Joacim Naranjo plays the trumpet pretty well. But the 16-year-old from East Los Angeles found himself flapping his sore lips like a horse as he and a half dozen other boys tried to master the rapidly cascading sounds of a mariachi song.
That's why he and about 80 boys and girls went to church this week. They were there for mariachi camp.
"It's about getting the notes down," Joacim said during a break. "Once you get the notes down, you just practice until you can play faster. This camp helps us a lot. Our [school] teacher doesn't know that much about mariachi music. He's more into classical music."
For three days this week, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels played host to the Mariachi USA Foundation's music camp. Most of the children already play in school bands, but many were relative novices when it came to playing music more familiar to their parents.
And the church setting wasn't as random as it may seem. More than 70% of the Los Angeles archdiocese's 5 million Catholics are Latino -- most of Mexican descent. And mariachi music has been embedded in many Catholic rituals, such as Masses for the Virgin of Guadalupe, weddings and funerals.
"This was the very first music that welcomed people here when we opened," said Deacon Manny Martinez of Our Lady of the Angels. "It wasn't sacred music. It was mariachi music."
The $350 cost per student to attend the camp was covered by donations. On Sept. 26, the students will perform at the cathedral. Daniel Guzman, 13, and his friend Christopher Hernandez, 11, said they had performed mariachi songs at a church in Boyle Heights.
"That was good," Daniel recalled as he munched on a sandwich during a break. "We played 'Cielito Lindo,' 'Guadalajara' and 'Mariachi Loco.' "
Christopher said he thought playing music could be spiritual.
"You talk to people with music," said Christopher, who wore a gold crucifix under his white polo shirt. "If they're depressed, you play something fast."
At school, the boys said, they sometimes get teased for being in the band. But at the camp, they were in their element.
In one conference room, Rhonda Garcia, 33, a mariachi instructor from San Antonio, Texas, peppered young intermediate violinists -- most of them relatively Americanized -- with questions about the different mariachi styles and the names of singers.
