Riverbank Voices Ep. 5 featuring Richard Carranza

In this episode of Riverbank Voices, we sit down with Richard Carranza, former Chancellor of New York City Public Schools, longtime educator, and a mariachi since the age of five, as he joins Riverbank Unified as coach and mentor for our first-ever mariachi program.

This is a conversation about identity, belonging, and the power of music to change the trajectory of a young person's life. We're honored to launch this program in a big way, and even more honored to have Richard guiding the way.

🎺 Listen now.

Transcript

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Hello, welcome back to Ruibank Voices. Today we're going to be introducing a lifelong educator, teacher, principal, former chancellor at New York Public Schools. And now we have the honor of calling him our coach and mentor who will be helping us launch our first ever Mariachi program at Riverbank Unafit School Districts. So we have the honor to be presenting Richard Carranza. Hi there. Hi everybody. Hi. Hello. Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. We are as well. So tell us about yourself. In a few words, tell us about how the Mariachi program is going to benefit us. Yeah, so thank you. So I'm I'm a lifelong educator. I was a teacher, um, and I started the first ever school board adopted mariachi program way back in 1991 in Tucson, Arizona. Wow. Uh, and taught mariachi for a little over 10 years, then became a high school principal, and then became a region superintendent, and then a superintendent. And as you mentioned in your introduction, most recently I was the chancellor of the New York City Public Schools, 1.1 million students. Wow. Wow, that is a lot. A big school system. But you also said something very important because the most proud title I've ever had is I've been a mariachi since I was five years old. I've played mariachi music since I was five years old. I've never stopped playing, even when I was a teacher, when I was a principal, when I was a superintendent, I've always played mariachi because that's who I am. I've a mariachi that happened to be a teacher, that happened to be a principal, happened to be a superintendent and a chancellor. So I'm thrilled to be here. We are as well. And is there a specific moment that sparked you to want to pursue mariachi? Did it start from childhood? Was it a person? Was it a mentor? Yeah, great questions. So for me, where I grew up, um, there were lots of mariachis, but they were all older people. But one time I did see a youth mariachi, kids that were kind of my age, and it sparked my interest. But what really sparked my interest was my dad was a guitar player. He wasn't a mariachi, but he played guitar. And every weekend or whenever we would have like family barbecues, my uncles would come over, then the guitars would come out. And my brother and I, I have a twin brother, we always wanted to stay up playing and singing with the old older people. And my dad would say, Nope, only those that can play guitar get to stay up. Everybody else has to go to bed. So my brother and I had to go to bed. It was his way of getting us to go to bed. But anyway, that's what really sparked an interest in me in learning how to play mariachi music, guitar, because I wanted to stay up with my dad and my uncles playing music. That is so cute. I love that. I just love how you like always had that talent, like you said. And you had especially you had family members who also did it. So that's kind of like you were in a really good environment to learn music. Very much so. It was part of my life, it's part of what I heard, it's part of what you know, mariachi music is so important because it accompanies you on the most important moments of your life. So when a baby's born, you bring mariachi. When you baptize, you bring a mariachi. When you make your first holy communion, you bring a mariachi. When you get married, you bring a mariachi. Yeah. But it also accompanies you on those really important moments. Like, you know, so when I said bye to my mother and my father, and I buried them, we had a mariachi. Why? It's because it's the love language. That's been my love language. It's probably the best way I can describe what mariachi music is to me. That is beautiful. Yeah, so I have a question. Since you've been a part of mariachi so long, how have you seen mariachi change from when you first started to now? So mariachi music, especially youth mariachi. I'm talking about school-aged mariachi programs. When I started as a student, there were no youth in-school mariachi programs. Later, when I became a teacher, there was some that would start and stop and start and stop. Um, but for me, I've seen from 1991, 1990, when we first started having the conversations about having uh in-school mariachi program to where we are now, it's completely different. There are so many schools across the country that are starting mariachi programs in places you wouldn't expect. So if I told you there's a mariachi program starting in a school in North Carolina, you probably wouldn't think that's a thing. There are students in North Carolina learning mariachi music in the school day. There are students in Texas, there are students in New York, in New Jersey, in Chicago, in Illinois. So mariachi music, especially among the youth, is being seen as more than just music for Spanish-speaking people. It's really music that everybody listens to. So it's become very popular, and I'm really excited. Riverbank Unified is really, really launching into uh mariachi programs in a very big way. We're excited as well. