Mr. Vazquez has been a band teacher at IMS for 4 years now! He has always had a passion for music. He has also been at many famous places to play his music and met many famous people in the process, so we asked him about it.
Panther Press: First of all, how are you and how is your day going so far?
Mr. Vazquez: I am doing very well, my day is a little crazy today, so let’s not get into that too much, but we’re getting better.
Panther Press: That’s great to hear! What are some of the most famous places you have played your music at?
Mr. Vazquez: That’s interesting! I played on a broadway show tour when I graduated college, and one of the most historic places I’ve played at was the Fox Theatre in Detroit, Michigan, which is one of the last surviving Fox theatres in America, so that’s a pretty cool spot I played in. I also played in Madison Square Garden when I played the home opener for the New York Knicks in 2012, I played at Carnegie Hall with a choir, and the Haquani Theatre in Japan.
Panther Press: Wow! Did anyone help you play music at these places?
Mr. Vazquez: It was usually a production, so I played at the Armory in New York City which was for a fashion show which I played with Taylor Swift.
Panther Press: What are the most famous songs you can play?
Mr. Vazquez: That’s a good question! I played Age of Aquarius. It’s a pretty famous song, it’s old, you guys probably don’t know it, but Age of Aquarius was one that I was able to play. Let The Sunshine In, these were all in the shows I did, these were all really big 70s songs. I did record a song with the Wu Thang Clan although it was not as popular.
Panther Press: That’s impressive! You have played some real crowd pleasers! How did you get so great at playing music?
Mr. Vazquez: I worked really hard! I tried to compare myself to myself every day, try to climb and improve as much as I can. One of the reasons I was able to play at such big gigs was because of the relationships I had with the people I played music with. They always knew I was prepared, they knew I would take care of my stuff, and they knew I would play well. Working hard in combination with keeping relationships with people is the thing that really helped me out.
Pather Press: At what age did you start playing?
Mr. Vazquez: I started playing music when I was 16. I mean I played recorder in 3rd grade, and I played Choir when I was in elementary school, but nothing in middle school. My Sophomore year of high school is when I really started, yeah. That’s wild right.
Panther Press: It’s crazy how talented you are as a musician! Do any of your family members play music too?
Mr. Vazquez: That’s a good question! I didn’t find this out until I was older but my dad was actually in a salsa band in Puerto Rico. He was a singer, all of my uncles in Puerto Rico play guitar and they sing too, some of my cousins drum too, so I guess it just runs in the family.
Panther Press: Did they play at the same level as you?
Mr. Vazquez: Well I did get a masters degree I went to school for band none of my cousins or family went to band school they all learned them by themselves and science I went to that band school for classic & jazzy type of music and I really did learn a lot more than what my cousins & family know and that the genres they can play but I’m well more.
Panther Press: What motivated you to share your talents with young students?
Mr. Vazquez: I remember what it was like seeing the middle school band perform when I was in middle school, and me asking myself “I want to do that, why couldn’t I get picked for that” you know. There wasn’t any recruitment going on and the programs weren’t really great and that’s really what motivated me. I wanted to make this a place where people can come and make music if they wanted too, you know. So, could I be playing a Broadway show right now and not having to teach kids, yeah. But then, what would you have got out of it? I would rather much be able to teach ya’ll, the skills and the hard work that is going to take for you to do well, you know, and teach you something worthwhile and try to recruit as many people as I can cause’ it changed my life, you know.
Panther Press: That’s amazing to hear! Is there anything else you would like to add?
Mr. Vazquez: I’d say, so the main point of this interview is to ask me about the places I played and how I got to play and cool music. Nah really man, really at the end of the day it’s just no one is going to thank you for the hard work you put in ever. That’s really hard, you know what I mean? So, being able to get over the fact that you will be bad at when you first start and getting over the fact that you know, people might not thank you, people might not even notice. But one day, you see what I mean, one day, somebody will and that’s what I call luck. Luck is a combination when you’re prepared and an opportunity comes up. Now, what if an opportunity came up and you weren’t prepared, you are unlucky. But, if you’re prepared and an opportunity comes up, you are lucky and I was prepared enough to be very lucky so that’s really the main point, hard work, dedication.
