The Acculturation Level of Mariachi Instructors Directors Presentation By

The Acculturation Level of Mariachi Instructors/Directors Presentation By Wendy Martinez Mentor: Dr. Eric J. López New Mexico State University

Knowing the acculturation of students in a school environment is important to assist them in achieving academic success. Knowing the acculturation level of an educator is just as important to obtain optimum student achievement. Only a few articles have been written in the area of education showing interest in the acculturation levels of educators.

The proposal is to obtain demographic information of the Mariachi Instructors/Directors (title/role, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, age, occupation, income level etc. ) who have attended and participated in a Mariachi conference in the southwest.

In addition, the participants respond to the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II; Cuellar, Arnold, & Maldonado, 1995).

Limited Research on Teachers Regarding Acculturation • Japan’s Teacher acculturation: Critical analysis through comparative ethnographic narrative. (Howe, 2005) • Mariachi Music in the Public Schools: A Coping Strategy for Acculturating Students. (López, 2004).

What is Acculturation? (López, Ehly, & Garcia Vázquez, 2002) “Acculturation is the process that results in the modification of the culture of a group or an individual as a result of contact with a different culture” ( p. 246).

What is Mariachi? “(1) a specific type of Mexican musical group or ensemble; (2) an individual musician in a mariachi group (mariachero); (3) an adjective denoting a genre or style related to the mariachi, e. g. , mariachi music, mariachi trumpet; (4) a quintessential Mexican folk-derived ensemble and an institution of symbolic Mexican music and culture” (Clark, 1996, ¶ 1). López (2004) also describes stereotypic perceptions of Mariachi being “drunken musicians in the corner of a saloon, with un-tuned instruments and intermittent yells during songs…” (¶ 4).

Mariachi articles most commonly available: Kevin Mixon’s (2005) article entitled: Building your instrumental music program found in the Music Educators Journal.

Literature Regarding Acculturation

Conceptual Model of Acculturation for this study (López, 2003; Vázquez, 1989) • Single Continuum (Mc. Fee, 1968)

Single Continuum (Mc. Fee, 1968; Padilla, 1980) Single Continuum Model Enculturated (Unacculturated) Bicultural Acculturated

Enculturated (López, 2003) • Maintaining Native cultural values and traditions. • May be maintaining and communicating only native language.

Bicultural (López, 2003) • Maintain the native cultural values and beliefs and adopt those of the Dominant culture. • May or may not be bilingual.

Acculturated to Dominant Culture • Adopt the Dominant Cultural Value and belief system. • May choose to only speak English.

Research Questions for this Study • What is the acculturation level of the Mariachi Instructors/Directors participating in the study? • What are the demographics of Mariachi Instructors/Directors participating in the study?

Research Hypothesis • Research suggests instructors in America are acculturated, however, the hypothesis for this study is the following: Mariachi Instructor’s/Director’s are Bicultural, specifically in the ARSMA-II- Level III identified as Slightly Anglo Oriented Bicultural.

Research Methods • Instructors/Directors who attended Mariachi Conference in the SW were the participants of this study (N= 13). • Demographic sheet • Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II; Cuellar, et. al. , 1995)

ARSMA-II • Authors: Israel Cuellar, Bill Arnold, & Roberto Maldonado (1995). • Two scales measuring acculturation. – *Scale 1: 30 items measuring Level of Acculturation – Scale 2: 18 items measuring Type of Acculturation

ARSMA-II (Cuellar, et. al. , 1995) • The foundation for the acculturation measure is a combination of Matthiason’s (1968) singlecontinuum Model and from Mc. Fee’s (1968) two-culture matrix model.

