Benito Juarez teacher mentors next generation of mariachis

CHICAGO (CBS) — A Mexican musical tradition has worked its way into the hearts of so many cultures around the world.
This Hispanic Heritage Month, CBS News Chicago profiled an educator teaching the next generation of mariachis.
For those who grew up playing in their school band, they know it can be a fun and formative experience. But at one Chicago public school, there’s a special credited class that has extra meaning for student musicians present and past.
On a recent Tuesday at Benito Juarez Community Academy in Pilsen, the class settled into a room where they learn much more than music.
The class is mariachi, and the teacher is Michael Espinosa. His goal is to teach the songs and traditions that have shaped Mexican culture and more. It’s easy for him as his personal history feels like it’s part of every note.
“Mariachi is a family tradition,” he said.
Espinosa begged his guitar-playing father for an oboe as a kid growing up on the Southwest Side, but they settled on something else.
“I remember being a sixth grader going to those band auditions and going, ‘Man, I really want to play trumpet so I can play in the mariachi,'” he said.
Unfortunately, there was only the traditional school band to keep him busy. It wasn’t until high school that he had the chance to join Marie Curie’s mariachi club.
Espinosa spent the past 18 years as a mariachi educator, including leading the pioneering group of students at Juarez High School.
“It’s nice to be able to see these kinds of programs and I’m very happy to provide many of them here,” Espinosa said.
His mariachi class is taken for credit and as an after-school program. There are practices and performances in the community that students navigate in familiar ways.
“I recognize the joy, the frustration, the tiredness,” he said. “It’s a lot of commitment to play an instrument.”
It’s also an opportunity for the young musicians to express themselves.
“It’s very important to share the culture for me,” said Jimena, one of the students.
They said they also grow personally.
“Mariachi made me more social with people and be more active and not have that much stage fright,” said Guadalupe.
They also can move people.
“I remember we were playing some songs that make people emotional, so that’s what I really like to do,” said Monse.
For all those reasons, the mariachi class size has grown and Espinosa wants the group’s reach to do the same. They perform at events like Fiesta del Sol.
“There’s all kinds of businesses in Pilsen that we’d like to connect to and just around Chicago,” Espinosa said. “We want to be able to say ‘Hey these kids are doing amazing things here. Come watch them.'”
They hope to inspire the next generation of tiny trumpeters to study and share the rich tradition.
The music doesn’t stop for Espinoa when the school bell rings at Benito Juarez. He also teaches in the After School Matters program, is the lead instructor for the Chicago Mariachi Project and serves as a lecturer at the University of Illinois Chicago’s School of Theatre and Music.