{"id":559,"date":"2016-06-23T08:00:51","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T08:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=559"},"modified":"2016-07-01T14:59:18","modified_gmt":"2016-07-01T14:59:18","slug":"tstc-student-sings-his-way-to-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/?p=559","title":{"rendered":"TSTC Student Sings His Way to Victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

(HARLINGEN) \u2013 Christopher Sanchez recently took listeners to another planet with his voice and stage magnetism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanchez, 21, a third-semester Auto Collision Technology major at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen, played a keyboard and sang \u201cDrops of Jupiter\u201d by Train and won the Texas Music Caf\u00e9 and Texas State Technical College\u2019s Talent Search on Friday, June 17, at TSTC in Waco. <\/span><\/p>\n

As the winner, the Combes resident received a $5,000 recording contract and the opportunity to perform on a future Texas Music Caf\u00e9 show. Some of the tracks Sanchez will record with the contract will be featured on Texas Music Cafe\u2019s radio show and web site. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t stress myself about it,\u201d Sanchez said shortly after being announced the winner. \u201cThe contest reminded me of when I would play with some of my bands in high school.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Twenty-six students competed in area Talent Search contests throughout the spring in Abilene, Harlingen, Marshall and Waco. A relative encouraged Sanchez to sign up for the Harlingen competition, where he sang and played Kings of Leon\u2019s \u201cUse Somebody.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat was surprising is the level of talent we found,\u201d said Chris Ermoian, Texas Music Caf\u00e9\u2019s executive producer and a former instructor of television production at TSTC in Waco. \u201cTSTC is not a music school, but the intent of the contest was about having fun.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanchez was chosen for the Texas Music Educators Association\u2019s All-State Choir for three years while he attended Harlingen High School, where he graduated in 2013.<\/span><\/p>\n

He began piano lessons when he was 6 and played periodically throughout school.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something to do for fun and to feel how to perform for people,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanchez had another accomplishment recently — he earned a black belt in Goju-Ryu karate. He has been taking karate lessons since he was 8.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe music and martial arts is my yin and yang,\u201d he said. \u201cMusic is my spiritual outlet. I like to train and stay in shape.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Sanchez is the second generation in his family to attend TSTC. His father, Marco Sanchez, studied Auto Body Technology and graduated in the late 1970s. When Sanchez was growing up, his father worked in auto body shops, management and appraising.<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduation in December, Sanchez wants to pursue music opportunities as they arise and work for his family\u2019s company, Property Damage Appraisers Inc., in Combes. He ultimately wants to take over the business so his father can retire.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn being around that all my life, it\u2019s always going to be part of me,\u201d the TSTC student said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Texas Music Caf\u00e9 is available on selected PBS stations but is not currently aired on KMBH HD in the Rio Grande Valley.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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(HARLINGEN) \u2013 Christopher Sanchez recently took listeners to another planet with his voice and stage magnetism. Sanchez, 21, a third-semester Auto Collision Technology major at Texas State Technical College in Harlingen, played a keyboard and sang \u201cDrops of Jupiter\u201d by Train and won the Texas Music Caf\u00e9 and Texas State Technical College\u2019s Talent Search on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-harlingen"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=559"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":561,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559\/revisions\/561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.tstc.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}