SOLON — The City of Solon, in cooperation with area businesses and organizations, kicked off the ten-week Music on Main series of free concerts Wednesday, June 1 with a performance by the Solon High School Mariachi Band.
Mariachi is a Mexican traditional folk music style, which incorporates violins, guitars, guitarron (a very large deep-bodied six-string acoustic bass guitar), vihuela (in contrast to the guitarron, a very small guitar), and trumpets, explained Desmond Cervantez, the high school band director for 23 years. The Mariachi Band has been around for a decade or so, he said.
Cervantez is half-Mexican and a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma. Mariachi provides him an opportunity to embrace his heritage and share it with his students.
“I don’t speak Spanish, because my dad had a lot of prejudice growing up, so he told my mom only English in the house. I love my heritage, I wish I could speak Spanish, and I grew up listening to the Mariachi music.” About ten years ago he thought about starting a Mariachi band at the high school.
“I was a little hesitant because I was, at that time, the only Mexican in the whole school. I ran it by the kids and they were all excited about it. They’ve just embraced it totally.”
Mariachi is the one band program Cervantez does not take attendance for, nor does he issue a grade to participants. “It is the most consistently attended, and the kids just love it. They can’t get enough Mariachi.” Mariachi is a six-week program following the end of jazz band season.
“We always aim to play at Frieda’s (Frida Kahlo Mexican Restaurant) as close to Cinco De Mayo (May 5) as we can.” The band has also performed multiple times at The Bike Library in Iowa City.
“A lot of kids sing and take Spanish in school, so they get to use their Spanish, they’re in choir so they get to sing, so it’s just kind-of a catch-all. We don’t have a string program, so it’s brand new – I hand them a violin, and here’s a book, and they start rehearsal. It’s like dying cats for a while, and then they start sounding good! A lot of these kids learning guitar and violin are picking up a brand new instrument they’ve never played before. It’s something new and exciting for them to try, they’re all singing, and it’s just a lot of fun.”
While there are competitions for jazz band, at least in Iowa, there aren’t any for Mariachi. “Out in Arizona and California, there are. It’s bigger than the jazz band competitions.” Mariachi in general is rare in Iowa, he said. “They take it a little more seriously. They’re year-round, and they even buy the whole outfits, sombreros; they’re all-in. I just don’t know where we’d put all that, and we just have this little window of time when we can do this. I like the way it is, it’s just fun. When we get done we eat at Frida’s and just hang out.”
Solon’s band has attracted some attention. “The University of Iowa is interested in us, we’ve done clinics for them for their music education majors who are going to be band directors and played for them. They’ve had a clinic where they brought out some people from Arizona (including Jose Hernandez), a world-renowned Mariachi musician. “Any Mariachi in a movie, they hire him. He is the top dog. So, we got to do a clinic with him, this has been several years ago, so got to work with him. (It’s) just a lot of fun.”
Gwen LaGrange, a sophomore this fall, was initially not interested in the Mariachi band, “But Mr. C. needed people to play violin, and I was like, sure, why not? And I’ve grown to actually like it.” During the rest of the year Lagrange plays the baritone saxophone. “it (violin) was really hard at first but then I got going with it and it’s gotten a lot easier. The uniqueness has her hooked on Mariachi. “It’s like, not a normal thing. It’s a lot of fun. It’s definitely an experience you wouldn’t get anywhere else.”
Emilee Suchomel will be a senior this fall joined last year out of a desire to learn how to play guitar. “I knew that was an option that you had in Mariachi, because I just like learning new instruments in band because it’s very fun, and I figured why not try out a new style too.” Suchomel is also in the jazz, marching, and concert bands and plays tuba, trombone, and bass. “I really like the atmosphere it (Mariachi) gives, and it gives you an opportunity to sing with your bandmates, that’s a new aspect because you don’t normally sing with anybody in jazz band, you definitely do not sing in marching band unless it’s just really bad, like altogether shouting. So, it’s really nice to hear your classmates sing really nice songs and learn songs in a new language.” She added, “It’s also a really good bonding experience.”
Jack Hosking will be a junior this fall and is finishing his first year with the Mariachi Band. A guitar received as a birthday gift led him to sign up, he said, noting it would be, “…a good excuse to learn guitar.” Mariachi, he said, allows him to sing and play guitar while hanging out with his friends. Hosking plays baritone, alto, and tenor saxophones in jazz band.
Hattie Droll will be a senior this fall, plays the trumpet in the Mariachi Band, and trombone, “in normal band.” At first Mariachi was just a unique experience, she said. “Not a lot of other schools have a Mariachi Band so it’s something that is a completely unique experience that’s something really interesting to try, and I’ve always been super-interested in learning new instruments and expanding my horizons as much as possible, so like, I grew up playing piano, and I started playing trombone, and I saw Mariachi as an opportunity to learn a ton of new instruments – violin and trumpet (she’s staying with trumpet), but it’s just a super-unique experience that you can’t find anywhere else, and it’s just been awesome.”
The concerts, evoking the turn of the century small town Americana, are held at the band stand on Main Street starting at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday evenings, weather permitting. A listing of upcoming concerts is printed elsewhere in this edition.
Isabelle Ferin, on trumpet, and Gwen Lagrange on violin.