Twelve-year old Thea Sholl is one of three children playing the role of the drummer Freddy in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical School of Rock in Sydney. A multi-instrumentalist, who attends St Andrews Cathedral School on a music scholarship, Sholl is also a singer-songwriter who performs under the name Byrd, and who has had several songs on Triple J Unearthed. She spoke to Limelight.

Thea Sholl. Photograph supplied

Have you loved music since you were very young?

Yes, very young. It probably started with my brothers because I have two older brothers. They started from a young age, so I was like, ‘I want to do that too’ because I always wanted to be like them as a little sibling, and then I think the passion just grew from then.

I believe you started on the piano?

Yes I started with piano when I was four.

Were you composing even then?

I have always been making up little tunes with my Dad, and as I got older, at seven, I really started to produce my own stuff. But learning the piano really helped with that. If I hadn’t learned piano first I don’t think I would have been...