My focus at UTEP since joining the faculty has been mainly on teaching, collaborating with UTEP faculty in performance projects, designing curriculum and building programs. While at UTEP i have designed curriculum for two courses: Social History of Rock and mariachi ensemble. In addition, I have devoted considerable time to founding, launching and developing the UTEP mariachi program, Mariachi Minero. Finally, I have spent the past 7 years building the guitar area. The main emphasis has been on raising the standards of the program and integrating the program into the mainstream classical music community within the department and local community.
My studies included private study with Pepe Romero (UCSD) and with a dozen other guitar virtuosi during my undergraduate and graduate degrees. My teachers instilled in me a solid foundation of technique and musicianship, which I have shared with my students over the decades at UCSD, New Mexico State University, the El Paso and Houston area community colleges, and at the El Paso and Houston Independent School Districts.
As a performer I have spent a significant amount of time playing chamber music and contemporary music for guitar. I was a member of SONOR, the contemporary music ensemble in La Jolla, CA. Today, while active as a solo performer, I have focused my performing activities around collaborations with faculty. I have presented a wide variety of chamber music projects from duos to ensembles with as many as 11 members. I believe that through chamber music, the guitar can be integrated into the mainstream classical music community. Also, in the past I have collaborated with composers in an effort to advance the repertoire. Most recently, I collaborated with UTEP faculty composer, Dr. Dominic Dousa, on 3 projects for guitar.
My teaching experience includes classical guitar, ensemble coaching, and courses involving music and culture. As a teacher of guitar I cover a wide range of levels from beginner classes to high school students wanting to major in music, to undergraduate and graduate students majoring in music. My ensemble coaching experience includes guitar ensemble and university mariachi groups. I teach upper level, multidisciplinary courses dealing with music and culture such as Social History of Rock and Histories and Cultures of the Guitar. In past years I taught courses in the history of American Popular Music. I find the subject of music and society to be fascinating, as it informs us about ourselves and those around us. A comprehensive understanding of music cannot be obtained with an understanding of the role of music in society and the relationship between music and self-image.
When I joined the faculty I was charged with founding a mariachi program. I submitted proposals for funding, recruited a musical director and students, and launched the program in 2008. The program has proved to be very successful and is in great demand within the university and community. Mariachi Los Mineros is comprised of UTEP students from a variety of disciplines including music, engineering, psychology, education, biology, and business. The UTEP mariachi program, Mariachi Minero, which has the enthusiastic support of the administration, is dedicated to giving students the opportunity to celebrate and express their culture, bringing mariachi music to as many people as possible, and preserving and advancing the art form of mariachi music. We have been very successful in achieving our goals.
My administrative duties include Head of the Guitar Division, Director of the Mariachi Program, and undergraduate advisor. I manage 2 budgets, administer resources, advise students on curriculum and carrier choices, and oversee two instructors.