Rachel Yvonne Cruz is spearheading the new music concentration.
NOVEMBER 30, 2020 — New courses out of UTSA’s Department of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Sexuality Studies’ Mexican American Studies Program are aiming to connect students to the Latino culture through the sounds of music—from mariachi to Tejano.
Two new courses, Mexican American Music Performance Practicum, which is an ensemble course, and Latinx Songwriting, are being spearheaded by Rachel Yvonne Cruz and open to all students.
“I can’t wait for the courses to begin,” Cruz said. “The plan is to involve university students as well as to recruit high school students to create a pathway straight into the university and into the program. It’s going to be a game changer. We’re offering something in Mexican American studies at UTSA that is unique. I think it’s appropriate and forward-thinking for the university to have embraced Mexican American music.”
MAS will create a pathway for San Antonio high school students through a dual enrollment and early admissions program called MAS Corazón de San Antonio through the Mexican American Music Performance Practicum.
MAS Corazón is an evolution of the San Antonio all-star phenomenon previously known as Mariachi Corazón de San Antonio. This pathway will facilitate the transition of San Antonio–area high school students into UTSA and will be open to all students grades 10 through the university level.
The ensemble, while focusing on instrumental proficiency and performance technique and style, will also examine the historical development of Mexican American music and its influence in Latino culture and society in the United States.
“MAS Corazón will form as part of a course called Mexican American Music Performance Practicum,” Cruz said. “At its foundation the ensemble includes all mariachi instrumentation; however, I want to expand on that and include percussionists, a brass section, bajo sexto, electric guitar and bass, and accordion. I want the ensemble to prepare students for auditions and performance and encompass all that is Mexican American border music. I want to make it an ensemble that truly reflects not only the heart of the city but the corazón of Mexican American music. We are not going to limit ourselves to mariachi music. We’re also going to explore conjunto, Tejano, hip-hop, a modern fusion of styles.”
The Latinx Songwriting course is designed to give an overview of styles and techniques. During this new course students will be exposed to topics such as the importance of song in the Latinx music industry and culture; the relationship of words to music; study of song forms, including those found in Latin pop, American pop and Mexican corridos, boleros and rancheras.
The new program is uniquely poised to be able to raise the overall educational and economic bar of San Antonio’s traditionally underserved through participation in this new course of study, Cruz continued.
“I am excited to reach out to other departments at UTSA, to work together to best serve our students. There are many possibilities for collaborative work,” Cruz said. “Moving forward, I’m hoping to equip future performers, teachers and aspiring teachers with the requisite information that they need in order to build successful Mexican American music programs in their schools.”
Students who study Mexican American music at UTSA will broaden “their scope of knowledge and marketability in the fields of ethnic studies and music education. It will also benefit anyone pursuing a career in the Mexican American music industry,” Cruz said.
“As a Hispanic Serving Institution and through its forward thinking and investment in community and cultural education as outlined in its mission to enrich the educational experiences of students and to be a catalyst for socioeconomic development, UTSA has the potential to become an internationally recognized institution for the study of Mexican American culture, music and the arts in this ever-changing global economy,” Cruz said.
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