MIDLAND, Texas — The mariachi band at Legacy High has only been around for a year, but they are already impressing judges at the competitive level.
Last weekend, they got one's all across the board at the UIL Mariachi Festival in El Paso; perfect scores all across the board.
“These mariachis were like in the trajes and they were looking good, they're all confident," Legacy High Sophomore Jocelyn Ortega said. "We're over here a little shy but when you get on that stage, you know that's your passion and you know you're gonna do well so you just give it your all. You just fire up the crowd and afterwards you feel great. Then you get a one and you're like, 'oh my goodness, we don’t suck!'”
It was a stark contrast from the beginning of the year, as LHS Mariachi Director Zach Machuca would put it. Machuca has seen his musicians grow not only as mariachis, but as students.
“Even if you look at the first film that we did at the beginning of the year to kind of how they sound now," Machuca said. "Even the students were like, 'I looked at it, man, we sound so different, and we sound so much better.'”
Class begins just after 2 p.m. During class, students tune their instruments, rehear their songs and even get some vocals in. All of it overseen and conducted by Machuca.
“We chunk our pieces and our music, then we run them of course," LHS Junior Ethan Calderon said. "Then he also makes us go off in our own sections. The singers will warm up together, the trumpets will warm up together. Then we will all together do our scales and then we will trunk our stuff."
All of this work and competition success has brought the group together as one cohesive unit, bonded by friendship.
“I believe the best part is not only getting better at an instrument, but the friends I made within the mariachi," Ortega said. "I love them so much and they're like the funniest people to go around with and we just made a group together and we just made a bond.”
Those bonds are what give them the confidence they have heading into February’s state festival in Seguine, TX.
“Honestly, since this first competition,, we got a little wiggles out, I'm not very nervous," Calderon said. "I feel like we can get it down. We get this new piece coming in, it's fire. We're working hard.”
If anyone wants to check out NewsWest 9's Hispanic Heritage story on LHS's mariachi class, click here.