It wasn’t Fritz Dorville’s idea. Not only did the 10-year-old not know what Mariachi music was, but he said he really wasn’t interested in finding out.
But Fritz promised his mother he’d give it a try.
These days, Fritz, now age 12, plays violin for the award-winning Austin Academy Mariachi group.
“I just love the feeling you get when you have that violin in your hands,” he said. “I can feel the music running in my blood through my veins and arteries.”
It has been quite a remarkable change for a boy who just two years ago had no interest in music.
But then again, a lot has changed in two years for Fritz.
Last year, Fritz’s mother died from health complications.
Fritz, just a seventh-grader, now must take care of his younger sister before and after school while his father struggles to make ends meet.
Fritz’s father, a Haitian immigrant, lost his job as a plumber. Until he finds another job, he has been selling nearly everything the family owns at flea markets just to put food on the table.
Yet the one constant during these difficult times has been Fritz’s Mariachi music.
Ever since he made a promise to his mother to give the violin a try, he has not missed a single Mariachi practice at school.
“I feel obligated to do it,” Fritz said. “Mariachi shows her she’s still on my mind.”
This past fall, Fritz’s kept promise caught the attention of the president of Texas A&M University.
While attending a function in San Antonio, Fritz’s story was shared with the university’s president. Fritz said the president personally told him he has a full-ride scholarship to the university whenever Fritz graduates high school.
As a seventh-grader, Fritz still has more than five years left of school before he graduates, but he promises he will one day.
And when it comes to promises, Fritz keeps his word.
