Maria D’Ambrosio of Plymouth recalls tooting a trumpet at age 6 and clinking away on a miniature electric organ before that.
To say she has progressed is an understatement: D’Ambrosio, 17, a Plymouth North High School senior, now plays nine instruments, is in one orchestra and two ensembles at New England Conservatory Preparatory School in Boston, and in June will travel to Iceland to play in three concerts.
“I love it,” she said of performing music. “It’s become something I’ve enjoyed.”
Genetics might have played a part, she said. Her parents, Robert and Su D’Ambrosio, both play clarinet and have music degrees. Her sister, Rosa, studies drama and dance at On Stage Theatre in Abington.
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“They’ve been a huge influence in my life, and I’m grateful for them,” Maria said of her parents.
And she’s been a help to them: At the wedding of a family friend, she accompanied her parents on the ukulele, strumming “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
Her studies and rehearsals keep her busy, but she finds time for other things.
A couple of years ago, as a member of Christ Church in Plymouth (where she plays the organ), D’Ambrosio went to El Salvador with the Youth Leadership Academy of the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts to do volunteer work.
There, she played marbles at church with a young boy who was happy to share his treasures, making her realize that “it’s the things we have, not the things we want, that mean the most to us.”
The French horn is her first love when it comes to instruments, but she’s no stranger to others. In middle school, she asked her parents for a harmonica. She got a set of seven.
“I got a brace to play the harmonica and piano at the same time,” she said. “I wanted to harness my inner dream of becoming Billy Joel.”
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After she graduates from Plymouth North, she will go to college, and has auditioned for six. Top choice is Northwestern University in Illinois, where she went in October for a horn lesson with one of her inspirations, Gail Williams.
And that miniature electric organ? It remains in the D’Ambrosio home. “We still have it in the basement,” she said. “It was the main feature of the toy room.”
Paul E. Kandarian can be reached at pkandarian@aol.com.