By Leslie Fuentes
Photo Caption: Mariachi Los Tres Gatos students from Humble High School pose with a plaque awarded to them for receiving superior ratings for their performance in the Mariachi Coastal Bend Region UIL on January 20, 2024.
In January, Humble ISD Mariachi Director Samara Martinez led her mariachi students from Humble High School to perform for the first time in the Mariachi Coastal Bend Region UIL in Robstown, TX as a junior varsity group.
“I told the students ‘We’re going to go. We’re going to have fun. We’re going to meet people. We’re going to make music together, and that’s going to be the most important thing for us,’” Martinez said.
And in their first year competing at the regional level for UIL, the mariachi performers earned straight 1’s from every judge in attendance.
“I almost cried when I watched them,” Martinez said about their performance at the Mariachi Coastal Bend Region UIL. “They went beyond what I expected them to do, and they had fun while doing it too.”
To make the occasion even more special, the regional UIL competition marked the first time the mariachi group performed in their new traditional suits provided by Humble ISD.
“I think that’s one of the things that changed how they felt about themselves, and you could tell,” Martinez said. “Once they put on their suits and their bows, they saw themselves as mariachi performers. When they performed together in their mariachi suits, it just clicked for them.”
Martinez plans to have her high school group compete as a varsity team in next year’s regional UIL competition, which would make them eligible to compete in the state UIL competition if they receive superior ratings.
Humble ISD’s mariachi program formed in 2021 with a group of about 15-20 students across three Humble ISD campuses. At the time, most of Martinez’s mariachi students played the guitar and the vihuela, and she would join them in their performances, playing the guitarron.
“It’s amazing to see how the program has grown in such a short span of time,” Martinez said. “It’s grown about 20 students each year.”
To teach her students the sounds of a traditional mariachi, Martinez recalls asking a few friends who played the trumpet and the violin to play in front of her students to model what mariachi music “should feel and sound like.”
“It was exciting to see how the students’ sounds were coming together and how they began listening to each other,” Martinez said.
Mariachi Los Tres Gatos currently extends to students in Humble High School, Ross Sterling Middle School and Humble Middle School.
The group of mariachi students from Humble High School began with only five students. Today, that group has grown to nearly 20.
Jocelynn Sanchez, a junior at Humble High School, joined Los Tres Gatos earlier this school year as a flute player.
“As a hispanic student, there was a cultural interest,” Sanchez said about why she decided to join the band. “I thought it would be a nice way to involve myself in the culture. Flutes are not a traditional instrument in mariachi, so it’s been great being part of the group as a flute player.”
Joshua Perez, one of the trumpet players for Los Tres Gatos, joined the group during his sophomore year at Humble High School. Next year will be his last year as a member of the group.
“I want to work on improving my mariachi sound and achieving consistency,” he said. “Even though we didn’t go to the regional UIL as a varsity group this year, next year is about keeping the same level of consistency and having a chance to make it to state.”
Moving forward, Martinez says that her goal with her students is to help them perform and sound “as one” and to have them understand the differences between different song styles within the mariachi genre.
“Creating a program from zero is very hard because you have to see what works and what doesn’t,” Martinez said. “It’s about what we can bring to the students for their growth and for their education. It really takes everyone for us to be able to do this. Mr. Cosby, Mr. Bartley and Mr. Barron have been absolutely amazing principals, and the support of Dr. Fagen has been truly amazing.”
Mariachi Los Tres Gatos will be attending the 2024 FESTIBA Mariachi Festival at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in Edinburg, TX where they will receive instruction and mentorship from Mariachi Los Camperos, a Grammy-Award winning Mariachi ensemble from Los Angeles.
The weekend after the festival, they will make an appearance in the Houston Rodeo from March 8-10.