In the San Joaquin Valley, music often begins at home. From kitchen rehearsals to backyard performances, families across the region have passed down musical knowledge not only as a form of art, but as a method of teaching, remembering, and belonging. Harmonizing Family Legacies gathers the stories of intergenerational ensembles, music educators, and culture-bearing families who have sustained musical practices as part of everyday life—offering young people pathways to identity, tradition, and community connection. These family legacies are not static traditions—they are living, adaptive practices shaped by migration, labor, language, and regional identity. Whether performing at church festivals, national concert halls, or school assemblies, these families demonstrate how music sustains memory, teaches values, and offers a sense of rootedness in a rapidly changing world. Harmonizing Family Legacies highlights not only what is preserved through music, but how it is shared—through listening, learning, and living together. In these stories, music becomes a thread that ties generations to one another, and the everyday becomes a space of extraordinary cultural continuity.

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Photo: Familia Morales performs at the opening of Nagi Daifullah Unity Park in Poplar, CA on Larry Itliong Day in 2024 (Credit: Courtesy of the artists).