weird. And
Donny (direct)says, I love you.
Martin MacAlisterNo,
Donny (direct)That was it.
Martin MacAlisterwow.
Donny (direct)And I was like, what? What just happened? I was like, I froze. So this most bizarre thing, right? I
Donnyactually took, close
Donny (direct)podcast with That clip. So,
Donnyat, the, at
Martin MacAlisteron.
DonnySo, at the, end of each episode, At the closer, that little clip that you hear is that it's my dad saying goodbye. I love you. So to, to
Martin MacAlisterway.
DonnyTo everybody listening. Yeah. So My dad
Donny (direct)out every episode,
Martin MacAlisterwhat do you think was happening while he was recording that?
Donnydude, I have no idea.
Donny (direct)I have no clue. There's no explaining it. There's no explaining it. I think that he was like, maybe saying goodbye to the recording
Donnyor something, I'm done for the night.
Donny (direct)I love you. But there's really no, there's no other, there's nothing else, And the delay just made it a little extra weird, like the whole ethereal delay thing. It's like, why'd you need that?
Martin MacAlisterThat song is amazing. Whole pet sounds this Like sweet sadness But you like, hear, you're like, it's the Beach Boys.
Donny (direct)yeah. Even before that. When you go to their older records you ever heard the song Surfer Girl?
Martin MacAlisterdon't think so.
Donny (direct)When you listen to their if you listen to,
Donnyto, like, in My
Donny (direct)and Surfer
DonnyGirl, those songs are
Donny (direct)incredibly
Donnyheartbreaking.
Martin MacAlisterI'll listen.
Donny (direct)You know, uh, one of the Beach Boys' Sons on the podcast.
Martin MacAlisterNo way. Oh
Donny (direct)yeah. Carl Wilson died in 1998, but his son was on, Episode, seven. You wanna hear something that's weird. So I just figured, you know, I sent a letter like, I'm not gonna hear back, you My phone I'm waiting for My, my car's extended warranty expired again. My,
Donnymy 2010 car's warranty is expired again. So I'm
Donny (direct)like, What if, So I answer it and it's Hey Donnie. I'm like, yeah. Hey, this is Justin. What was weird is he explained to me, he's like, yeah, I just got your letter. And I'm like, what? I sent that a long time ago, And he said it It was forwarded from that address to a different address and then they forwarded it to me and I just got it. And He said, and today's my dad's birthday.
Martin MacAlisterWow.
DonnySo that was a
Donny (direct)good, insightful episode. I think that's our,
DonnyI know it's our most popular one.
Donny (direct)The whole idea of legacy, And I feel grandfather's legacy, Through
Donnyhis artistry is something that's really profound
Donny (direct)There might be some things that attach you to your grandfather, The, general relationship or what you mentioned, like The potential of that relationship, what the relationship could have been. That whole idea of that affirmation
DonnyWas there ever a moment that stands out to you with maybe one student or the whole class or whatever it may be, but something
Students Who Found Themselves Through Music
Donnyin that world that sort of ties into this podcast where something happened that was just straight up magical
Martin MacAlisterYeah. Oh man. There's this kid, shout out. Chewy, and his stage name is Little Waxy. This was in like 20, 20, 20 21, I feel like is when he enrolled. No one had more excitement for music. No one had a bigger passion for it. Not even myself, than like this kid. And his senior year, he was like, I wanna do a full length record. And I was like, if we start this, By May you're gonna be like, oh my God, when is this over? But like, we can do that if you want to. We did, we wrote a full length
Donny (direct)Oh
Donnymy gosh.
Martin MacAlisterYear, he really was just vocals and doing a little bit of the production. He would help with composition. Like I had some really good tools for writing chord progressions. And I would have him like, produce me basically and be like, I'll be your guitarist. I'll be filling in for a lot of the stuff, but you write the vocals, you write the melodies, and we'll do this together. It's a cool record. I can't believe this was made, in like a high school and it's legitimately awesome.
DonnyIs it, available for streaming? Oh,
Martin MacAlisteryeah.
