A young musician from East Alisal is developing a new generation of mariachi players.

Three times a week, a 19-year-old who is herself a student teaches violin to elementary students in the Mariachi Academy at Alisal Union School District. Her name is Ashley Gonzalez and while music has been a part of her life since childhood, her path to the classroom – she’s now a sociology student at UC Berkeley, in addition to her role as teacher – required a lot of personal effort.

Like many kids from East Alisal, Gonzalez is from a migrant family. Her parents had to move from location to location as harvest demanded.

“My mom tried to keep me in the same school,” Gonzalez explains. “She didn’t want me to kind of struggle too much with the moving process.”

Gonzalez has always been dedicated to her studies, and once she hit middle school she was often on her own when it came to homework. “That’s when they couldn’t help me as much,” she says. “I would have to contact teachers for tutoring, or I ended up just looking at videos online.”

All the while, there was music. Gonzalez became part of the nonprofit YOSAL – Youth Orchestra Salinas – when she was in fifth grade. She started out playing the viola but later on transitioned to violin.

Getting into college was as important a goal as expanding her musical talent, although Berkeley wasn’t something she expected: “I applied just to prove to myself that I could get it.” And she did. “I was very, very happy and very proud of myself,” Gonzalez says.

She continues with her musical development at Mariachi Luz de Oro, a student-run mariachi group at UC Berkeley, in addition to teaching violin in Salinas. Gonzalez spoke with the Weekly about music and education.

Weekly: Why do you like playing the violin?

Gonzalez: I like the range of sounds and I can play a song and people most likely recognize it, because they’ve heard it before. Whenever I learn a song and play it, my mom recognizes it right away.

I just get so focused when I’m playing – it feels very relaxing.

Did you always think about pursuing higher education?

I always knew I was going to go to college, which I know might sound a little bad – not bad, but cocky. I always knew I was going to end up going. Even if I went to community college, I knew I was going to go.

I went to Berkeley for a concert with the orchestra (YOSAL) and I saw the school, when I was starting to learn a little bit about college. That’s when I started thinking, “What if I end up coming here one day?”

Did you ever think about getting a degree in music?

I did, but as a degree I didn’t like it very much. I want to double major in sociology and legal studies with a minor in music. I’m still figuring now if there’s a way I can do it – I don’t mind staying another semester if I have to.

What do you like about teaching others to play an instrument?

I see how I used to be. I used to play something and like [how it sounded], and so I kept going. I like how their passion for music is starting to spark and they just want to learn more and it sounds beautiful.

What type of music do you like to play?

When I was younger, in elementary school, I definitely liked classical music. Now I really love playing mariachi music on violin.

Which is the hardest song you have had to learn?

“Jesusita en Chihuahua” (a Mexican Polka). It’s very fast and at the same time, you have to switch from using your fingers to plucking and then using the bow. You have to slide a lot, and you have to use the same finger.

You mentioned people who start playing instruments normally don’t start out playing violin. Why is that?

You have to read the music and you need to have good posture as well. Holding the violin itself is OK, but once you start moving the fingers you start wobbling a little bit, because you can’t quite get that bounce right away when you first start playing. You have to learn how to hold the bow in a different way than you would use to hold something.

If you could be any artist dead or alive, who would you be?

Selena Quintanilla, because she also sang mariachi and really wanted to keep doing music.