Hello all,
Sorry for the delay in posting; once school picks up I rarely find time to do things without planning in advance. Today I would like to share info on where to get an arpa jalisciense. To be quite honest, I do not know too many place to get them. In my quest to get one, I really only found two people who are still making jaliscienses worth purchasing. For professional quality mariachi-specific instruments I can heartily recommend Rubén Morales, the man that made my harp. He does very fine work and is part of the Morales family, a line of luthiers who have served the mariachi community for a long time. My friend Dr. Lauryn Salazar (Associate Professor at Texas Tech University) plays a harp made by Rubén's son Rubencito. There are minor differences between the two, but both are excellent harps. To place an order you may send an email to Don Rubén, but eventually you will need to call him to hash out all the details. Living in the US, this can present some issues, especially if you do not have a phone plan which lets you make international calls (most cell phones, for example require you to pay a monthly fee to be able to make international calls). If you need to make a call, but do not want it to come out to be too expensive, you can purchase a phone card which allows you to call internationally for some predetermined amount of time. The entire time I spoke to Rubén we were speaking in Spanish, so I do not know if his English is any good. Considering he lives in Guadalajara, México, I can only assume that his English is very limited if he knows any at all. If you want to order an arpa jalisciense and don't know any Spanish, you may wish to ask a Spanish speaking friend to translate between the two of you, or you may wish to learn a little Spanish first (this will serve you well, if you plan to play mariachi music anyway). I've never spoken with Rubencito, but I can only assume that he also primarily speaks Spanish, since he also grew up in and lives in Guadalajara.
My harp is a lever harp made with Camac levers. Rubén insists that mariachis do not need sharping levers on E or A. I have found this to be true of older mariachi songs, but in many modern ones, or in arrangements tailored to a specific voice you may find these notes (Eb and Ab) necessary. For example, right now I am learning the Camperos de Nati Cano version of "La Malagueña," and the original key was too high for our singer, so we lowered it to Bb. The problem is that the key of Bb requires an Eb sharping lever, which I do not have. I have found a nice work around, but wish that I had insisted on a full set of levers (at least in the bass). Lauryn's harp has even fewer levers on it from what I remember, but she also said Rubencito can put a full set of levers on if requested. Judging by what I have seen on Lauryn's harp, Rubencito uses Truitt levers. People who have lever preferences, might keep this in mind when deciding who to purchase from, but those completely new to harps should just be happy to have levers. As discussed in the last post playing in a mariachi without levers is next to impossible if your group decides to play popurrís. If your group is more interested in ranchera music or traditional sones (more on these in a later post) you can get by without levers. Put this way: Party mariachis don't necessarily need levers, but will be retuning all night without them, and for performance mariachis levers are a must.
To pay for the harp I used Western Union. If I remember the quoted price was $32,000mxn plus shipping for a medium sized harp with levers on all strings except for E and A as well as a harp shipping case. While you are in negotiations about the price, ask about getting a couple of spare tuning keys. Rubén puts traditional-shaped tuning pegs on his harps and it is nearly impossible to find people who can recreate the keys in the states. Losing a key can be devastating as it leaves you without a reliable way to tune your harp. A Lyon and Healy tuning wrench will get the job done, but it will eventually strip your tuning pegs and render the harp untunable. Rubencito puts a hex-shaped pin on his harp and finding an extra key is as easy as going down to the hardware store. If you choose to get your harp shipped to you (via DHL) I highly recommend getting a hard case for it so that your maker can ship it fully assembled. Be aware that such a large package will get seized and held for a few days by customs. I'm not sure if the two are connected, but the day after I called DHL International and asked about it, the package was released from customs the next day. Altogether my harp cost about $3,000 usd out of pocket, payed for in two payments. Your harp will most likely not have colored strings when you get it. I highly recommend sending the folks down at Guadalupe Custom Strings a message and asking them to make a set of colored strings for you. This is not strictly necessary, but it will help you identify which strings are which very quickly.
http://instrumentosmorales.com/ is Rubén's website. For those who do not speak Spanish, the harp section reads:
"Harps are one of the oldest instruments used in mariachi groups. It is used primarily as a bass instrument (or solo) and cord accompaniment
Our harps are made in three sizes: Small, medium, and large, with metal tuning pegs and support legs.
