Born into a musical family, Shona Maule has been picking up instruments ever since she was little.

At the age of 5 she would crawl under the piano when she heard it and not come out. The piano would turn out to be the first of many instruments she would learn in her young life.

The daughter of a music teacher, a musician and niece of a band member, Shona, 17, was often encouraged by her family to learn music. With some solid piano training under her belt, at the age of 8 she picked up the clarinet, began singing at 12 and started saxophone at 14.

She has pushed herself outside of school time to join numerous musical courses, telling The Royal Gazette: “If you love something, just go for it because at the end of the day you only have one life so why spend it doing anything other than what you love?”

Having so many instruments to learn has posed some difficulties in the past but with plenty of practice she is now able to separate the disciplines when she is performing. She recalled performing with the National Youth Musical Theatre in London, playing in a pit band. “I had to play the tenor sax, clarinet and bass clarinet and it was the first time I had to juggle my instruments at a rapid pace but through that I got used to it and also doing concerts at school where I am on the clarinet, saxophone and piano.

“I used to get the fingering on the saxophone confused with the clarinet because they are similar instruments but they are different reading. Now I find it easy. Practice was important and because I could read music so well I found it came more naturally.”

Not only did Shona have to juggle learning several instruments, she had to juggle music with her school work.

“At points I found it hard to juggle with school work but I think because the music was helping me to get my place [at school] it worked in my favour rather than against me. I did have to put my academics first because I realised that was what would eventually get me a job just in case I needed back up.”

Asked where she gets her drive and dedication, Shona said: “My mum pushing me forward was a big part of it. Going away to boarding school definitely made me push myself to get my grade 8s under my belt and getting involved with all the bands I possibly could as well as doing the A-Level music subjects.

“My mum pushed me to get involved with all the bands and made sure I was e-mailing my school before I started to make sure I could get involved in music.”

Shona has taken three grade 8 exams this year in piano, clarinet and voice and achieved a distinction mark in all three. While she is proving to be a star music student she has another passion she wishes to pursue in tandem with her music career — acting. She has been involved in local musical theatre productions as an actress and will be attending the Guildford School of Acting in September.

Shona’s first public stage performance in Bermuda was The Railway Children with Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society and she describes a later performance of Chicago, at her former school Saltus, as the moment she “really fell in love with the theatre”.

She has done school dance productions, productions with In Motion, pantomime, taken part in Bermuda Glee, appeared on the West End stage in London and attended many summer courses, including one at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland to hone her skills.

“My tutor pushed me to do this course at the Guildford School of Acting. It is actor/musicianship that requires needing to know a lot of instruments to a high standard. It combined the two, which was really good for me.

“My goal is to be a working actress. The West End stage would be amazing but anything where I get to act and make music would be ideal. I would be singing and playing instruments within the show which is what the West End is kind of gearing towards.”