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PSHS students form the valley’s first mariachi band of students

Published May 17, 2018 11:37 PM

Palm Springs High School has started its own mariachi band thanks to one student.

PSHS debuted their mariachi band last night as part of the Spanish Honor Society induction ceremony. The idea all stemmed by Isabel Muñoz who brought the idea to her music teacher, Jason Powell. Powell says he doesn’t know anything about mariachi music but Muñoz’s insistence convinced him and the school’s principal.

“I realized we had all the instruments to do it. I knew people who wanted to do it and so I was like ‘why don’t we make our own,'” Muñoz said.

The band is the first student mariachi band in the Coachella Valley.

While the schools did have the instruments, they didn’t have the outfits. Teachers, students, and parents were able to raise enough money to have outfits made in Guadalajara, Mexico, the land of mariachi music.

Powell said he hopes other valley schools will follow suit.

“This is the future. This is the start of something new and I’m hoping the other schools, Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Desert Hot Springs, I hope that they follow our lead and start their own mariachi band cause our community deserves it,” Powell said.