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to ask you a question. How was Mariachi transform? How has Mariachi transformed the lives of your students? Like, can you tell us a little bit about that? I would like to know. So, since I've been teaching for so long, um, I have people that were my students that are now like my friends. They still want to call me Mr. Carranza, but I said, no, no, my name's Richard because we're adults now, you know. I'm uh years old and you're uh 47 years old. So, you know, it's no more Mr. Carranza anymore. But how is it it's transformed lives in a very positive way? I can tell you stories of students that were not into school, didn't like school, none of their friends were in school. They found mariachi and to perform in mariachi and to have the traje and go out and perform, they had to go to school. They had to do their work when they were in school, they had to not get in trouble when they were in school, and they did it. So now I can tell you 38 years after founding Mariachi Aslan at Pueblo High School as a teacher, we have graduates of the program that obviously graduated from high school, but graduated from college. So I have doctors, I have lawyers, I have business people, I have school superintendents, I have teachers. Um, any career that you can think of, I can point to former students of mine in the mariachi program that are now in that career. So it's not that students studied mariachi and they loved mariachi, but it wasn't because they wanted to be professional mariachi musicians for the rest of their lives, although they all still play mariachi music. Yeah. It's that mariachi was something they loved that allowed them to pursue other things they loved: business, teaching, law, whatever it is. So for me, I've seen the power of mariachi music transform the lives of students that have played the music. That's why I'm so passionate about it. Thank you so much. Yeah, you're working. I really loved the response. It actually is like really I love how you're like really passionate about what you do and it has transformed a bunch of students. And it's amazing. I've seen it change lives, and uh I'm so excited about that opportunity right here at Riverbank. And and what I would say to the students in Riverbank Unified look, if you even think that you might like mariachi music, or you don't even think you like mariachi music, you've heard it, give it a try. Give it a try. I'll tell you this. I never saw my mother cry until I sang Las Mañanitas to her on her birthday with the mariachi. The first time I saw my mother cry. Now, I don't think it was because it was so bad that so terrible she cried. It was just something that how you you can give your mother a Mother's Day card, and that's a beautiful gesture. You can give her flowers, that's a beautiful gesture. You can take her to dinner, that's a beautiful gesture. But the one thing that you can do when you study mariachi music is you can give her a piece of yourself. You're singing to her a song on her day, Mother's Day. How special is that? You can't buy that at Walgreens, you can't buy that at CVS. You that's only something you can do for somebody you love. That's the power of mariachi music, is that you get to learn these songs, you get to learn the musical genre, and then you get to do these things of pure love for the people that you love. That's the essence of what mariachi to me is, and why I'm so excited that that's happening here at Riverbank Unified. So, what is the biggest takeaway students will leave with after participating in the mariachi program? Ooh, after participating in the mariachi program. Okay, so Riverbank Unified Students. If you don't want to have fun, don't do mariachi. If you don't want to meet a lot of cool people, don't do mariachi. If you don't want to travel and get to see different schools in different cities and different places, don't do mariachi. If you don't want to learn an instrument and impress that special guy or that special girl, don't do mariachi. So what I'm trying to say to you is mariachi's fun. Mariachi, you're gonna meet lots of people, you're gonna travel, you're gonna get to meet and experience new locations, you're gonna get to represent your school and your school district, your superintendent is going to send you as his ambassadors to conferences. That's what mariachi is about. And you get to wear the Traje de Charro. And let's be really clear the Traje de Charro is like a tuxedo. It's not a costume. You wear costumes at Halloween. That's when you wear costumes. When you wear a Traje de Charro, you're wearing like a tuxedo. You're wearing the most elegant garment in the Mexican culture, and you get to wear that and represent your school and your family and play music. I can't think of a better thing to learn and do. So I'm gonna invite everyone, if you've even thought about mariachi music, if you've heard about mariachi music, if your grandmother loves mariachi and you don't really know, give it a try. It's not gonna cost you anything except your time and your passion. Come learn mariachi. I promise you're gonna love it, you're gonna have a good time. Have you had a good time playing mariachi? I've had an amazing time, honestly. Do you like mariachi music? I love mariachi. It connects culture, it shows a lot of emotion. Some of the most memorable parties I've been to had mariachi at them. Some of the most memorable events had mariachi or some form of art at them. So mariachi is crucial when it comes to connecting people. I love that. What do you think? You want mariachi? I love mariachi. Who doesn't? Yeah. So we're gonna tell everybody at Riverbank Unified join mariachi, try it. Try it, you'll like it. Right? Yes. Yes. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for letting us interview you today. It's been my pleasure and it's been my honor. Rivering voices out.