A jazz band that just wasn't clicking with students at Jones Middle School in Florence, Kentucky, has been replaced by something that is: a mariachi ensemble that has already more than doubled its original roster of 15 students. The band is now rehearsing guitar, violin and trumpet parts ahead of its first concert, scheduled for Nov. 17.
Band director Scott Reed said he had tried to build a jazz program the way he had at other schools, but it never found its footing. “I wanted a jazz band here. I've had jazz bands at other schools, so I introduced a jazz band, and it didn't really take,” Reed said, according to FOX19. He said the students simply weren't connecting with the music, which led him to look for something that better matched the school's population.
That search led to mariachi, a genre many of his students already knew well from home. Many of the kids hear mariachi at family functions, weddings and funerals, the station reports. Jones Middle School's enrollment in the 2024-25 school year was 746 students, with 32.7% identifying as Hispanic or Latino, according to LINK nky.
From a Stalled Jazz Band to a Growing Ensemble
The shift gave Jones its first mariachi band, which the station describes as the only one of its kind in Northern Kentucky. The program, now in its second year, features two separate classes for seventh and eighth graders, according to WLWT. Students learn not just how to play their instruments but also the history behind them, the outlet's report notes.
The instruments themselves represented a real investment: the school's mariachi equipment ended up costing around $20,000 in total, per the same report. Reed has also noticed a positive effect on attendance, with kids showing up to school eager to play the instruments kept in the band room.
Seventh grader Valentina, a student in the band, pointed to why the music resonates the way the jazz band never did. She said many people don't hear mariachi music because it comes from different cultures. Eighth grader Heavenly, who had never played guitar before joining, said encouragement from Reed kept her going, and that she has since fallen in love with mariachi music. She hopes people will hear music they do not hear every day. Fellow student Grace said she hopes people will listen to music outside their comfort zone, and the band's students generally hope the group encourages others to try something new.
Part of a Small but Growing Kentucky Movement
Reed, for his part, said teaching mariachi has let him learn about his students' culture, and that he's excited to be part of the band. Jones now joins a short list of Kentucky schools exploring mariachi education. In Lexington, Bryan Station High School was described as the first public school in Kentucky to offer a mariachi band program, co-teaching two sections of World Music/Mariachi in both Spanish and English, according to The Lexington Herald-Leader. Fayette school district officials called that group, Mariachi Escudo de Bryan Station, Kentucky's only known high school mariachi band, and about half its students had never touched an instrument or read music before joining.
A PBS Kentucky Edition episode on Mariachi Escudo similarly noted it was the only public school in the state with a mariachi band program at the time. Boone County's own Los Voladores Del Mariachi, the ensemble growing at Jones Middle School, has been described as the only public middle school mariachi ensemble in the state. Together, the two programs suggest a modest but notable expansion of mariachi music into Kentucky's public schools, even as each remains something of a singular case in its own category.
For now, the focus at Jones is simpler: getting ready for a first concert that will put months of guitar, violin and trumpet practice in front of an audience. For a program that started with just 15 students and a band director willing to admit his original plan wasn't working, the growth speaks for itself.
