To celebrate one of his third-grade students at Mission View Elementary School, teacher Alfredo Valenzuela — now mariachi legend, Dr. V — brought his guitar for a birthday serenade.
The guitar sat on an empty desk. But the space around it was crowded with curious third graders who plucked the strings and touched the wood.
It was 1974 and the new teacher sensed the magic in that guitar held his students’ attention. He incorporated the instrument into his teaching at the south-side school. Within three years, that guitar music and the songs became the core of his instruction, despite no formal music training…