The Yakima Valley Community College Latin Music celebration has evolved from a series of Internet clinics to a three-day festival that incorporates education and performances.

In its second year of hosting a formal celebration, YVCC has brought in three musicians from New York to help teach, perform and inspire an appreciation of Latin music.

"One thing this music brings across is 'hey, this is fun music,'" said David Blink, director of instrumental music at YVCC.

Thursday, the three visiting musicians -- Memo Acevedo, Allan Molnar and Jim Seeley -- joined the YVCC salsa band for a performance clinic at The Seasons before more than 400 students from Yakima middle and high schools. That was the first of several events during the festival and a preview to the final event, a concert by the salsa band featuring the guest musicians.

"My advice to you all is get with the music if you can, now," said Seeley during a break in between songs.

As the music played, some students tapped their feet or wiggled to the music while in their seats, as others sat still, taking it all in.

"It's very inspirational for us that have been in this business for so long, to inspire the young people," Acevedo said. "What a wonderful gift it is to have music in our lives. It's not a gift for us to keep, but the music unites us and it's such a joy to share something like that."

The festival also in-cludes a session for area music educators on how to teach Latin music.

Each of the visiting musicians brings a diverse background to the festival.

Acevedo, an accom-plished self-taught per-cussionist, started to have an influence in music as a teen in Bogota, Columbia. He developed an interest in Latin music while living in Canada where, among his efforts, he hosted a radio show, "The Latin Beat," in Toronto. Currently, Acevedo is the Latin jazz/Brazilian ensemble director and percussion/drums professor at New York University.

Molnar began his musi-
cal career interested in jazz, classical and country music. Now a resident of New York City, Molnar teaches at Lehman College. Before moving to New York he was an active vibra-phonist, percussionist and educator in Toronto. Molnar has introduced many elem-ents of professional music into the classroom and started using video confer-
encing technology to ex-pand the reach of music education, including to students at YVCC.

Both Acevedo and Molnar visited Yakima last year for the inaugural Latin Music Celebration.

Seeley, a first-timer to
the festival, is an international music educator. The accomplished trumpeter has held master classes
and clinics around the globe, including Thailand, Japan, Venezuela and Eur-
ope. Based in New York, Seeley continues to per-form, teach and freelance. For the past 10 years he has
had a weekly gig at the renowned jazz club Birdland with The Chico O'farrill Latin Jazz Orchestra.

All three visiting musicians have worked with other notable artists and have released or will soon be releasing CDs. But at the root of each artist is a passion for sharing their knowledge of music.

"It's not about us; it's about the kids," Molnar said. "There is such incred-ible quality here. I'm hum-bled and excited to play a small part."

* James Joyce III can be reached at 577-7675 or jjoyce@yakimaherald.com.