A FOURTEEN-year-old music student is celebrating an ‘astonishing’ achievement as he received the highest possible grade in keyboard.

Harvey Farrell achieved a distinction in his grade eight keyboard exam – making it his eight distinction.

Harvey, from Latchford, attends Presto Music in Warrington and started learning keyboard to play pop songs, but soon caught the bug for the instrument.

He said: “When I started my journey I had no idea what I was going to achieve, and I just wanted to play pop songs to impress my friends, but instantly I caught a bug for playing and knew what I wanted to do and that was to pass all 8 grades.

Warrington Guardian:

“It was a tough ask but it shows that the hard work truly does pay off and I have to thank my teacher, Amber Scott for all her work and I would’t have achieved this without her guiding me through.”

Harvey’s parents, Lynne and Gary Farrell, said they are ‘over the moon’ about Harvey’s achievement and they cannot thank his teacher, Amber, enough for taking him on his keyboard journey.

Amber Scott started teaching Harvey when he had just gained a distinction in his first exam.

 

Harvey with a previous achievment - Pianist of the Year

The Bridgewater High School pupil with a previous achievment - 'Pianist of the Year'

 

She said: “It’s been such a delight to watch him progress ever since.

“Attending his weekly class (face to face then remotely throughout lockdown) and following our Presto course with many hours of hard work and practice, he’s hit such a distinguished milestone.

“Completing Grade 8 at the age of 14 is a phenomenal achievement in itself, not to mention passing each exam before this to the highest level.

“I’m insanely proud of how far he’s come and I know he has such a bright future in performing ahead of him!”

Presto Music, located in the town centre, has taught over 15,000 students since opening in 2004.

The music school director, David Jones, said: "In addition to following Harvey's progression through the school with great interest, I had the pleasure of working with him in one of our Summer School Band Sessions.

“This is where the Presto students form groups over a week of fun and in-depth coaching from our tutors, ready for a huge live gig at the end of the week.

“As ever, all the students threw themselves into the event with great results.

“The speed at which Harvey learnt his pieces and pushed their difficulty was fantastic.

“In particular though, it was great to see how Harvey was always so helpful in assisting his band mates like a true team-player”