My LOVE for music started at the age of nine. Here is my story of how I became an accordion player for a local band known as “Conjunto Amenaza”.
We had just migrated to the U.S., and I could not speak the language or understand the culture. My mother wanted us to have something to do after school because gangs and violence were heavy in our neighborhood. She registered my brothers and me for an after-school program at the Friendly House which provided a music program. The program was called “Espiritu del Nino” which utilized the art of Mexican Folklore to instill cultural awareness in children. This group is considered a “Rondalla”, which is an ensemble of stringed instruments played with the flat pick or thumb pick. (The word rondalla is from the Spanish word ronda, meaning "serenade”).
We would do fundraisers every three months and perform for our families and friends. We also got contacted by different companies with requests for us to perform at company …show more content…
I talked to my brothers and friends about the idea. We all knew how to play the guitar, but the popular music included instruments like accordion, sax, bass, bajosexto, and drums. We quickly ran into a problem, one of my brothers and I wanted to play the same instrument. This is because it was easy to transition from the guitar to a bajosexto. I decided to allow him to play that instrument, and that’s when I decided to pick up the accordion. I had no idea how to play the accordian, but I knew it was one of the main instruments in my music genre. I remember seeing popular groups play it, and I would imitate the accordion player by using my ‘air or imaginary’ accordion. I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could as fast as possible. I came to realize that the accordion, like the guitar, is a universal instrument with no end to
We had just migrated to the U.S., and I could not speak the language or understand the culture. My mother wanted us to have something to do after school because gangs and violence were heavy in our neighborhood. She registered my brothers and me for an after-school program at the Friendly House which provided a music program. The program was called “Espiritu del Nino” which utilized the art of Mexican Folklore to instill cultural awareness in children. This group is considered a “Rondalla”, which is an ensemble of stringed instruments played with the flat pick or thumb pick. (The word rondalla is from the Spanish word ronda, meaning "serenade”).
We would do fundraisers every three months and perform for our families and friends. We also got contacted by different companies with requests for us to perform at company …show more content…
I talked to my brothers and friends about the idea. We all knew how to play the guitar, but the popular music included instruments like accordion, sax, bass, bajosexto, and drums. We quickly ran into a problem, one of my brothers and I wanted to play the same instrument. This is because it was easy to transition from the guitar to a bajosexto. I decided to allow him to play that instrument, and that’s when I decided to pick up the accordion. I had no idea how to play the accordian, but I knew it was one of the main instruments in my music genre. I remember seeing popular groups play it, and I would imitate the accordion player by using my ‘air or imaginary’ accordion. I took it upon myself to learn as much as I could as fast as possible. I came to realize that the accordion, like the guitar, is a universal instrument with no end to