Sayonara :(

I just realized I never wrote my third blog post, eek!!

But, a lot has happened since my last post, particularly in my musical side of life… First, I should mention that back in Juneish I had told the group that I was playing for, the booking agent, financial manager, and directing (Mariachi Sol Azteca) that I was going to be stepping away from the group.

Now, if you read my precious two posts you would have seen that I went with Sol Azteca to Flagstaff at the end of October (wait, what? Didn't she just say she was stepping away from the group in June?). It is true I was still playing with them up until October. When I told them I would be stepping away I didn't want to just leave them high and dry so of course I stuck around until different people filled the positions I was previously doing. So, up until about August I was still booking gigs and until the end of October I was managing the finances. However, I had told them that if they ever needed anything that they could still call on me and I would help out if I could, so they jumped on that really quick and asked if I would still play Flagstaff with them, so I did!

That's the hard part about being in a job-like environment with a bunch of your friends. I couldn't leave! But now, I am officially out and my husband actually decided to step away too. We both played together, which was great but I think we both would also like to have our weekends to spend quality time with each other, especially now since we bought our first home! But that topic is for another post, another day. This is, by the way, a blog about music.

So, anyhow, it was really hard to leave my group and my friends but I am also really happy right now that I actually made a decision for myself and not with other people in mind, even though I was working for the group much longer than anticipated when I first announced I'd be stepping away. As you know too, my husband and I direct two other youth groups so what's really great is that I still get to incorporate music and musical creativity with these groups, plus teaching music is one of my favorite things to do and so I'm glad that I can get my "musical fix" with them :)

Flagstaff Weekend

Thus far, Flagstaff has been so much fun! 

All of the people have welcomed us with open arms and have enjoyed our music. Our first performance was at the Museum of Northern Arizona where we held a workshop and concert for a packed house. 

Being that this is our 4th year with the Celebraciones de la Gente event we wanted to put on more of a show during our concert portion, so, we brought lights with us for the concert! We shut off all the house lights and turned our colorful and changing DJ lights. It felt like we were rock stars. 

On Saturday night, we also performed for all of the volunteers of this event. The restaurant is called Tacos Los Altos and the owners are from Guadalajara so they were really excited to get to have mariachis at their restaurant. In addition to having us at the musical entertainment, there was a couple from California that performed folklorico with us. After we played, we were treated to dinner and dessert at the same restaurant. The entire menu was up for grabs and anything we ordered was free! The food was delicious and we all finished our celebration with a Dia de los Muertos inspired red velvet cake… Delicious!

Oh, I also seized the opportunity to photo bomb at the restaurant:

Today, we will be performing once again at the Museum of Northern Arizona, giving a workshop and concert. Then, we come home... It is always sad to come back home after such an exciting trip AND beautiful weather. Fortunately, we always have Flagstaff to look forward to next year. 

Mariachi!

Mariachi Sol Azteca

I've been playing violin since I was 6 years old. Playing music has been the most significant, exciting, and empowering experience! I mostly play mariachi music, which is Mexican folk music and pretty popular here in Tucson. This is the group I play with, Mariachi Sol Azteca, when we performed in Flagstaff in 2012 for the 9th Annual Celebraciones de la Gente event. 

Another artist made a painting of us from the 8th annual celebration when we played in 2011. Here's the awesome Día de los Muertos inspired she did:

We'll be heading out to Flagstaff again tonight for the 10th Annual Celebraciones de la Gente and we are unbelievably excited. Since we are hired through a grant from the Museum of Northern Arizona we also include an educational component to our performance. This is pretty different from what you will get out of a typical mariachi performance because many of the musicians cannot share what the history and evolution of the music is. The uniqueness of this concert is that we don't only lecture about the history and evolution but rather we also get to display it by actually playing examples. We do our best to entertain and educate!

I am very grateful for the opportunities that music has given me to enrich the lives of others and my own. Since starting at the age of 6, I started playing in my elementary school's mariachi (Davis Bilingual Elementary School) at the age of 7. At 11 I joined a local community youth mariachi group and still played at school. This pattern continued in middle school where I played at Roskruge and then joined another community group known as Mariachi Sonido de Mexico. At the age of 15 I got the opportunity to begin teaching at after-school programs in middle school. The educational component has been one of the most fulfilling experiences I've had through music. It is amazing what music can do for adolescents' self-esteem, confidence, and learning motivation. 

At 15, I left Sonido and joined Mariachi Sol Azteca, was teaching at an after-school program every day and attending University High School. My then boyfriend, now husband, and I were both involved in music (him as a teacher in a middle school) and both loved teaching so much so that we decided to create our own youth group. By 17 I was the founder, director, and instructor of a non-profit youth mariachi group named Mariachi Nueva Melodía (MNM) they are still going strong and we have loved every minute with them! Here they are below at their most recent Luau Fundraiser:

My husband and I love the experience that we've had with MNM so much so that in 2012 we decided to start another, and younger, non-profit community youth group. They are named Mariachi Inspiración de Tucson. Being that they are much younger, and therefore less experienced, they do require a little more time and energy than our older students but we love that they are so different and yet mean so much to us! Here's a picture of them (mostly violins) at a fundraiser last year: