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Teenager passes Grade 8 piano exam playing with just left hand

Freya is a young woman with shoulder length light brown hair, which is hanging in loose waves around her face. She is smiling at the camera. She is wearing burgundy t-shirt and is sitting on a piano stool with her arms crossed. She is sitting in front of a glossy brown piano, there is a plant and a large trophy on a shelf behind her.

Freya made history with her Grade 8 piano distinction because she did it using only her left hand

Meet Freya, she's one of many young people across the world who can play a musical instrument.

Lots of people learn to play at school or as a hobby in their spare time.

But there's something really special about how Freya plays the piano.

The 17-year-old from Northern Ireland plays with just one hand after an injury and surgery meant she couldn't use her right hand to play.

She is the first pianist that ABRSM (the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music) is aware of to pass their Grade 8 piano with music solely for the left hand.

'I passed my Grade 8 piano exam with one hand'

Freya thought the pain in her right hand wouldn't last so while she was waiting for it to heal she started exploring the world of music written for the left hand with her teacher.

"My left hand could already play but not at all in the way that it now needs to," Freya explained.

After about two years of practising, and a couple of weeks after an operation on her right hand, Freya realised she might never play the piano with two hands again.

Frustrated that she had not yet achieved her Grade 8, she contacted the exam board to ask if it was possible to apply for the qualification with some modifications to the pieces she had to perform.

"They were so encouraging," Freya said.

Freya sits at a grand piano, wearing a long sleeved dark dress with red flowers, and black strappy heels. The room behind her has green walls and large, long windows. She is also surrounded by chairs.UGC

Freya is also a two-time Young Musician finalist - once playing with two hands and once playing with only her left hand

Freya said there were times that it was difficult.

"In my head, at one point, there was frustration that I was only playing this music because I can't play what I want to or what I used to play. That was hard," she explained.

But Freya didn't give up and after "anxiously checking emails" for months following the exam, she found out she had passed with a distinction.

The exam board told her that her determination had earned her "a little place in history".

Freya said: "I was glad that I had been able to prove to them that the effort that they put in to making this exam possible for me was worth it by the result that I did get."

Well done Freya.