Dubbed "Mega Chops," for musically wiping
out the male competition with her trumpet, Megan has been playing her instrument for
12
years. She will enter her senior year in the music program at the University
of California at Irvine where she plays in the wind ensemble and jazz band. She started
playing mariachi music five years ago but her demonstrated ability has everyone
expecting her to be among the best female trumpet players in mariachi music.
Megan’s love for mariachi is rooted in
her mother’s Mexican cultural heritage. She says, "For me, it is the feeling I
get when I play and listen to mariachi music. That is what I love." Among her
greatest mariachi moments is her debut performance with Mariachi Fiesta at the MARIACHI
USAź Festival at the Hollywood Bowl in June 1999. Megan says that this performance was special to her, "... because exactly six years
before that performance my ‘abuelito’ had died. I felt that he was there and I
knew that he would be proud that I was performing the music of my heritage." Prior to
joining MM2K, Megan practiced with Mariachi California de Javier Vargas.
Birth date: 11/26/80
Birthplace: Watsonville, CA
Instrument: Trumpet
Role in MM2K: First Trumpet
Years playing mariachi music: 5
Other instruments played: Piano and Hand Bells
Other genres played: Jazz, Classical, Marching and Pep Band, Church Music
Educational Experience: Senior at University of California at Irvine
Educational Goal: B.A. in Music. She also loves the fields of Ethnomusicology,
Anthropology, and Spanish
Career Goal: Professional Musician
