SAN ANTONIO – Classrooms and schools are empty due to the coronavirus pandemic, but that has not stopped the Mariachi class from Fox Tech ALA Cast from making beautiful music.
The varsity group from the San Antonio ISD campus posted a video on April 23 on YouTube of a virtual concert.
David Zamarripa is the director of the Mariachi group. He and his assistant, Alicia Covarrubias, collaborated with their students on the project and song.
“Mr. Zamarripa was like, ‘let’s do ‘El Gallo,'" Covarrubias said. “I know it has a lot of showmanship. Let’s go for it.”
A total of 16 students recorded their individual parts from home. The nearly five minute performance includes vocals and instruments.
Each part was fine tuned until the video was ready to be edited together.
“The caliber is really nice and high. So why not continue that on something extremely challenging where they literally have to practice at home by themselves to get the timing right,” Zamarripa said.
“It’s a very difficult song, so we were very proud of the students to be able to do that,” said Covarrubias.
Zamarripa said more than anything, they wanted to engage their students while they are at home.
The students have been given other music assignments through Google classroom, but it does not compare to playing live and with one another.
“We were hoping for them to not lose touch of a music, especially the music Mariachi,” Zamarripa said.
“It was just such a beautiful experience for me,” said Covarrubias. “To be able to connect with our students and for them to still have a passion for Mariachi.”
The virtual performance is also a tribute to the seniors. Some of the seniors in the class been in Mariachi since middle school and are missing out on performing together during their final year in high school.
Zamarripa said they have hundreds of students in the program in various grade levels.
They wanted to honor all the hard work everyone has put in during their time in the class.
“Let’s not only do this for our students, let’s do this for our seniors,” said Zamarripa. “They’re heartbroken because of the whole situation. They are not enjoying their senior year, their prom and graduation.”
“It’s just so beautiful to see them to make music just one more time together as a whole family,” said Covarrubias.
You can watch the YouTube video below.