Artist of the Week: Talia Hartigan

Music made an early and indelible impression on Warwick Valley senior Talia Hartigan. She recalls vividly, the sounds of classic opera and crooners like Frank Sinatra filling the air in her house, as she would help with the Sunday chores as a child. The melodies she grew up on still transport her back in time, even today, and they inspired her own musical journey. Hartigan got involved with making music as soon as she could.

“As soon as I got the opportunity in fourth grade,” said Hartigan. “My mom, who knew music was [an important] part of me, definitely wanted me to participate, too. I wanted to play cello, but my mom was worried that it was way too big, and that I wouldn’t be able to play it.”

So, Hartigan put her string playing ambitions on hold and took her mom’s advice. She picked up the flute and began learning during her final year at her former district in Westchester County.

“When I started, I was so horrible,” Hartigan remembered. “I couldn’t get a single sound out. I wanted to play so badly though, so my mom told me to just stick with it.”

Hartigan’s family moved to Warwick just before the start of her fifth-grade year, and she dedicated herself to practice the entire summer beforehand. She said that it all just started making more sense to her, and that something “just clicked.”

“When I got to fifth grade, I found out that I also had the opportunity to start another instrument,” Hartigan said with a somewhat mischievous smile. “So, I saw that upright bass was an option, and I remember thinking, ‘Well, if the cello was too big, how about bass?’”

And that’s when Hartigan started playing the bass — without telling her mom! Fast forward to that year’s spring concert, and...

“I was the first chair bass player in the orchestra,” said Hartigan with a laugh, “and when I got up on stage, [my mom] was so mad at me!”

But, not too mad. All it took was a quick chat with WVHS music teacher Elissa Maynard (who was teaching at WVMS at the time) to convince Hartigan’s mom of her daughter’s love for, and talent on, the instrument. Hartigan has been playing flute for nine years and bass for eight, including, bass and flute in WVHS wind ensemble and bass in the chamber orchestra. Hartigan has been a key member of the WVHS ensembles, and her talents and hard work have also earned her NYSSMA and OCMEA All-County honors over the years.

As much as Hartigan loves music, she feels called down a different career path.

She will be attending SUNY College of Environmental Science & Forestry in the fall, and plans to study forest ecosystem science. Her interest in this stems from traveling to many national parks as a child, where she said she has seen firsthand how climate change is causing irremediable effects.

“We always used to travel to national parks in the winter,” Hartigan said. “I realized I’m not seeing snow anymore, and that makes me so sad. I want to do my part to see if we can reverse some of that.”