At UT mariachi camp, confidence-building is a plus BY JUAN CASTILLO - AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF High school musicians honing their skills at the first Longhorn Summer Mariachi Camp at the University of Texas this week have gotten concentrated doses of instruction in vocal delivery and in playing the many instruments that form the genre’s distinct and beloved sound. But camp organizer Ezekiel Castro, adjunct professor and director of UT’s mariachi ensemble, Mariachi Paredes de Tejastitlán, hopes they learn more than just music. He wants them to leave camp with confidence and passion. “We want to pump them up, so they can continue doing this when they get back to school. That’s what our job is, to inspire them to play more and play better,” an enthusiastic Castro said this week over a blast of trumpets as the mariachi camp was in full swing. There is another facet of the camp vision. Castro hopes the experience encourages students with an interest in Spanish-language music and repertoire to think about applying to UT’s Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music and participating in the music school’s ensembles. About 55 young musicians from across the state, many of them from South Texas, are participating in the summer camp, which ends Saturday afternoon with a performance by Mariachi Los Arrieros, the El Paso-based troupe that led the instruction. Students received group training on their instruments, including the violin, harp, guitar and vihuela, a guitar-shaped string instrument that is a mariachi staple. In mariachi, however, the players are usually singers, too, and a camp emphasis is on instruction in the bold vocal delivery necessary to interpret the genre’s often festive, sometimes tragic, but always rhythmic folk songs. Not all young mariachi musicians are sure about their singing skills, Castro said. That’s where instilling confidence comes in. A mariachi musician himself and the retired founder of the respected mariachi program at Travis High School in Austin, Castro recalled being surprised recently when he came upon a former student performing with mariachis at a local restaurant. He was belting out the songs. Castro was blown away. “I told him, ‘I couldn’t get you to open your mouth when you were with me at Travis. Now you’re the star here,’ ” Castro laughed. If you go … Saturday’s camp-ending concert by Mariachi Los Arrieros is at 1:30 p.m. at Bates Recital Hall, 2406 Robert Dedman Drive. It is free to the public statesman/videos/news/sounds-from-the-first-longhorn-mariachi-camp/v6SzQ/
Posted on: Sat, 13 Jul 2013 02:06:14 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015