Payton Unnerstall (10) has many hobbies and skills she likes to learn. Music has always been one of those. She had thought about playing guitar for a while before turning her thoughts into reality and picking the instrument up herself.
For Unnerstall, and most high school students, learning how to play an instrument is definitely a hard task with how busy day to day schedules can get. Step by step however, Unnerstall has learned to play many different songs as well as learning about the guitar as an instrument, proving that if you work for your goals, you can make them happen.
From a young age, Unnerstall has played the ukulele, one of her favorite songs to play on it being “Riptide” by Vance Joy. She also listened and still does listen to a lot of songs featuring the ukulele and guitar both.
“I like the way it can kind of catch the emotions in the moment,” Unnerstall said. She also mentions that she’s an empath, and capturing emotions with something man-made that you can express yourself with at any time is something that you can’t find often. Obviously, Unnerstall has a deep connection with the instrument and how it can be used.
While the instrument is very fascinating to her, Unnerstall had to really put in the work to learn how to balance being a student and musician at the same time.
“I know how important it is to her to keep playing because she’s come so far, but learning in school and doing her homework should still stay constant,” said Matt, Unnerstall’s dad.
An important stepping stone that doesn’t just apply to Unnerstall, but for most sophomore students, is how putting a lot of effort into a new hobby (like guitar), can really bring one out of their comfort zone.
There’s going to be times where you have to ask for help even though you might not want to. Unnerstall talks about in her interview how this got her more comfortable with asking for help and talking to people outside of playing guitar. Along with that, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “creative pursuits can be beneficial in influencing positively psychological, physical and social components.”
Overall, learning guitar has been a really great experience for Unnerstall. Through the struggles of balancing school on top of becoming a musician and having to come out of her shell a little bit to really thrive in her new found hobby, “playing the instrument has been really rewarding,” Unnerstall said.
