Friday, December 27, 2013

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Julio Rodriguez. I am a graduate student who lives in Los Angeles, California and have been learning to play the harp for about a year and a half. The type of harp I am learning play is an arpa jalisciense, a mexican folk harp from the central state of Jalisco (ha-LEE-sko) which featured prominently in mariachi music before the advent of trumpets and the guitarrĂ³n (the large bass guitar). This harp is relatively unknown in the harp world an many are surprised to find out that it is actually a mariachi instrument. Very little information is available on the web, and it seems to me that you need to know people in order to get info on these types of harps. Lucky for me, I know a handful of other jalisciense players personally so I can ask around quite easily.

The point of this blog is to chronicle my experience with the arpa jalisciense and give advice to others who plan to play one of these harps outside of Mexico. Over the next couple of days I will be writing a small series of short posts on the basics of this harp: Where to buy one, cost, where to get lessons, online and in person resources, etc.  After that series, I plan to talk about my experiences with that harp: some of the awesome stuff like the different genres of music typically played on this type of harp and some of the experiences I have had while learning to play, as well as the not so awesome stuff like upkeep and what to do when something needs fixing. After that I will update this blog whenever I have spare time and write about my experiences both in the exciting worlds of mariachi and fandango (more on this later) harp playing. Keep in mind this is a blog chronicling my learning experiences and while I will try to share as accurate information as possible, it is entirely possible for me to make mistakes. That said if this blog gives relevant information to at least one person, I will have done my job. Thanks for reading the intro and happy harping.

-Julio

1 comment:

  1. Julio are you still playing? Where can I purchase one?Please help.
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