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« Back to Mariachi Los Halcones
Mariachi grew up in western Mexico, in Jalisco and the states around it, and over the last
hundred years or so it became the sound of all of Mexico. Every new student in my class gets this
page on the first day, so they know what they're holding and what the people next to them are
holding. Parents, it's for you too.
The Violin
The violins carry most of the melody, and there are more of them than anything else: a big
professional mariachi may have six or eight, playing in two or three parts. A mariachi violinist
plays with a strong, bright sound that has to carry outdoors over trumpets and a crowd. My
classical students have to unlearn being polite. Ours: ten.
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The Trumpet
Most mariachis today have two trumpets, which trade the melody with the violins and add the
brilliance on top. The oldest mariachis didn't have trumpets at all. They came into the mariachi
in this century, and now it's hard to picture one without them. A mariachi trumpet player is
often asked to play softly, which surprises the band kids. Ours: four.
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The Guitarrón
The bass of the mariachi: a big, deep-bodied guitar with six strings and a back that bulges out
in a V. You don't strum a guitarrón. You pluck it hard, usually two strings at once, an octave
apart, and that sound is the heartbeat of the whole group. It's held up high against the chest,
and it is heavy. Our guitarrón players have the strongest fingers in the school. Ours:
two.
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The Vihuela
A small guitar with five strings and a rounded back, also bulging. It's tuned to the same notes
as the top five strings of a guitar, but three of its strings are tuned an octave higher, which
is why it sounds so bright and crisp. The vihuela player strums fast patterns called
mánicos that drive the rhythm. With the guitar, it makes the armonía, the rhythm
section. Ours: two.
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The Guitar
An ordinary six-string classical guitar with nylon strings, strummed along with the vihuela. It
fills out the chords and gives the rhythm a deeper sound. Guitar is where a lot of our beginners
start, because they can play along with the group in the first few weeks. Ours: four.
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The Harp
The harp is one of the oldest instruments in the mariachi. In the older style, it played the bass
line before the guitarrón took that job over. Many groups today play without one, but a good
harpist adds runs and color that nothing else can. Ours: none yet. The harp fund is at
$1,140.
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The Voice
There's no separate choir in a mariachi. The musicians are the singers. Everybody sings the
choruses, and the soloists step forward for the verses. And then there's the grito, the
long joyful shout you'll hear in the middle of a song. It isn't written in the music. It comes
when it comes. Ours: twenty-two.
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The Traje de Charro
The mariachi suit comes from the dress of the charros, the horsemen of Jalisco: a short
fitted jacket, fitted pants with a row of silver ornaments down the outside of each leg (the
botonadura), a wide bow tie called a moño, boots, and a wide-brimmed sombrero. Ours
is black with silver. Wearing it means you behave like it. I tell my students that the traje walks
into the room a few seconds before they do, and people decide what they think of us from it.
The Rhythm
The heart of the old mariachi music is the son, and the son jalisciense has a
rhythm that goes back and forth between a feel of two big beats and a feel of three, sometimes
from one measure to the next. It's what makes the music dance. It also makes my beginners' heads
spin for about a month. Then one day it clicks, and you can see it on their faces.
What We're Playing This Fall
A few of the standards every mariachi knows:
- El Son de la Negra. The famous son from Jalisco, the one every audience waits for. Our
violins have been working on the opening since August.
- Cielito Lindo. Everyone in the room knows it, and everyone in the room will sing along.
Let them.
- Guadalajara. A love song to a city, and our trumpets' favorite, because they get to
show off.
- Las Mañanitas. The birthday song. We've played it at more birthdays than I can count,
including in the faculty lounge.
- El Jarabe Tapatío. Most Americans know it as the Mexican Hat Dance. It's harder than it
sounds.
We don't put the words to songs on this page. Come hear them. That's what we're for.
« Back to Mariachi Los Halcones
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Last updated Friday, September 17, 1999
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