Madera Unified to hold first mariachi educational clinic

Madera Unified School District’s Visual and Performing Arts Department will hold its first Mariachi Educational Clinic, where students from Madera South High School Mariachi, Martin Luther King Middle School Mariachi, and Kerman High School Mariachi will attend.

The educational clinic, organized by Academic Coach, Sandra Kelly, is designed to give feedback to students and teach them new techniques, and new music. The event will be held Saturday, Feb. 8, at Madera South High School from 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The event will be led by professional award-winning Mariachi performers Yvette Sital and Ramero Benevides, who are teachers from Clark County School District in Las Vegas.

The event will conclude with a free-to-the-public concert at 5 p.m. where all 75 student-musicians will perform.

“Students learn best when they learn from one another,” said Dr. Marcheta Williams, visual and performing arts director at MUSD. This event provides our program the exposure to other students who are committed to learning, and playing music, along with the added bonus of working with highly skilled performers and educators who will guide them,” said Dr. Marcheta Williams, Visual and Performing Arts Director, MUSD.