Mint Music Studio Feature:
If you want to hear a great singer, who is also an all-around fascinating person, Sally McMackin is the person for you. Not only is she a great singer, but her compassionate work in healthcare leadership, art therapy, education, and hospice work keep her busy working toward making a better world for all of us. And recently she has become a talented chocolatier!
Sally studied music for many years as a young undergrad at the Boston Conservatory of Music and University of West Ontario. Afterward, she went on to do graduate work at the Mannes School of Music in New York and apprenticed for a short time with a popular opera house, but soon realized it was not her truth. After deciding the world of singing was not for her, she went on to teach kindergarten for a couple years at Avenue Road Arts School, and pursued a degree in Music Therapy at Wilfrid Laurier University. Sally started her career as a Music Therapist working with the forensic population, people with schizophrenia, and patients with complex dual diagnosis at CAMH. Soon after, she began a masters in Health Leadership, and for the past 20 years has held positions leading operational and Health Strategy teams in the community and in Acute Care Hospitals within the GTA.
The act of singing has always been seen by Sally to be healing work and she has always believed in the therapeutic properties of sonic vibration. One group of women Sally worked with would, as an exercise, sing with their head voices and feel the vibration and calmness emanating from the meditative qualities of their singing. The women felt the soothing, grounded state emanating from the group get stronger and stronger. Afterward Sally always led the group in fruitful discussions about their experiences vocalizing.
About six years ago Sally felt the impulse to sing again. She had been working 60 hour work weeks and it was unfortunately hard to find the time and after so many years off she found it physically taxing to sing. A lucky moment came in 2022 when she decided to take a leap and sing karaoke with some friends at a New Year’s Eve Party. The crowd loved it and soon after she was asked to work with a company on a Celine Dion cover project.
Sally was asked to prepare an audition sound bite for the Celine Dion project so she started looking for recording studios and called up Mint. After setting the session up and taking care of all the logistical work, Glen, the President of Mint Music, sourced the instrumental track for the piece. Sally was very pleased with the high quality sound of the track. In-house recording engineer, Carlin Nicholson, produced the session and it was all smooth sailing. Sally and Glen have worked together ever since.
Recently she recorded a few tracks by Mike and the Mechanics for a personal project. The two songs, “You are the One” and “The Living Years”, were a big success in the studio and Sally found working with Glen and Carlin again to be invigorating.
Sally, who admittedly gets performance anxiety, always finds Glen and Carlin to be encouraging, laid back, and accepting, which gives her the ability to calm down and feel she can sing strongly without judgement. Over their year of working together, Sally said she has found Glen to be a great vocalist, songwriter, producer and teacher, and to have a great sense of melody. With Glen’s sharp ears, he brings precision and effectiveness to his vocal coaching. In fact Glen was the only person in the room that noticed she sang one note in the melody of “You Are The One” incorrectly. He quickly pointed it out and coached her to correct her mistake. The small change made a huge difference to the track.
When asked, Sally was quick to say that Carlin, in addition to being a great technician, also comes with an amazing musical ear. Plans were also floated to have Sally work with Carlin’s great band, Zeus, performing at Hospice Toronto’s 2024/25 Fundraiser.
Mint Music has helped Sally connect with and reignite her passion for singing and performing. She has exciting plans to do even more singing and performing in 2025 and Glen Alan has invited her to perform at Mint Music’s Spring Showcase in March 2025. He might even write an original song for her to perform.
A life-long learner, Sally is always exploring new areas of life. In addition to her dedicated work in healthcare, and pushing to sing more, she has become a passionate chocolatier. She is very interested in progressing toward what is good in life, whether it be bringing her two cats, Arthur and Leo, to cheer up unstably housed people at Journey Home Hospice in Toronto where she volunteers, or making a delicious hazelnut-chocolate dessert. Sally finds music teaches discipline, instills creativity, and calms the soul; all virtues she has worked at her entire life.