A new San Diego State Mariachi Ensemble class starting this fall will allow students to enjoy the cylindrical beauty of the trum- pets and folk music reminiscent of Western Mexico.

Lou Murillo, SDSU Director of Compact for Success and Collaborative Programs, proposed a mariachi ensemble to the Collaborative Programs Board members and was given enough funds to run the program for the year.

In an attempt to preserve world music at SDSU, a team made up of the SDSU School of Music and Dance Director Donna Conaty, Associate Professor of Music and Ethnomusicology Kevin Miguel Delgado and Director of Mariachi Chula Vista Mark Fogelquist, held auditions at the beginning of August and began planning the new addition to SDSU’s music department.

Currently there are 11 students enrolled in the course, which will take place in Music 020. The class, which lasts one hour and 50 minutes, is offered to both undergraduate and graduate students to take as a one-unit course.

“World music is important to the program,” Delgado said. “And since we were designated with budget cuts the amount of world music classes have diminished.”

Delgado said, SDSU is an ideal campus to hold this class because of its institutionalized group, which enables students to learn and practice with a strong Latin culture.

If the program does flourish, the professors are counting on a per- formance in Spring 2013.