Children as young as 5 years old attend the Davis Mariachi Summer Camp, some fumbling with the bulky instruments, others handling the instruments as if they were born to play them.
Jaime Valenzuela, who directs the camp, said he wasnβt a mariachi prodigy. Most kids arenβt and thatβs OK, he said.
βEvery kid is different. Some kids can, within seconds or minutes, pick up something you teach them. Other kids, itβs going to take an hour or a day or two days, or even a week. It is just a matter of time,β Valenzuela said.
The Davis mariachi camp draws about 280 students a year, hailing from nearby communities like Nogales, Sahuarita, Oro Valley, Marana, Vail, Catalina and Phoenix. Students from out of state also attend. Young mariachi artists from California and Utah have come to Davis to hone their mariachi skills.
When Valenzuela isnβt working with the summer camp, he teaches music at Davis Bilingual Elementary Magnet School, 500 W. St. Maryβs Rd., which hosts the camp. The campβs public performance was at the Casino Ballroom Wednesday.
His father, Alfredo Valenzuela, was a music teacher, too, working with children at several Tucson Unified School District schools. In the 1980s, the elder Valenzuela started teaching guitar to his students.
Outside of school hours, the Valenzuela family had a band, which performed at wedding receptions, anniversary celebrations and other events. It wasnβt until a few years after Jamie Valenzuela started elementary school at Davis that the Tucson International Mariachi Conference brought mariachi music to the Valenzuela family.
βWhen we started going it opened our eyes,β Jaime Valenzuela said.
The music was lively and to be honest, Jamie Valenzuela said, it was a lot less physical labor and equipment than the familyβs current outfit.
He said he remembers the family hauling speakers, instruments and wads of wires between gigs. (His father still helps set up for gigs.) With mariachi, there were fewer physical obstacles.
By the late 1980s, the elder Valenzuela started the Davis Mariachi Summer Camp.
Both the father and son are still opening the eyes and ears of budding mariachi artists with the summer camp.
Students attend the camp Monday through Friday, June 5-28. This year cost $275, but will go up to $295 next year, Jaime Valenzuela said. The camp works with youth ages five through eighteen.
Jaelin Ramos, who will be a first grader at Davis Elementary, plays the violin.
Her mother, Samantha Ramos, also plays the violin. Much like her daughter, Samantha Ramos attended the Davis Mariachi Summer Camp.
Compared to her Jaelin, Samantha was a late bloomer.
βIt really took off for me in middle school,β Samantha said.
Samantha Ramos, 37, joined one of Valenzuelaβs mariachi groups years ago as a youth.
Samantha still plays, she said. βWhatever I learned, I think it stayed with me. As the years progress, Iβve found that itβs embedded.β
Mica Gallego, who is going into middle school this fall, joined camp after a years-long hiatus. This time she isnβt playing violin; Gallego decided to give vihuela, which looks like a small guitar, a try.
βI always wanted to learn it,β Gallego said. She said going to camp has helped her get to know the instrument she is playing better. Mariachi is in Gallegoβs bloodline; her great-grandfather was a mariachi player in Mexico.
Classes and activities are conducted throughout the week. Weekly special guests come to the camp to perform and work with students, including local mariachis Las Aguilitas, Nueva Estrella Juvenil, AztlΓ‘n, Rayos, Sonido de MΓ©xico, and Mariachi Pueblo Viejo.
Some former campers are now volunteers and teachers, like Parker Preciado, who recently graduated from Tucson High Magnet School. Preciado first heard mariachi as a kindergartener, he said.
βI told my mom, I want to do that.β Now the trumpet player teaches current campers.
Sabrina Garcia, 20, also teaches at the Davis mariachi camp.
βYou keep looking into your culture,β Garcia said, adding, βItβs like a family.β
Nadia Granados brings her daughters, Anabella (age 11) and Daniella (age 8) to the camp from the Dove Mountain area. Granadosβs sister brings her two daughters to camp from Gilbert, Granados said.
The cousins all play violin.
The drive is worth it, Granados said. She would know β both she and her sister were Davis Elementary mariachi campers when Granados was in her early elementary school years.
Besides solidifying established mariachi groups, like the one Samantha Ramos joined, Davisβs mariachi camp has served as an incubator for new youth mariachi groups, Jaime Valenzuela said.
βThereβs a group of kids and parents that say, Hey, letβs just start our own group. Off they go, to start their own group,β he said. βThatβs happened multiple times throughout the years. Itβs like the foundation of youth mariachi here.β
There are a few keys to success for mariachi students, Valenzuela said.
βIf you see the kids that are that are successful, itβs them wanting to learn. The teacher needs a lot of patience, love and compassion.β
Peers, however, often have the greatest impact on learning, Valenzuela said heβs found.
βIf youβre doing one on one, of course, itβs always good,β he said. βBut when you have a group of peers, and even if one person gets it, guess what? That person is going to teach other person. Itβs like a domino effect.β
Itβs also creates a sense of community, Valenzuela said.
βWhen theyβre all playing it, they all feel in the group β in the moment. They all feel a part of it.β
Samantha Ramos said stage fright doesnβt seem to be a problem for her daughter.
On Fridays, each class performs for the others β even the tiniest campers.
βSheβs starting to light up when she plays,β Samantha said.
That confidence and joy isnβt unusual for young mariachi artists, Valenzuela said.
βWhen 4-, 5- and 6-year-olds are onstage with the mic, singing and performing in front of a live audience, it opens a whole new world for these kids.β
