Making melodic mariachi music
It’s not uncommon for people to look at my involvement with mariachi and wonder how a Chinese-American like me found his way into a Mexican folk band. And while it’s certainly a testament to the incredible cultural diversity here at Harvard, my story with mariachi goes deeper than what meets the eye. It wasn’t until I learned to embrace mariachi that I began to truly understand the joys of being a musician. Before coming to Harvard, I played trumpet for many years in wind ensembles, brass quintets, and symphonic orchestras. I felt most comfortable when performing from pages of music resting on a stand in front of me — crisp, well-ordered pages containing the storied artistry of musicians from ages past. I was a successful trumpet player in a well-respected genre of music, and that should have been enough for me — or so I thought. But the accolades gradually lost...