LTVN’s Irma Peña takes a deep dive into Baylor’s first student mariachi group.
Isaiah Herrera, president of the mariachi ensemble and El Paso senior, said that in the last four years, the band has made several strides toward new goals and expanding the club, which have ultimately opened the doors to larger opportunities.
“From a musical standpoint, the mariachi has grown a lot in terms of the repertoire that’s been learned collectively as a group,” Herrera said. “We’ve been able to explore a lot more music. We’ve been able to learn more about mariachi and its importance within Hispanic culture.”
Outside of Baylor, the ensemble has also been able to build a strong presence around the Waco community. They played outside of a San Antonio Spurs basketball game last year.
Conroe senior Garrett Thompson, a founding member, said that because the group grew and gained more experience, it was able to reach deeper into the community and expand its audience base.
“As time went along, we gained more traction and membership, and we also gained more experience as a group,” Thompson said. “We built up more members that had been around for multiple years and refined the same repertoire to a higher level that we could just perform it more readily, more easily and more efficiently, and really pay attention to making music out of it and just connecting with the communities that we were involved with.”
The ensemble also made strides towards creating a Mariachi class at Baylor within the music department, an effort which has been spearheaded by the ensemble’s advisors.
The group’s original advisor was Dr. Moisés Park, an associate professor of Spanish. However, after welcoming a new baby into his family, he handed the position over to Dr. Marcelo Boccato Kuyumjian, a lecturer of jazz studies.
“Especially because of his position in the School of Music, he took a lot of initiative and sort of made the class become what was called the jazz combo class which is a one-credit hour class that meets once a week,” Herrera said. “They do, like, a couple of concerts throughout the year, or something like that, or usually throughout the semester.”
The ensemble has not only grown in ability and size. As of last year, it also became an official student organization through Baylor. Prior to this, the ensemble had fully funded itself. Thompson wanted to give a special thanks to everyone who had supported the group’s journey and helped with funding along the way.
“Until then, we had been doing our own personal fundraising through our performances and through family, our families and whatnot,” Thompson said. “I think a huge part of the resources our group has had up to this point is due thanks to the community that supported us and donated to us through our performances, as well as our families that have also given their personal time to help us get to performances and give us opportunities, as well as support us financially.”
As for the ensemble’s future, Herrera said that he hopes it can continue growing within Baylor’s culture and educating people on the importance of mariachi.
“A lot of the major universities have a mariachi ensemble and that’s not by accident,” Herrera said. “It’s for a reason, you know, not just the popularity of music, but the significance of it, both educationally and culturally. And, you know, from a diversity standpoint, it’s really important.”
