Hi, I’m Susan Buller Grain.
There has always been a little mermaid in me.
At six years old, I was already captivated by music. By sixteen, that curiosity had become serious musical study. I went on to pursue classical singing and opera, studying six languages and eventually representing the US Southern District in the Music Teachers National Association competition in Washington, D.C. in 1994.
But music was never just about performing for me. I wanted to understand how it could bring people together.
A Life in Music
My musical life has taken many forms. I've performed Early Medieval & Renaissance music with New Orleans Musica da Camera. I’ve sung with orchestras in Operas and Musicals. I was choir soloist on Sunday, classic rock singer on Saturday. Alongside performing and teaching, I became increasingly interested in songwriting, collaborating with the Synthetic Dream Foundation. However, the relationship between music and wellbeing was strained.
Burnout eventually led me back home to Louisiana; to teach yoga and serve as a Wellness Director for Iberia Parish, and to develop what was then Bayou Lotus. Today, that work is becoming Mermaid in the Lotus—a meeting place for music, nature, mindfulness, and immersive sound.
I record the sounds of Louisiana's living landscape: frogs, rain, insects, birds, and the sounds of the swamps. These sounds have become part of my own musical language and a reminder that Louisiana itself is full of rhythm.
I'm also a sound healing practitioner certified through the Institute of Holistic Music in San Francisco and am currently training as an MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) teacher.
The Original Mermaid Music School — 2009-2013
I opened the original Mermaid Music School in Pompano Beach, FL in 2009. I taught private lessons and created a place where young musicians could experience music beyond the lesson itself.
Every summer, my students came together for a musical. We held recitals and even had opportunities to perform at events. Those years taught me something I still believe today: children don't just need to learn music—they need opportunities to experience themselves as musicians.
The school closed in 2013, but Mermaid Music never really left me.
Bringing It All Together
Today, Mermaid Music is where all of these chapters come together—but this time, I'm building something for the future.
I'm developing a musical method for young singers that brings together the things I've spent a lifetime learning: voice, musicianship, movement, imagination, storytelling, listening, and the joy of performing.
I'm also dusting off the theater shows I originally created for my students and bringing those stories back to life so they can be shared with a new generation of young musicians.
And I'm building an ecosystem for this work here in historic Freetown in Lafayette, Louisiana—a place where music education, performance, immersive sound, creativity, and community can grow alongside one another.
In many ways, I'm returning to where I began, but I'm not recreating the old Mermaid Music School.
I'm building the next chapter of it.
The little girl who fell in love with music, the young operatic singer who learned the discipline of her craft, the teacher who created musicals for children, the performer, the wellness educator, and the woman listening to the sounds of Louisiana are all still here.
They're simply swimming in the same direction now.
Welcome to Mermaid Music.