Santa Rita Elementary Students Explore the World of Music

SAN ANGELO, TX – On Thursday afternoon, 4^th graders at Santa Rita Elementary welcomed a special guest, Director of the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra Maestro Hector Guzman. During their hour-long musical session, Guzman had the opportunity to speak with the students about his love for music and his experiences as a musician.

The Zacatecas native spoke about his upbringing and how at the age of five, he and his family moved to Mexico City where he learned to play the piano and embarked on his musical career. Music is something that runs deep in the Guzman family as both father and grandfather of Maestro Guzman are musicians as well. Furthermore, Guzman's siblings have followed in the same path in their love of music.

Maestro Guzman began music school at the age of 11 and performed in his first orchestra concert at the age of 17. After studying in Mexico, he moved to the United States where he earned his bachelor and master’s degree from American universities. Guzman explained the different places around the world he has had the opportunity to visit and perform. Some of the countries he has visited are Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, France, Germany, Spain, Japan, South Korea and Austria. Next year Maestro Guzman plans on visiting Denmark and Guatemala.  

After sharing some of his musical background, Maestro Guzman treated the students to a special presentation and played several well-known pieces for them. They were all very excited to be able to identify the music that he played and many of them were surprised they recognized the music. Music from Star Wars, Beauty and the Beast, Harry Potter and the Jarabe Tapatio, also known as the Mexican Hat dance, were all part of Guzman's repertoire yesterday afternoon.

This event was designed to introduce kids to classical music and allow them to see how music is part of their lives even if they don’t realize. 

Music in Literature has been a long-standing tradition at Santa Rita and is an exciting event for the students as they have the opportunity to interact with a musician with the talent and expertise like Guzman.

“I always like to bring in people that will enrich [the students’] lives and spark that little bit of enthusiasm in them,” Brenda Naul, Librarian at Santa Rita, said,“You never know when you have another budding artist or musician in your group.”

Guzman is a pianist and an organist and he enjoys playing the guitar and drums as well. After playing a large selection of songs and music Maestro Guzman answered several questions from the kids who were eager to learn more about his life and his love for music.

“I love talking to the kids,” Guzman said, “anything we can do to foster the knowledge of music and the appreciation of good music is worth it.”