Student Spotlight: Mayah – Finding Her Place Through Music

August 6, 2026

Some students come to Music Royale because they want to learn an instrument.

Others stay because they discover something much bigger.

Over the last nine years, Music Royale has become more than a music school for Mayah. It’s where she discovered her confidence, found lifelong friendships, learned how to collaborate with other musicians, and began building the skills she’ll carry into a career in the music industry. As she prepares to study Music Production and the Recording Industry at Ohio University, it’s clear that the lessons she’s learned extend far beyond playing guitar.

Her story is exactly why Music Royale exists.

Yes, we teach students how to play music. But we also believe music has the power to connect people, create opportunities, and build communities where students feel comfortable being themselves. Those relationships often become just as important as the music itself.

Watch her interview video here

If you’re just discovering Music Royale, visit our website to learn more about the community we’re building every day.

One Spark Started a Lifetime of Music

Like many young musicians, Mayah’s journey started with inspiration.

After taking music classes in fourth grade, something clicked. Music suddenly became more than another subject in school. It became something she couldn’t stop thinking about. She remembers going home and immediately telling her mom that she had to learn guitar.

Part of that excitement came from watching artists she admired. Taylor Swift was one of her biggest inspirations at the time, and nearly every musician she looked up to seemed to have a guitar in their hands. To her, playing guitar represented creativity, storytelling, and a chance to express herself.

That excitement eventually turned into action.

What started as one weekly guitar lesson has grown into nearly a decade of musical exploration. Today, Mayah studies guitar, has added vocal lessons, recently began learning drums, and is constantly looking for new ways to challenge herself as a musician. She no longer defines herself by a single instrument because she’s discovered that every new skill opens another creative door.

That’s one of the reasons our Private Music Lessons are built around each individual student. As interests change, lessons evolve alongside them.

Learning Happens Outside Your Comfort Zone

When Mayah first started guitar, she admits she had a very specific vision of what she wanted to play.

She loved pop music. She wanted to learn fingerstyle songs. Beyond that, she wasn’t interested.

Scales felt boring.

Using a pick felt awkward.

Strumming seemed uncomfortable.

Like many beginning musicians, she wanted to skip the foundational skills and jump straight into the music she loved.

Looking back now, she laughs at that version of herself.

Over the years she realized that becoming a musician isn’t about avoiding difficult things, it’s about embracing them. Learning to strum, using a pick, practicing techniques she once resisted, and stepping into styles she never expected to enjoy all became milestones that helped shape her into the musician she is today.

That willingness to grow has completely changed the way she approaches music.

Instead of only playing pop songs, she’s performing rock, reggae, fingerstyle, acoustic music, singing in front of audiences, and even learning an entirely new instrument.

Growth didn’t happen because everything came naturally.

It happened because she kept showing up.

Teachers Who Invest Beyond the Lesson

Ask Mayah about her teachers and you’ll quickly realize they mean much more to her than instructors.

She currently studies guitar with Jesse, vocals with Eryn, and drums with Ryan. Each teacher has helped her grow musically, but what stands out most isn’t just what they’ve taught her, t’s the relationships they’ve built together over the years.

One memory in particular has stayed with her.

She arrived for a lesson one day after having a difficult experience at school. She was overwhelmed, anxious, and having a panic attack. Instead of immediately opening a lesson book or asking her to play scales, her teacher simply sat with her and asked a question.

“What’s your favorite color?”

Later that lesson, he surprised her with a capo in that color and spent the rest of the lesson teaching her a song she absolutely loved.

It’s a small gesture.

But for Mayah, it became one of the moments she’ll never forget.

At Music Royale, our teachers understand they’re not simply teaching music. They’re mentoring young people during some of the most important years of their lives. Great teachers know when it’s time to push a student and when it’s time to simply listen.

Meet the incredible educators who make moments like these possible on our Teacher Bios page.

More Than Music Lessons. It’s a Community

Perhaps the biggest difference Music Royale has made in Mayah’s life has nothing to do with learning guitar.

It’s the people.

When asked what makes lessons here different, she doesn’t talk about practice rooms or equipment. She talks about friendships.

Over the years she’s gotten to know teachers, staff members, younger students, older students, parents, and fellow musicians. Walking into Music Royale doesn’t feel like arriving for another lesson, it feels like walking into a place where people genuinely know her.

What makes that even more meaningful is that Mayah describes herself as an introvert.

She isn’t someone who naturally seeks out conversations with strangers.

Yet music gave her something to talk about.

It created common ground.

Instead of awkward introductions, there were conversations about favorite songs, new artists, upcoming performances, and guitars hanging on the wall.

Those shared interests turned classmates into friends and teachers into mentors.

That’s something we intentionally work to create at Music Royale. We believe students thrive when they’re surrounded by other musicians who encourage them, challenge them, and celebrate each other’s successes. Music becomes the reason they walk through the door, but community becomes the reason they keep coming back.