Acculturation Score Cuellar, et. al. , 1995, p. 284 -285 • From each participants responses a Anglo Oriented Score (AOS) and Mexican Oriented Score (MOS) will be tabulated. • AOS = Sum of Responses to Items: 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 19, 23, 25, 27, & 30 divided by 13 • MOS = Sum of Responses to Items: 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 29 divided by 17 • Acculturation Score= AOS (mean) - MOS (mean)

ARSMA-II (Cuellar, et. al. , 1995, p. 285) • Level I Very Mexican Oriented – Acculturation Score: < -1. 33 • Level II Mexican Oriented to Approximately Balanced Bicultural – Acculturation Score: > -1. 33 & < -. 07 • Level III Slightly Anglo-Oriented Bicultural – Acculturation Score: > -. 07 & < 1. 19 • Level IV Strongly Anglo Oriented – Acculturation Score: > 1. 19 & < 2. 45 • Level V Very Assimilated: Anglicized – Acculturation Score: > 2. 45

Psychometric Properties from Norming Sample of ARSMA-II (Cuellar, et. al. , 1995, p. 288) • Norming Sample N=379 • Reliability Information – Coefficient Alphas • AOS=. 83 • MOS=. 88 – Test-Retest (1 week) • AOS=. 94 • MOS-. 96

Psychometric Properties from Norming Sample of ARSMA-II (Cuellar, et. al. , 1995, p. 288) • Validity Information – Correlation between ARSMA (Cuellar, Harris & Jasso, 1980) & ARSMA-II. • r =. 89

Results-Demographics

Title and Role Title Frequency Percent • 1. Director • 2. Artistic/Musical Director • 3. Manager 4. Mariachi Conference Instructor • 5. Conference Coordinator 7 2 1 1 53. 85 15. 38 7. 69 6. Mariachi History Lecturer 1 7. 69

Race • Race Frequency • 1. Hispanic 3 • 2. Anglo 2 3. Human 2 4. White 3 5. Caucasian 3 Percent 23. 08 15. 38 23. 08

Type of Mariachi Group/Ensemble • Type Frequency 1. Elementary School 1 • 2. Middle/Junior High • School 1 3. High School 5 4. University/College 1 • 5. Mariachi Festivals 1 6. Professional and • all of the above 1 7. Mariachi Conferences 1 • 8. Workshop Director • and All of the Above 1 9. It varies 1 Percent 7. 69 38. 46 7. 69

Occupation • • • Occupation Frequency Percent 1. Teacher 1 7. 69 2. Faculty Associate/Musical Director 1 7. 69 3. Mariachi Director 1 7. 69 4. Student 1 7. 69 5. Professional Musician 1 7. 69 6. Educator 1 7. 69 7. Musician 2 15. 38 8. High School Music Teacher 1 7. 69 9. High School Computer Science Teacher 1 7. 69 10. Music Teacher 1 7. 69 12. Teacher/Musician 1 7. 69 13. Musician, Writer, Researcher, Lecturer, Consultant 1 7. 69

Place of Employment • Employment Frequency 1. Public School Setting (K-12) 7 2. College/University 1 3. Student 1 4. Walt Disney World Epcot 1 5. Self-Employed/Freelance 1 6. Theme Park and Conference Classes 1 7. Walt Disney World Entertainment 1 Percent 53. 85 7. 69

Certification and Licensure • Certification 1. Music Education 2. Secondary Education 3. Business and Industry 4. Sped, B. A. in Music, B. A. in Spanish 5. Music Education/BM/ MM/Supervision Certificate 6. Music Education/RN 7. None Frequency Percent 3 23. 08 4 30. 77 1 7. 69 2 15. 38

Income Level • Income Level 1. $20, 000 -$30, 000 2. $30, 000 -$40, 000 3. $40, 000 -$50, 000 4. $50, 000 -$60, 000 5. $60, 000 -$70, 000 6. $70, 000 -$80, 000 7. $80, 000 -$90, 000 8. More than $100, 000 Frequency Percent 1 7. 69 3 23. 08 2 15. 38 1 7. 69

Educational Level • Educational Level Frequency Percent 1. 3 -4 years of College 3 25. 00 2. College Graduate and Higher 9 75. 00

