There are moments in life that no words can reach. Moments when the world breaks, and language simply isn’t enough.

When I first built Ridley Academy, I didn’t set out to teach piano. I wanted to give people a way to speak when words failed, because that’s what music once did for me. It saved me.

Over the years, I’ve had the honor of watching thousands of students come through our doors, each carrying their own story. Some seek joy, some seek challenge, and some—like one of our students, Faye—seek healing.

Faye joined Ridley Academy in 2023, not to chase perfection or applause, but because she felt that music still had something to offer her. She learned quickly. She came to one of our concerts that summer with her husband and daughter, and as she told me later, it was one of the most joyful nights of their lives.

A few months later, her husband was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of cancer. During those months of uncertainty and pain, Faye began to play. She would sit at...

I don't really like to tell this story...

because I don't like to be thought of as a victim and I certainly don't want people to treat me differently. 

This is something that even my best friends didn't know about until about two weeks ago, and these people have known me for years, yet they didn't know this thing about me. 

When I was younger, I went to school and everybody was making fun of me. They would make jokes about me because I talked too loud. Then they would whisper things and I couldn't hear them.

They were picking on me.

I would go home and I just was miserable. and I remember laying on the end of my bed and talking to my mum and I told her “Mum. I don't want to go to school anymore.”  

She asked me “why do you want to go to school?” I had to tell her that nobody likes me, I didn't have any friends, and I was so sad to have to do this. 

Just imagine telling your mother this. I don't have any friends, nobody likes me and they all make fun of me. 

They made fun ...