SAN FERNANDO : Mariachi Club Gains Quick Popularity

When a mariachi club started at San Fernando Middle School in 1991, some kids scoffed at the thought of playing the traditional music their parents loved.

But the predominantly Latino students were quickly drawn by the melodic strains of the 200-year-old Mexican music form and intrigued by its place in their culture.

They became so proficient in belting out soulful Spanish songs while playing guitars, violins, trumpets and the guitar-like instruments called vihuelas and guitarrones , that they formed their own band, Mariachi Los Halcones, Spanish for falcons, the school’s mascot.

The band, made up of 18 students from the middle school and San Fernando and Sylmar high schools, now takes its show on the road for $200 an hour to play everything from baptisms to weddings. It is especially in demand for the busy Cinco de Mayo season.

“I’d always heard (mariachi music) around my house,” said Cesario Montesdeoca, a junior at San Fernando High who plays trumpet. “I thought it would be another learning experience. I didn’t think we were going to come this far.”

The after-school club grew so popular that the middle school’s music department last year began offering a combined music/language arts class teaching Spanish by singing mariachi songs. It is believed to be the only such course taught in a public school in the San Fernando Valley.

Music teacher Rudy Vasquez, who helped organize both the club and the music course, says playing mariachi music helps students appreciate their culture while teaching them music and other skills, such as self-confidence.

“Hey, you can love mariachi music and you can still do what you want and become an engineer or doctor,” said Vasquez, as he oversaw a recent practice.

“I appreciate the music, the language and everything,” said Ernesto Rodriguez, a San Fernando High junior who at first rejected the idea of switching his musical style from jazz to mariachi. “It makes me proud to be part of a mariachi.”

Today, on Cinco de Mayo, Vasquez said Los Halcones will play for two school assemblies and a 7 o’clock concert that is open to the public at the middle school auditorium. Tickets are $1. The money the students raise through performances pays for travel expenses, equipment and uniforms.