The strumming of guitars wafted through the upper floor of Salem Center Tuesday morning, mixing with the smell of cooking pretzels. On stage at the food court, more than a dozen Houck Middle School students played as they sang “Cariño.” The music drew Cesar and Ana Ayala over. The couple are musicians and their children, now in high school or graduated, attended Houck. “To see this, it’s amazing,” Cesar Ayala said. He and his family play in a band that performs traditional Mexican music, including mariachi, and he advocated for years to get a group started at school. Houck’s mariachi ensemble began with 13 students last year and has since grown to 40, said teacher Matthew Bailey. Choir director Matthew Bailey introduces the Houck Middle School choir for their performance at the Salem Center food court on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) It was one of four groups from Houck that performed Tuesday at the mall, playing mostly winter and Christmas-themed music for dozens of relatives and passersby. Houck’s choir, also under Bailey’s direction, as well as the string orchestra and band, took the stage. Bailey said he loves the opportunity for students to play for a larger audience. “They can see that music does exist outside the school,” he said. It’s the third year student musicians have performed at the mall. Houck’s showing required four school buses and a line of teenagers ferrying dozens of music stands and instrument cases through the mall, including a tuba that was wider than the mall escalator. Houck Middle School students load music stands and a tuba on an escalator at Salem Center on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Rachel Alexander) The tradition started in 2022 when the Oregon Capitol rotunda, where student choirs usually sing, was closed due to construction. Kat Kem, who helps coordinate the district’s music program, began looking for a new venue and settled on Salem Center. That year, a dozen elementary school choirs performed. It’s grown since, with 29 ensembles from elementary, middle and high schools taking the stage today. While intended to be temporary, Kem said the partnership will likely continue even once the Capitol reopens because it’s been such a good experience for everyone. A mall security guard has taken to listening to every show and thanking the students after each performance, tearing up after several elementary school’s choirs. Several choirs have caroled while walking around the mall. “People will come to the doors and watch,” Kem said. One appreciative shopper tried to give the students money. Families watch Houck Middle School’s choir perform at the Salem Center food court on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Clarinetist Elizabeth Carranza, an eighth grader, waited at a table as the orchestra performed. She said she liked coming to the mall during the holidays and was excited and only a little nervous to perform. The band had only started practicing some of their pieces that morning, she said. “It’s kind of easier to mess up now because they’ve never had us play before,” she said. Carranza said her favorite on the list was  “O Come All Ye Faithful.” “We just learned it and I think it’s pretty good,” she said. Marisela Razo sat at a table with her husband, sister, brother-in-law and niece as she watched her daughter Zariah, a sixth grader, sing with the rest of Houck’s choir.  It’s Zariah’s third year singing at school, and Razo said choir class is often the highlight of her day. She beamed with her sister as the students sang “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” “We normally make every concert,” she said.Performances at Salem Center on Wednesday and Thursday start at 11 a.m. and include choirs from Candalaria, Leslie, Straub, Harritt, Brush College, Pringle, North and West. A schedule is available here. Houck Middle School mariachi performs at the Salem Center food court on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) The Houck Middle School orchestra performs at the Salem Center food court on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Houck Middle School mariachi students tune guitars before a performance at the Salem Center food court on Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (Rachel Alexander/Salem Reporter) Band director Ben Stokes unloads music stands from a school bus as Houck Middle School musicians prepare to perform at Salem Center on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2024. (Rachel Alexander) Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241. A MOMENT MORE, PLEASE– If you found this story useful, consider subscribing to Salem Reporter if you don’t already. Work such as this, done by local professionals, depends on community support from subscribers. Please take a moment and sign up now – easy and secure: SUBSCRIBE. The post Student musicians bring cheer, carols to Salem Center appeared first on Salem Reporter.