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Mariachi Training Course Preps Teachers for CPS Program Debut in Fall

By Kyla Gardner | July 7, 2014 5:27am | Updated on July 7, 2014 6:59am
Mariachi Classes Prepare Teachers for Fall CPS Program
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DNAinfo/Kyla Gardner

BRONZEVILLE — In preparation for the debut of CPS' first full-time mariachi program this fall, 15 teachers got a few Mexican folk music lessons of their own.

Thursday marked the final day of a four-day boot camp from mariachi musician and composer Jose Hernandez at De La Salle Institute, 3434 S. Michigan Ave. in Bronzeville.

"I've seen people grow, people who have never spoken Spanish before apply themselves and make great leaps," said Liz Limon, the recently-hired full-time music teacher for Calmeca Academy in Brighton Park.

Kyla Gardner describes "mariachi boot camp" on DNAinfo Radio:

By the end of the course, offered in partnership with the VanderCook College of Music, many teachers had learned a new instrument, six mariachi songs and had donned a bit of traditional mariachi dress.

Elective mariachi classes will be offered at five CPS elementary schools in Little Village, Lawndale and Brighton Park in the fall, devised to boost school engagement with Hispanic students and their families. The program was started by Cesar Maldonado of the Mariachi Heritage Foundation.

Based on programs Hernandez had assisted with in the past, he has high hopes for Chicago's.

"Chicago is going to end up having one of the strongest programs in the country," he said. "It's going to be an explosive program. It's going to go crazy. I think the graduation rate for Latinos is going to go up."

As a CPS teacher, Limon is excited to see the program grow from inside the classroom.

"It's another great opportunity for the kids to involve their culture in their education and become part of the community, and to let the community back into the school," she said. "It takes a village, as they say, to raise a kid, to raise a wholesome kid. It's part of what we do in education."

The program will reach 5,000 children at Joseph E. Gary Elementary, Edward N. Hurley Fine and Performing Arts Magnet Cluster, Richard Edwards Elementary, Davis Elementary and Calmeca Academy of Fine Arts and Dual Language in Brighton Park, according to the Mariachi Heritage Foundation.

Funding for the program and full-time music teachers at each school comes from the Tax Increment Financing Fund for the Arts and P.E. and the CPS Department of Art Education, according to a statement.

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