Abel Zatarain

"He's a really nice boy," emphasizes the band teacher in room 405 at San Diego High School when I tell her I'm looking for Abel Zatarain.Community Music Center (CMC), an after-school education program sponsored by La Jolla Music Society, had suggested talking to Abel as he personifies the positive long-term results of their program.
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Zatarain is the only child of older Hispanic parents who moved to San Diego from central Mexico.His 71-year-old father is currently in the hospital suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), a debilitating and progressive muscle weakening disease that results in paralysis.He shows clear signs of concern and talks in a very mature and sensitive manner about his close-knit Christian family.As a child growing up in Chula Vista, Zatarain's mother would sing Mexican Christian songs around the house and play a few tunes on the family's electric keyboard.

"Music and playing an instrument are very therapeutic," Zatarain says in a quiet tone of self-confidence."Music has helped me with expression.It gives me a way to express myself and how I feel."As a young boy, he attended the Cesar Chavez Elementary School in the Southcrest neighborhood of San Diego and the main CMC campus.His parents encouraged him to join CMC's program, where he could receive instruction in a variety of areas including piano, guitar, strings, brass, woodwinds, and percussion.Zatarain made the flute his instrument of choice, attending the class three times a week for two years."At the end of those two years, they gave me my flute," he confides with great pride.
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Since the age of ten, Zatarain has held the unofficial title of "church pianist" for The Sixth Church of Apostolic Assembly, three years ago, the church made him their official pianist.In tenth grade, his flute flew back into his hand when he joined the San Diego High School marching band.Many CMC students progress to high school bands and orchestras, and graduates regularly perform with the All-City Honors Orchestra.

Abel likes to compose his own music and practice with a group of friends in the band room during lunch."Today I mostly play piano," says the young man whose favorite music is Latin and jazz.He continues, "I love to listen to pianists like Michel Camilo and Chick Corea and one day I hope to create my own band."The early support of CMC has inspired in Abel both possibility and potential, which may lead to building a career in a variety of areas and help him become more than he ever thought possible.