NEW MARIACHI ENSEMBLE A DREAM REALIZED
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he mariachi sounds coming twiceweekly from a rehearsal space in Lawrence University’s MusicDrama Center have been a long time in the making. A dream, Jando Valdez ’24 calls it. The impetus for that dream goes back to 2016, when Valdez, then a freshman at nearby Appleton North High School, started a mariachi band with a few Latinx classmates, celebrating and sharing a genre of music with deep roots in Mexico. From there, Valdez’ group, Mariachi Jabalí, connected with the music education team at Mile of Music, beginning a relationship with Lawrence Conservatory of Music. Then, this fall, Valdez enrolled at Lawrence in pursuit of a Bachelor of Musical Arts (BMA) degree. He quickly found himself in conversations with Alex Medina ’21, Willy Quijano ’22, and Ricardo Jiménez ’21 on the possibility of launching a mariachi ensemble in the Conservatory. The idea aligned with discussions that had already begun in the Conservatory, where Associate Professor of Music Matthew Arau, fresh off delivering a keynote address at the International Mariachi Summit in San Diego in August 2019, was all in on adding mariachi to Lawrence’s robust roster of student ensembles. He would help guide Valdez and the other students as they put together a plan and began recruiting other students. Finally, early in Winter Term, the new Lawrence University Mariachi Ensemble (LUMÉ) launched. Numbering upwards of 30 students during any given rehearsal—roughly half music majors, the others from across the college—the
Jando Valdez ’24 performs during a Lawrence University Mariachi Ensemble rehearsal. Photo: Danny Damiani
ensemble began playing together twice a week in the Music-Drama Center, with pandemic protocols in place. “The first time LUMÉ was able to meet in person, it felt as if a piece of myself and my family’s heritage had been reignited,” Valdez said. “The difference between LUMÉ and a traditional ensemble is that we want to dive deep into the roots of the music we play and focus heavily on history through research and knowledge from qualified mariachi educators,” Valdez said. That is music to the ears of Brian Pertl ’86, dean of the conservatory. He called the Mariachi ensemble a great fit with the Conservatory as it allows students to
explore their musical passions in an intellectual, creative, and meaningful way. “It is such a great example of what I call empowered learning,” Pertl said. “Lawrence is so good at helping students make their musical dreams a reality.” The ensemble also aligns well with ongoing Conservatory efforts to teach and explore music from around the world “The dream of LUMÉ was perfectly aligned with our commitment to broadening our ensemble offerings beyond our outstanding classical music and jazz offerings,” Brian Pertl said. ▪ For more, visit go.lawrence.edu/mariachi
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