Mr. Santiago Hernandez is the band director here at Miami Senior High School. He was born in Venezuela but moved to Florida at 7 months old and was raised in West Kendall. He attended high school at Felix Varela Senior High School and then went to FIU to study psychology and music.  

Life before Miami High  

     Surrounded by music his whole life, Mr. Hernandez’s parents were a part of a chorus program in Venezuela. Growing up, music was always around him. There were always parrandas, giant music parties where friends got together to sing, going on around him.  

    Hernandez is the youngest of 3 boys. In the 5th grade, he first played a trombone because of one of his brothers. When Hernandez got to middle school, he joined his school’s band and started playing the trumpet, which he has been playing for the past 18 years.  

   His earliest memory with music is when he was 10 years old and went to go see “Fantasia 2000”. He fell in love with all the symphonic and orchestral music.  

The Music Man  

    Mr. Hernandez will play any instrument you put in his hand. He understands the fundamentals of most instruments, and if not, he usually picks up quickly on them. He is the most comfortable playing the trumpet. He can play any brass instrument and most percussion instruments but struggles the most with strings.  

    Many don’t know that Mr. Hernandez didn’t want to be a band teacher when he was a kid. He was really into roller coasters when he was younger and wanted to study architecture and keep playing music as a hobby. He then realized he wasn’t happy studying architecture, so he changed majors and began to study psychology. After a year of doing psychology as a career, Hernandez realized he that he didn’t want to stay in the psychology field either and “walked the plank” and decided to go back and study music like he should have from the beginning.  

The Million Dollar Band  

    After Mr. Hernandez decided to switch majors and study music education, he was in need of a job which was difficult to find because most schools only need one band director. But luckily Mr. Hernandez has some friends who told him about a position open at Miami Senior High.  He knew Miami High’s Color Guard director Ms. Armas because of her son, and he reached out to her about the job. She helped him out with his resume and setting up a meeting with principal Mr.Valdes  

    He is finishing up his second year here at Miami High, and one of his favorite things to see is the discovery of music through his students. How they can go from not knowing how to hold an instrument to truly appreciating the beauty of music and show other kids how fun making music can actually be.  

   All he expects from his students is that they try the best they can. He doesn’t care about their talent or their ability.  He just wants them to have fun and enjoy what they do. A great accomplishment the MBD, Million Dollar Band, had this school year was that they all improved their ratings in every single music performance assessment they have had since last year and all the programs have achieved their highest ratings in the last 5 years. The growth in the band membership has also been significant. About 50% of the band were first year members and many were beginners.   

   When asked what is one thing the MDB does that the school might not know about, Mr. Hernandez said, “We provide the school’s spirt. If it were not for the band, there would be no school sprit.”  

   He’s not wrong about this. Junior Isabella Martinez said, “You can feel the lack of school spirt when the band is not there. It’s not as exciting and less people come out to support when the band isn’t present.”  

    If you are interested in joining the MDB, this is what Mr. Hernandez has to say: “Do it!” If you have any interest, just join because this is the time to try new things out and see what you are good at. It’s much harder to want to learn and explore these types of activities when you are out of high school because it’s not as easily provided for you as it is now. So take advantage of your opportunity. Even if it’s for just one year, it will help open up a new understanding and appreciation for music that you didn’t have before.  

His motivation  

    Mr. Hernandez’s motivation throughout everything is his family. The love and unconditional support they have given him throughout his career is something he will forever be grateful for. He can not imagine living his life to his fullest potential without them.  

   Something else that has helped him stay motivated are all the programs he has been part of. Whether that was his high school band, his old jobs, helping arrange marching drills, he always has wanted to do what he loved to the best of his abilities. A quote that Mr. Hernandez is very fond of is: “If a task is once begun, never leave it till it’s done. Be thy labor great or small, do it well or not at all.”