Arts Student of the Week Yaretzi Martinez Prieto

When Yaretzi Martinez Prieto was younger, she enjoyed the way music sounded. Her father wanted her to play in the orchestra, but she decided to join the school band instead, playing alto sax when she entered Longs Peak Middle School.

But Prieto remained interested in orchestra, and later she began to learn guitar, which led her on the path to mariachi. "Since mariachi is part of my culture," Prieto said, "my parents were very supportive of my interest in it, and they helped me get into the music program."

Now a junior, Prieto joined the Niwot High School Marching Band as a freshman. "I appreciated being part of the marching band," she said. "It is such a welcoming community. And it is also where I formed friendships and where I made connections with people. Because I was new to Niwot, I didn't have any friends, and when I joined marching band, I felt like it was such a wonderful experience to be welcomed into."

Prieto later joined the symphonic band and tried several different instruments before taking up the vihuela and joining mariachi this year. It is her commitment to mariachi that led NHS Orchestra Director Keynes Chen to select Prieto as Arts Student of the Week.

"Yaretzi is a hardworking and talented junior in our mariachi program, Mariachi Esmeralda, and she has really stepped up and taken on a large amount of challenges and responsibilities in this ensemble," Chen said. "She picked up vihuela in the fall, and started singing soon afterward. Currently she is already one of our strongest vihuela players and definitely one of our star singers. Our successes in our CHSAA Mariachi Festival this year and as well as our recent Central Europe Tour simply cannot be achieved the same without her."

Prieto finds great satisfaction in creating music. "Music is something that can be made with any sound, as long as it makes a good combination," Prieto explained. "Being able to make music is really a gift. The best part of performing is when I'm having fun, and the audience is clapping for me and enjoying what it is I'm playing."

"Due to her unwavering determination and dedication," Chen said, "she is improving at a very fast speed, and she has made great contributions and improvements for our Mariachi Ensemble."

Prieto's favorite composer is Beethoven, but she is quick to confess that she does not like to mix the music she listens to with the music she performs. "Usually I listen to indie pop," she admitted.

As for mariachi, Prieto's favorite performer is Vicente Fernández, a legendary figure in Mexican musical history who is known as El Rey de la Música Ranchera. "Mostly because I really like his voice--how he projects it out to his audience in his music," she said.

During spring break, Mariachi Esmeralda played in Europe on a tour of Salzburg, Vienna and Prague. Salzburg, where the group performed at St. Andrä Cathedral, was her favorite of the three, she said, "because I prefer small cities to big ones."

Mariachi Esmeralda has also performed at Blue Agave in Longmont. "When I get nervous it's stressful, but later during the performance I'm more comfortable and I start performing at my best and having fun."

Prieto's experience at NHS has been more enjoyable than she anticipated while she was still in middle school, when she thought she would attend Longmont High School. She felt hesitant about coming to NHS because she was not sure she would fit in and make friends. That feeling did not last long.

Now, she is working with other members of the Mariachi Ensemble to form a club. "We're going to do fundraisers for the club and for mariachi," Prieto said. At school, language arts is one of her favorite subjects, and she also enjoys biology. In addition, Prieto likes to read thrillers.

When she considers her future, Prieto said she would like to study something in the medical field, perhaps to pursue a career as a physical therapist. She is also considering computer science. "But I will still continue playing music throughout college and I'll probably join a small mariachi band," she said.