Nothing seems to faze 16-year-old Abigail Brown.

Born with only one fully developed hand, the Tahoma sophomore said that she grew up as any ordinary child would.

Raised in Phoenix, Ariz., she said never felt different from other kids, nor did she ever feel like things were harder for her to do, even if they were.

“Figure it out,” she said was her family motto.

This can-do attitude has enabled her to play the violin as a part of the Maple Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra. Brown first developed an interest in music in fifth grade after a sixth grade orchestra performed at her middle school.

“It was just a decision,” she said. “I said, ‘I’m going to do that.’ I came home and told my parents, and they were like ‘Sure.’”

Out of all the instruments to play, she settled on the violin, which she was attracted to due to its lightweight and quality of sound.

“It just seemed like a lot of fun,” she said. “It wasn’t big like the bass.”

Brown eventually joined the orchestra at Centennial Middle School where everyone else were novice musicians.

“I had no idea how to play,” she said. “Sometimes, at first it was hard. You just get used to it.”

Unlike the rest of the students, however, Brown also had to figure out how to practically hold and play her instrument.

Ultimately Brown and her parents researched and contacted various support groups for children with missing or underdeveloped limbs. They eventually used a rubber sleeve which ran down to her mid-arm. The bow was then attached to the sleeve by a screw.

Although it enabled her to play, Brown said, that after an hour of playing the sleeve tended to get heavy and hot. It also restricted her wrist from moving which gave her less control over the bow and consequently the notes she could play.

Nevertheless she didn’t let it stop her from progressing along with the rest of the students.

“It’s something you get used to,” she said. “I didn’t have to learn how to hold a bow because I had something to do that for me. Some things were a little harder, but, I picked it up just fine.”

Finally her father, who happens to be a mechanical engineer, created a new device using a molded plastic cup which fit around her hand with a bit attached that her bow can screw into with an elastic strap. The new device, she said, is much lighter and gives her greater movement.

“It was a big improvement,” she said. “I didn’t have to press as hard to get the same sound. It was just a lot better.”

Brown continued to play for her middle school orchestra up to the eighth grade, which included a trip to Disneyland, where they played “Over the Rainbow.” As the orchestra continued to improve Brown started to take private lessons.

“It was lots of fun,” she said of her middle school orchestra. “I expected it to be fun and challenging, and it was just that.”

In 2011, her family moved northwest to Maple Valley, where she enrolled as a sophomore at Tahoma High. After they learned the high school had no orchestra for her to play in, Brown and her mom did some research and discovered the Maple Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra. Brown has been performing with the group since the fall.

“I love everything and everyone,” she said. “The people and the music we play is great.”

Brown will perform with the rest of the symphony at its next concert at 7 p.m. on Friday at the Maple Valley Presbyterian Church.

“I’m really excited about it,” she said.

Brown said she intends to continue playing after high school.

“Not big like New York or something, but most definitely for fun,” she said.