The Author

My Path to Mariachi

My musical experience started at a young age as a listener.  Music was often playing at home and it consisted of the current norteño and tejano hits.  In the evenings, you could hear mariachi music and Pedro Infante at full blast coming from the backyard. The song El Rey was the first song I remember learning to sing.

At every party I went to with my family, there was often live music and I would listen attentively tapping the beat along.  In one of those occassions the musico playing told my dad I had a good beat for music.  That moment is one I will never forget.

There was also this particular lady clown that was often hired at birthday parties in Roma TX and neighboring towns and she played the heck out of the saxophone.  Her name was Jolynn.  I credit her with me having the dream of playing the saxophone.  I wanted to be as good as she was and of course as good as Fito Olivares.

My older brother Enrique and older sister Laura paved the way for me to get into music as Quique was in band and Laura participated in Choir.  When it was my turn to start band, my parents and I must've arrived late to instrument night as all the saxophones were taken.  As fate would have it and on the recommendation of Mr Moran (RIP), I ended up playing the cornet.  I give the clown Jolynn credit for influencing every kid in town to play the saxophone and they all got to instrument night before I did.  That event alone however, put me on the path to one day play trumpet in the Roma mariachi in 1995.  If I had picked the saxophone, there is a big chance I would not have played mariachi at all. 

The summer before my 10th grade year at Roma HS, I had the opportunity to travel to Southwest Texas State University for the summer with a program called Y.O.U. (Youth Unlimited Opportunities).  While there for two months, I took a high school credit course and worked in the computer science department.  It was that summer experience that led me back to Southwest Texas State University when I graduated.  I didn't know it then but my experiences where setting me on a certain path.

One school day during my junior year, my last period teacher had likely finished her lesson and we were all just hanging out in the classroom before the end of the day when the announcements came on.  The classroom was surely loud and not many paid attention to the announcer as details were given about certain upcoming events.  A person came on announcing if anyone was interested in participating in the new mariachi program the following year, to please go to the cafeteria after school.  This particular announcement caught my attention and I was sure lucky to have heard it at all.  Again, fate was on my side!  I went to the cafeteria after school and I gave my name to Mr Yamil Yunez.

The summer of 1994 was an uneventful one in Roma TX.  Thinking back, I am pretty sure I participated in some sort of summer program at school.  The summer was saved by a phone call by Mr Yunez in early August announcing the start of mariachi practice.  

The day comes and I show up with my 6th grade beginner cornet.  In attendance was Mr Yunez, Nicque Martin Ontiveros as the violin assistant, a few upperclassmen and a whole group of soon-to-be 8th grade violin players.  Participating in the pilot year of the Roma Mariachi Program made my senior year a memorable one.  I still have fond memories of that year; playing La Adelita 20+ times in the Roma parade on a float, meeting 8th graders Eloy Garza and Daniel Renteria after school one day and showing them the beginning to No Me Queda Mas on the trumpet.  What amazing mariachi careers those two men have had.  They are still shaping mariachi education in our state and across the country.

         

No one could have predicted the success of the Roma Mariachi Program that year nor its future.  Mr Yunes went on to influence mariachi education initially across the valley and eventually nationwide.  In May of ‘23, I attended the dedication of the Roma Performing Arts Center as it was officially renamed the Yamil R Yunez Performing Arts Center. A well deserved honor!

In addition to having participated in the new mariachi program my senior year, we also had hired a whole group of new band directors.  Mr Alfredo Cortinas as head band director brought a top-notch group of assistants that included Rudy Barrera on Trumpet, Rene Villarreal on percussion, Mr Garcia from Zapata, and we kept two of my beginner band directors the late Mr Aleman and Mr Moran on low brass and saxophone.  Other outstanding teachers whose names now I can't remember completed the amazing band team.  A band team that would eventually and in a matter of a few years, turn the band program in Roma into one of the best in the state. 

                                  

Prior to my senior year, I was not set on a certain career path.  Our music program in Roma was mediocre at best.  We marched parades and did our best at halftime shows.  I had musical ability but I do not believe it was ever pushed prior to my senior year.  Mr Cortinas and his crew turned things around in Roma.  The band program and to some extent the mariachi program solidified my path towards music that year.  I remember going up to Mr Cortinas to tell him I wanted to study music and that I had my eyes set on Southwest Texas State University.  On hearing this news, he asked me to stay after school to get some lessons on music theory.  I still have that staff paper with his notes.  At some point, he invited Mr Keith Winking, trumpet professor at Southwest Texas State University, to come to Roma to meet me.  I am forever grateful for having those influences my senior year.  Fate and destiny again was on my side.  Had these directors not come to Roma that year, my life would surely be different.

