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From music student to music teacher to music donor, Terry Hanson’s connection to Black Hawk College covers five decades.
In November 2025, he returned to his alma mater to talk about the musical instruments he and his family recently donated to the Art, Design and Performing Arts department.
Thanks to Terry and his late father, Chuck Hanson, the college has added a grand piano, bop drum kit, cymbals and keyboard for music students to use.
In February 2025, six months before passing away at the age of 97, Chuck Hanson donated a 6’1” Yamaha G3 piano to the college.
“My dad wanted his piano to go to a place where it would get played and taken care of,” Terry said.
“That was very important to him. I said, ‘I think BHC would be a great place.’ ”
The engraved plate before it was affixed to the Yamaha G3 piano Chuck Hanson donated to the college.
Then Chuck donated a stack of “fake books” (a collection of lead sheets for musicians) for the music department’s library.
“Chuck was a huge jazz fan. He gave me his jazz CD collection – thousands of CDs,” said Corey Kendrick, assistant professor of music and a jazz pianist.
Chuck’s obituary even mentioned his love of music. “He was a jazz aficionado, spending much time listening to jazz, collecting albums, as well as tickling the keyboards at home,” it said.
Chuck and his wife, Jean, and their four children played a variety of instruments. The grand piano he donated to the college was made in 1969 and served as the Hanson family piano for decades.
A love of drums
For Terry, the love of playing music began with a red sparkle snare drum from the JCPenney catalog. At age 11, he received it as a present from his father, who also had played drums in junior high and high school.
That one drum started him on a path to being a full-time musician.
“I don’t think at the time Dad or I realized it would be the start of an amazing musical journey for me,” he said.
After graduating from Moline High School in 1973, Terry took a summer course at Berklee College of Music in Boston. He returned to the Quad Cities, played in a band and worked a few non-music jobs.
But something was missing.
So, he enrolled at Black Hawk College, mainly taking music classes from 1975-78.
“The teaching staff was amazing, and I learned a lot in a short time,” he said.
Terry Hanson, BHC music student Travis Parker and Corey Kendrick, assistant professor of music, with the drum kit Terry donated to the college.
Even though he learned to play a variety of instruments as a BHC music student, drums were his calling.
Taking what he learned at Black Hawk College, Terry turned his love of percussion into a full-time career.
As a professional musician, he toured 30 countries with the USO, traveled with a circus band, and opened for B.B. King and Charlie Daniels multiple times. He began teaching drums at McKay Music and West Music.
Returning to BHC
In 1997, he was asked to return to Black Hawk College. But this time, he was the instructor.
“What an honor!” Terry said of teaching BHC music students. “It was very rewarding!”
He taught part-time until 2020 and has kept in touch with BHC music faculty members since then.
On a visit after his father’s passing, Terry realized that the drum kit in the music department was the same one he had used as an instructor from 1997-2020 and as a student in the 1970s.
Following his father’s example, Terry decided to donate his nearly pristine Premier drum set.
And several cymbals – including one that had traveled with him into the sands of the Middle East on a USO tour.
And his father’s Roland FP-7F keyboard.
It’s becoming hard to step into the music department and not encounter something that used to belong to the Hanson family.
“The generosity of the Hanson family is truly inspiring,” said assistant professor Corey Kendrick.
“Terry helped a generation of BHC students as a teacher and now these gifts will empower yet another generation of musicians to meet their goals,” he said.
BHC music student Travis Parker wants to play the drums for a living, just like Terry. So getting to practice on Terry’s drum kit seems like serendipity.
Terry is happy to share the instruments from his family’s collection, continuing his relationship with Black Hawk College that began 50 years ago.
Terry Hanson with the piano his father, Chuck Hanson, donated to the college.
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