Senior Hannah Delp has a passion for music that she shares with her family. This family activity has made it possible for her to expand her horizons with many other instruments since her first piano lesson.
Her passion for music started when she was younger, and her family had a huge role in it.
“My family is really musical, like my mom had three sisters and my mom plays twice the amount of instruments I do. My aunt is actually a Cher impersonator, and she sings in a an 80’s band. She’s really cool and really fun, but yea my grandpa was a big influence. I think it’s just a family thing like they grew up playing music and like every Sunday they just sat around the radio and would sing or play it on the piano and learn to play songs like that. We all do that it’s just a family thing that we all care about. It’s fun that at Christmas and thanksgiving being at a big thing where we can just come together and play and learn new things. I don’t know even when there in the kitchen my aunts are clanking the dishes. There is always something musical going on.We used to get together on New Year’s Eve and they would call it a dance but it was really old people doing old time country dances. I would always get a tambourine out and play it along. My nickname became rhythm girl and that was when I was like five or six, and it just kept going,” Delp said.
She plays many different instruments.
“I’ve never really learned an instrument and became great at it. I’ve just always learned a few songs and a few things here and there and just kind of jumped around. I’ve pleated piano, I can play a couple of songs on the guitar, violin, and ukulele. I can play the triangle too, but I’ve always wanted to play a woodwind like a saxophone or something. I’ve always really wanted to play the cello too. It’s something I’ve always wanted to pick up later in life or like the stand up bass. That’s pretty cool. You could do like spins when you’re holding it. It’s so cliche, but playing these instruments it’s like a different language and no one understands it until they have had played it, and it’s good for your self esteem to,” Delp said.
Delp had many outside influences as well including a teacher and a friend.
“A big influence in my life would definitely be C, my violin teacher. I met C at church. She taught me how to play the violin. Then there was who played in the band. His name was Eric. He plays the guitar and oh my god. He can play just about any string instrument. He came to practice one day, and he had brought a banjo just for fun. He just sat in the middle teaching himself how to play. He brought an accordian one time. He was like really cool, and he would get his nails done like acrylic nails so he wouldn’t have to use a pick for his guitar. I think he was an influence because I was just so use to reading sheet music and he pushed and was like ‘just listen and just try to play along, freestyle.’ He was definitely big influence there, but they both moved away and that’s kind of sad now,” Delp said.