                                      

Life is full of twists and turns and if you are lucky, everything falls into place as God intended.  

After graduation from high school, my parents Hilario and Lupita Maldonado drove with me to Southwest Texas State University.  As soon as I got off my car I met Zacarias Serrato who coincidentally was studying music, was from Rio Grande City Texas and had had Mr Cortinas as his high school band director.  More on Zac later. 

After my first roommate didn't work out, I became roommate to Rod Herrera from Eagle Pass TX who was also a music major. 

During my 2nd year at SWT, a high school friend of Rod's arrived at SWT.  David Silva had arrived and soon after we started getting together in the music building's student lounge on Friday nights to jam to mariachi songs we had learned in our high school years. 

We were soon putting out fliers in the music building and around campus inviting people to come jam with us.  We had a big group of folks meeting us on Friday to play mariachi music. 

Zacarias Serrato urged us to become an official university club, then an organization and eventually an actual class.  The whole process must've been a lot of organizational work for which David and Zac were up to.

David became the first student director of Mariachi de SWT.  My compadre, Frank de Leon, arrived at SWT in the Fall of 1997 and the rest is history as they say.  

There was a moment in 2000 for which I will be forever proud of.  At that time, Frank was leading the mariachi class at SWT and we prepared for the Mariachi Vargas Extravaganza.  We played Y Andale and El Viajero.  For Y Andale, Frank had a 20 piece banda come on the stage for the banda part of Y Andale.  That year the UTPanAm (now known as UTRGV) mariachi was not competing but was showcasing.  That opened up the competition and we ended up winning first place in the collegiate category.  Coincidentally, Cynthia Muñoz made a rule to have a maximum number of 16 performers for the competition.  We must've had close to 50 performers with the banda on the stage. 

For the main concert of the extravaganza that year, the Roma HS mariachi had won 1st place in the high school category and was opening up for Mariachi Vargas.  Mr Yamil Yunez had spent the last 5 years building a tradition of excellence in mariachi with the Roma mariachi program.  The opening lineup for Mariachi Vargas that year had a representative from the Roma Mariachi Program in every performance; the Roma HS mariachi performed, I performed with Mariachi de SWT, and then the UTPanAm mariachi showcased.  Eloy Garza and Daniel Renteria were both performing on trumpet with the UTPanAm mariachi that year!

I graduated in the summer of 2000 with a bachelor's degree in music education.  Since I was performing with Mariachi Suroeste in my spare time, I wanted to find a job that did not require long rehearsal hours like band would.  I applied in several nearby school districts in the San Marcos area and I soon got a call from Hays CISD for an elementary music position at a new school named Hemphill Elementary.  

The principal for the new school was Jayne Prewitt.  Jayne had spent some time living in South Texas (The Valley) and it was her dream of starting an elementary mariachi at her new school.  I remember getting random calls from people I didn’t know urging me to take the job.  I was soon hired as the first music teacher for Hemphill Elementary.  The Hays CISD program started the following year in 2001 when myself, my compadre Frank de Leon and future wife Sonia, traveled to Mexico City to purchase $3500 worth of mariachi instruments.  We came back with 10 guitars, 7 vihuelas, and 3 guitarrones.  That trip and the adventures we had is for another story another time.

A few years later, Joe Muñoz, one of our school board members in Hays CISD, urged me to travel to a mariachi conference in San Diego, California.  Joe made it happen and the trip is another fond memory in my mariachi path I will never forget.  I walk into the hotel I was going to be staying at in San Diego and to my surprise I see Mr Yunez; my mariachi director from Roma.  We had several opportunities to catch up at the conference and Mr Yunez even sat on my lap when we couldn't fit in Jeff Nevin's small pickup truck as we traveled to Jeff's house for a carne asada Jeff had planned for Mariachi America and the mariachi directors.  On a side note, it was also on this trip to this conference that I first met Mark Fogelquist. 

To quote Forrest Gump, "That's all I have to say about that."

_________________________________________________________________

Carlos Maldonado attended and graduated from Southwest Texas State University with a bachelor's degree in Music Education in 2000 and earned his Kodaly Certification in 2004. Carlos has promoted mariachi music and education by being instrumental in the conception of the mariachi program at Texas State University in 1997, the professional group Mariachi Suroeste in 1998 and the mariachi program at Hays CISD in 2001.  Relying on his years of mariachi education experience, Carlos has been providing his compositions of mariachi repertoire, exercises and song arrangements to educators and musicians across the nation. Carlos is in his 25th year as a music educator and is currently the mariachi director at Chapa Middle School in Hays CISD. He resides in San Marcos Texas with his wife of 24 years Sonia Maldonado, daughter Ava and son Desi.