Today we’d like to introduce you to Mariah Maynes.
Hi Mariah, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’ve always loved performing and making music. Growing up, I sang in a children’s choir and played in my school’s beginning band. I learned how to play guitar during my middle school years and began writing songs around that time too. When I was approaching my high school years, I discovered this band called R5 (they’re the Driver Era now) and got inspired by their drummer, Ellington Ratliff, to learn how to play percussion.
When I got to high school, I joined the percussion ensemble and the marching band. These new experiences fueled my love of music, and I was always practicing and writing songs. I got lucky to have teachers that inspired me and encouraged me to keep learning and growing. During those years, I also played in a steel band, jazz band, and orchestra, but I knew from pretty early on I wanted to attend school for a degree in percussion.
I never shared most of the songs I wrote during my high school years… People can be mean (and a lot of my peers were) and I wasn’t confident enough yet to brush off negative comments and focus on the good. The fear I had of people judging me for the songs I wrote ultimately taught me a valuable lesson though; careful whose opinion you listen to. I’m really glad that I had the teachers that I had at that time, because they really helped me keep going, even when other students weren’t as supportive.
I was accepted to the University of Utah, where I am currently working on my Bachelor’s Degree in Percussion Performance. During my time studying there, I’ve been so lucky to study with the incredible faculty and learn so much about percussion, and music at large. I also have great colleagues, many of whom I also consider friends. Being able to study something I love in a space where I feel supported by my colleagues and mentors is incredible, and I am so grateful that I have that.
I released my first single, Main Street, in July 2021. I had written the song, and my colleague and friend, Ashton Allen produced it. I remember all the feelings I had on the day it came out; I was excited to finally be sharing my songwriting with the world after so long of not doing so, but I also had a fear of not being taken seriously by my peers at music school.
There’s a heavy emphasis placed upon orchestral repertoire in a lot of the classes we are required to take for our degrees, and popular music is hardly mentioned, and sometimes even depicted as a less important style (some professors do an incredible job of exposing their students to multiple musical styles, others, not so much).
I brushed my fears aside and released the single. The feedback I got was overwhelmingly positive, and I decided that I wanted songwriting to play as large a role in my career as percussion. Since my first single came out, I’ve released another, titled ‘Tell Me!,’ a song I wrote, recorded, and produced all on my own. I am currently working on recording my first record.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
It’s been a relatively smooth road in that I’ve always had people supporting me, but like any journey, there have been struggles. One struggle was figuring out how to build my following and create content on my own. I’ve found Instagram to be a vital tool in reaching new potential listeners. I make all of my album art myself, which means I had to learn photoshop — it took a little bit to get the hang of, and I also shoot a lot of my Instagram content myself, with the help of the self-timer feature on my camera.
For a long time, I struggled with self-confidence; feeling like I wasn’t good enough to make it, and feeling like my sound isn’t a valid sound. It’s something that I still struggle with sometimes, but as I’ve worked through it, I’ve learned to embrace the insecurity instead of letting it scare me away from sharing my art with the world. I’m someone who spent a long time being a people pleaser, and when I stopped doing that, I lost a lot of people who weren’t truly good for me, but I also gained a lot of self-confidence and found out who I really could count on.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I am a percussionist and songwriter, currently studying percussion performance at the University of Utah. Most recently during my time working on my degree, I’ve spent a lot of time studying drumset. It’s been really eye-opening and informative, to my percussion and songwriting. As a songwriter, I specialize in pop and alternative music and would love to collaborate with more local artists and bands. I spend a lot of time writing lyrics and working in Logic. As a percussionist, I have experience playing drumset, as well as playing in orchestras, in percussion ensemble settings, and as a soloist.
Currently, I am working on my first full-length album. It’s been a really exciting process to write and record a larger body of work, and I’m so excited for the world to hear it. It’s been a very challenging yet refreshing experience to write about the topics the album addresses, and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to complete and share this project.
The thing that sets me apart from others is my experience in popular music as well as orchestra repertoire. Often, musicians only focus on one or another, but I’ve had the opportunity to do both. Having knowledge of multiple areas of music often informs my creative decisions.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
People who know my work might be surprised to know that I also teach. It’s not something I often talk about as a part of my musical brand, but I love doing it just as much as I do writing songs and playing percussion, and I’m so grateful to the directors for the opportunity to work with their band.
Contact Info:
- Email: mariahmaynes@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/mariahrmaynes
- SoundCloud: https://open.spotify.com/artist/6d0LbX2nyyJUeyVYe1F6ZI?si=ruljlhmoStG26KtSVUCjpg
- Other: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mariah-maynes/1575274859