DonnyI'll put it in the show notes.
Martin MacAlisterI was just feeding off of his hype, like his. Passion
DonnyYeah.
Martin MacAlistermusic is like super inspiring for me. And then one other, I got a shout out this band called Fibbing. fibbing is one of my old students, and she started this band. She was a student who, when she enrolled, she is such a talented vocalist and pianist, and she would hit record and play, just come outta nowhere improvising these like amazing like piano And before I could do anything, she would delete and then like close pro tools. That intuition, that confidence She just didn't have it yet. And now she has her own band called Fibbing. I produced a few of the songs on there. I'm like honored that she like, still wants me to like,
Donny (direct)Of course.
Martin MacAlisterschool teacher,
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterher band And work with her. She came to my band Men, like she came to the second show that we played.
Donny (direct)cool.
Martin MacAlisterand,
Donny (direct)At the garage.
Martin MacAlisterYeah. At the garage,
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlisterIt's that. human connective experience and like, oh my gosh. I never think that the first day that I meet these students that,
Donny (direct)Yeah.
Martin MacAlistersome of them might know them their whole life,
Donny (direct)But to be able to do that with, people that are in
Donnyin their adolescence
Donny (direct)That are going through something that are not quite adults yet, and that sort of forms and shapes the trajectory of their life From those experiences, It's almost on a way deeper level we talk about All these, emotional attachments And, moments that we experience with music. Even your band now, men, Someone might listen to your music and cry you may never
Donnyeven know.
Martin MacAlistermight never know.
DonnyTying your
Donny (direct)into That
Donnywhole thing. Like part of you exists in that way for some other people, I'm sure.
Martin MacAlisterWow. What a gift, that, that is it just feels like a privilege to even about That
Donnyif your music That you helped create, if it could send one message You, What would you, want that to be?
Martin's Message
Martin MacAlisterI feel like it's, try to understand yourself, try to explore who you are. That's what I feel like music and learning to creative within music. There's so much of my identity and that's how I've really, formed a sense of self is like through music, creativity. Able to like pass that on definitely to my students I feel like it's really, it's a, it is like, it's a spiritual thing. It's a, feeling. It's really trying to understand like, who am I or what does that mean to I feel like I always had growing up like, who am I? Am I like this guy? Am I like that, person? Am I gonna be like this And you're not, you're gonna be uniquely you, whether you want to or not. Trying to find out like what unique being you are.
Donny (direct)I think what you're talking about is just your own individual consciousness You are having a unique human experience. Explore
Donnywhat makes you, unique A better word would be embrace.
Martin MacAlisterYeah. Embrace.
DonnyBut what would the ultimate episode of Music Ghost Stories
Martin MacAlisteri've gotta listen to episode one. I'm just, excited to get to know about You more
Donny (direct)Oh yeah,
Martin MacAlisterto know you better. This is really cool, man.
Donny (direct)Yeah, man, this has been a great conversation. I really appreciate you hanging out for some time here and, Dedicating the time to Record this and document it for the listeners to enjoy. So
Martin MacAlisterwas a pleasure. Thank you so much for Yeah, for inviting me
DonnyAll right, I'll see you Martin. Thanks.
Today's conversation touched on something that runs through all of music, the intuition we tap into when we create it and the affirmation we feel when we hear it. Martin's work with his students at Fusion Academy brings that to life each and every day. Trust what you feel when music moves you. Let it confirm something that you might already know about yourself and embrace that part of you that music speaks to directly. Carry that with you. The next time a song stops you in your tracks, sit with it for a moment. It might be telling you something worth listening to. All right, everyone, thank you for listening. If this episode stayed with you, be sure to follow and subscribe so you don't miss out on the next episode. And if you'd like to support, the easiest way to do it is just to leave a review wherever you are. If you're in Spotify or Apple Music, drop five stars. It will help us reach more listeners and encourage more people to listen with intent. All right, everyone, this is Music Ghost Stories. Until next time, keep listening.