Generational Levels As Described by Cuellar, et. al. (1995, p. 296) • Generational Level 1. 1 st Generation=You were born in Mexico or other country 2. 2 nd Generation=You were born in USA; either parent born in Mexico or other country. 3. 3 rd Generation=You were born in USA and all grandparents born in Mexico or other country 4. 4 th Generation=You and your parents born in USA and at least one grandparent born in Mexico or other country with remainder born in the USA. 5. 5 th Generation=You and your parents born in the USA and all grandparents born in the USA. Frequency Percent 1 7. 69 4 30. 77 1 7. 69 4 30. 77 3 23. 08

Results-Psychometric Properties of ARSMA-II for Current Sample Cuellar, et. al. (1995) indicated that the Coefficient Alpha for the AOS=. 83 and MOS=. 88. For the current sample AOS=. 59 and MOS=. 94. The Coefficient Alpha for all 30 items together in this study was found to be 0. 89. The validity of the instrument was determined in the original norming of the acculturation measure.

Results-Level of Acculturation • The AOS and MOS were tabulated and the means for each score were subtracted resulting in a score of 0. 5199. This score corresponds to the cut off scores for the group falling into the Level III identified as Slightly Anglo Oriented Bicultural, which is consistent with the research hypothesis.

Discussion - Discussion of Findings and Answers to Research Questions - Limitations of the Study - Implications for Future Research - Implications for Future Practice

Questions? ?

References • Clark, J. (1996), A brief history on the mariachi tradition. Retrieved June 29, 2007 from http: //www. sobrino. net/mer/entry_on_the_word_mariachi. htm • Clark, S. (2005). Mariachi Music as a symbol of Mexican culture in the United States, International Journal of Music Education, 23, 227 -237. • Cuellar, I. , Harris, L. C. & Jasso, R. (1980). An acculturation scale for Mexican American normal and clinical populations. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 2, 199 -217. • Cuellar, I, Arnold, B & Maldonado, R. (1995). Acculturation rating scale for Mexican Americans-II: A revision of the original ARSMA scale. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 17, 275 -304. • Howe, E. R. (2005, May). Japan’s teacher acculturation: Critical analysis through comparative ethnographic narrative. Journal of Education for Teaching, 31(2), 121 -131. • López, E. J. , Ehly, S. , & Garcia-Vázquez, E. (2002). Acculturation, social support and academic achievement of Mexican-American students, Psychology in the Schools, 39(2), 245 -258.

References • López, E. J. (2003). Assessing the Multicultural Student. (Available from Eric J. López, P. O. Box 4165, Las Cruces, NM 88003). • López, E. J. (2004, November). Mariachi music in the public school: A coping strategy for acculturating students. Academic Exchange Extra. [On-Line Journal]. Available at: http: //asstudents. unco. edu/students/AE-Extra/2004/10/Art-2. html [November, 2004]. • Matthiason, C. W. (1968). The acculturation of Mexican-Americans in a Midwestern industry. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY. • Mixon, K. , (2005, January). Building your instrumental music program. Music Educators Journal, 9 (1. 3), 15 -23. • Padilla, A. M. (1980). The role of cultural awareness and ethnic loyalty. In A. M. Padilla (Ed. ) Acculturation: Theory, models and some new findings (pp. 47 -84). Boulder, CO: Westview Press. • Salas, L. , López, E. J. & Menchaca-López, E. (2005). Acculturation and its impact on reading instruction. New Mexico Journal of Reading, 25(2), 17 -21.

References • Vázquez, L. A. (1989). Acculturation, acculturative stress, and coping responses of Mexican American university students: Effects on academic success. Unpublished Dissertation. The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA. • Zehr, M. A. (May/June 2003). Mariachi’s Encore: Mexico’s Traditional Music of Celebration Takes on New Resonances as American Students Tune In. Retrieved on June 30, 2007 from http: //www. teachermagazine. org/tm/articles/2003/05/01/07 mariachi. h 14. html