Keeping mariachi alive
Santiago Tafoya, 17, is a junior at Taos High school. Tafoya plays the violin and guitar for the mariachi band program. He is in both the intermediate and advanced class and finds mariachi music not only fun to play, but sees it as an important facet of Hispanic culture in New Mexico.
“There’s not near as many kids that want to do it. They come in, they try and they may not like it and that’s fine, but it’s kind of dying off, the interest in it. And I just want to keep that going and help other kids learn it and realize how valuable it really is,” said Tafoya.
Mariachi reportedly started as early as the 18th century in regions of western Mexico. The instrumentation typically consists of violins, a standard six-string guitar, the vihuela (a five-string guitar), the guitarrón (a large, fretless six-string bass guitar) and vocal accompaniment.
Mariachi music is heavily steeped in the Taos County area and overall in New Mexico. For example national mariachi conferences are held annually in Albuquerque and in Las Cruces. People from all over the country play and participate in the conferences. Then there is the Mariachi Adelante group of 44th Army Band, which is the only mariachi group in the U.S. Army.
Mariachi groups throughout New Mexico play as the soundtrack to many events and
celebrations, such as birthdays and anniversaries. The music is even taught at public schools. Currently, mariachi is taught in Questa Junior High/High School, Peñasco Independent Schools and Taos Middle and High School.
In 1981, Nick Branchal taught the first accredited mariachi class in New Mexico at Taos High School. Branchal had retired a few times from teaching over the years but was continuously pulled back to help instruct the students. There was even a time he taught music at three different locations at the same time: Taos High School, New Mexico Highlands University and at Adams State University in Alamosa, Colorado.
“It’s tough doing three places,”
he said.
Branchal said when he started the class, they raised almost all of the funds needed by performing at events around town. Back then, Branchal would have to also transcribe the songs for each instrument because there was no sheet music he was aware of when he started.
“We’ve always been pretty self-sufficient,” said Branchal.
He was pulled out of retirement three years ago to help his former student and Taos Junior and High School mariachi director, Norberto Martinez, who was Branchal’s student in 1981 when Branchal started the program.
Martinez was also pulled out of retirement from teaching
three years ago. He then enlisted the help of Branchal and violinist Audrey Davis to help him instruct at the middle and high school.
Martinez said that he loves teaching students mariachi. One encouraging aspect of teaching for him is seeing students inspired to play mariachi music after graduating.
“We’ve developed a lot of musicians that continue to play after school after they graduate. They’ll form their own groups, there’s a lot of people out there in the community that have gone through the mariachi program, and they have their own groups and play New Mexico music, or mariachi music,” said Martinez.
Questa
Rachel Leon, musical director for Questa Independent Schools, points to some of marching band equipment above the band lockers in the Questa Junior and High School building.
“Some of these instruments have been here since I was in high school,” said Leon.
Leon graduated from Questa High School in 1979. She first started playing mariachi while she studied classical voice and music education at New Mexico Highlands University (NMHU) between 1999 and 2004. During that time she was instructed by Branchal and joined the Mariachi Vaqueros de la Sierra at NMHU.
She took over Branchal’s classes after he retired from Taos Schools. Then soon after, she took over Ricardo Valdez’s mariachi teaching post at Questa Independent Schools.
Currently, there is no marching band at Questa. She said she’d like to, but doesn’t have enough time between teaching mariachi and elementary students’ general music classes. She attributes this to an overall decline in music programs in the country and music teachers having to pick up extra duties.
“I just feel like music programs have been diminished all over,” said Leon.
Like other schools in the area, Leon only has four hours a week to teach the students the music. Despite only seeing them for a short amount of time she’s pleased with how they’ve progressed. In particular, she’s impressed with the Junior High program.
Teaching mariachi, to Leon, is important primarily because students can connect with their Hispanic culture.
“When these kids, young kids, sing “Las Mañanitas” and serenade an elderly person for their birthday. It’s, to me, amazing that they’re carrying on that same tradition that’s been around for hundreds of years,” said Leon.
12th grade students such as Annaliese Rivera, Nataniel Quintana, Leah Martinez in Leon’s class generally enjoy playing mariachi, some expressed interest in playing after they graduate.
Some students like Angelico Lovato, a vihuela player who has been playing since the sixth grade had family members that played mariachi.
“I just started doing it because I liked the music and I’ve loved it ever since,” said Lovato.
Guitar player Matthew Rael believed that the group has progressed over the years. Rael said the program is strongly supported by the community.
“I know, we’re not the best, especially in New Mexico. There’s a lot that we need to work on. We’re still a young group and everything like that. But people like to show support, and they like to watch us grow. Because from what we were four years ago, to what we are now, we’re very different, we’re a whole different program,” said Rael.
Bouncing back from COVID
Chris Duran, the music teacher at Peñasco Independent schools, said that the pandemic greatly affected the mariachi program.
Duran said before COVID, he had about 16 students. These were students he started teaching when they were in 6th grade in the hopes that by the time they were sophomores they would be great.
However his class size decreased to only four girls after being limited to online learning in 2020. Since then he’s stepped in and played trumpet with the students. He also teaches violin to Peñasco elementary students after school.
All the while, like other schools in the Taos County area, Duran works to raise funds for the class for transportation costs and buying and repairing instruments. Leon said that the cost of guitarróns can range between $1000 to $2000.
Ultimately, though, he enjoys teaching and believes teaching music to be an important endeavor overall.
“I think it’s not all about being the best musicians, or anything like that, or creating the best musicians. It’s more of trying to make an impact in their lives for later on in life,” said Duran.
Instructors like Duran and Martinez don’t worry about mariachi dying off. Martinez said that it just takes a dedicated person to teach it.
“I don’t think it’ll die down. As long as there’s a person to keep it going,” said Martinez.