They are made in the color of your choice from our catalog. If you require a different color let us know."
You can contact Rubén by email using the @Contacto link on the left, or you can call him at:
011 52 (33) 3644.2817
If you are emailing him, in the "lada" box write:
00 + (country code) + (Area Code)
<The US country code is 1.>
and then just write your 7-digit phone number in the teléfono box. Make sure that this is a number with which you can receive international phone calls. In your message remember to let him know that you live in the US (or where ever you live).
If you need help with this process, feel free to email me: jrodriguez@physics.ucla.edu with the subject line "Harp Help" or something like that.
See you next time. Happy Harping
-Julio
Saturday, February 8, 2014
What is an arpa jalisciense?
Hello Everyone,
Today I am going to answer the question: What is an arpa jalisciense? In short is is a lever harp just like any other. I guess we should rewind a little bit:
All harps generally come in 3 sizes and 3 styles and within each category there is tons of variation. The three sizes I like to put harps into are lap harps, floor harps, and large harps. Lap harps are smaller harps that are meant to be played by placing them on your lap. These harps tend to be pretty small and not have very many strings. I suppose if we include lyres, harps do get smaller, but in general lap harps are the smallest of folk harps. Floor harps are also meant to be played sitting down, but are long enough that they can be places directly on the floor, or on a small box if more height is necessary. On average these medium sized harps have 30-something strings. Larger harps are so big that when seated, the tallest part of the harp can easily rise a foot above the player's head! These harps vary in the number of strings they have, but full sized concert harps typically have 47 or so strings. The arpa jalsciense is a medium sized harp. It is not uncommon for people to be surprised when they are told that I have a harp in my case; most seem to think my case is rather small for a harp. The harp does have retractable feet which allow it to be played standing up, but the body size is definitely a floor size harp.
The three styles of harp available are: simple, lever, and pedal. Pedal harps are almost exclusively used by classical harpists, and I will not comment on them at length. A simple harp is a harp that lacks bridge pins and has no means of changing the key on the fly. With these types of harps you either cannot play sharp notes, or you must press the string you with to sharpen against the wood of the harp with your right hand and play the note with the left. Most harps have some sort of sharping mechanism [pedals or levers], but many songs (including most music played on an arpa jalisciense) is fine without them. Traditional arpas jaliscienses are of this type, however, in the last couple decades, more and more jalisciense makers have switched over making lever harps.
Lever harps have small levers that have a small metal bar attached to them. These levers are attached to the harp on some or all of the strings and when you flip these levers up (or down with some models) the bar on the lever presses on its associated string and raises the pitch of the note. For those without music theory knowledge, what this means is that instead of playing a C (for instance) you would be playing a C# (C-sharp), or instead of playing a Bb (B-flat) you would be playing a B. Levers are indispensable when playing with a mariachi group if you plan to be playing in more than one key and pretty much necessary for some of the popurrís (collections of songs reworked into medleys). For example, on my 36 string harp in order to play "Viva Veracruz 1" with Mariachi de Uclatlán, I start with 21 of my 26 levers engaged, 1/2 way through the song I need to flip up the remaining 5 levers, a minute and a half later I need to disengage all except 7 of my levers, and then for the finale I need to set the levers like the beginning: 21 out of 26 engaged. It would be impossible to play this song on a simple non-lever harp without taking some time for some serious retuning. The for a lot of classical solo repertoire they are an absolute must. Harps without levers, however, are still playable in mariachis, and for a lot of folk solo repertoire. For most son jarocho (more on this style later) groups, you will not need levers, but will need to be able to tune a few strings relatively quickly.
Some of the questions your harp maker will ask are "¿De que tamaño lo quieres?" or "What size harp would you like?" and "¿Con palancas o sin palancas?" which means "With or without levers?" You should have these question decided before giving a maker a call. If you plan to play with a mariachi, I really recommend a lever harp, however if you are a purist or traditionalist, you may wish to get one without levers. Consider your transportation when choosing a size. All jalisco harps will be floor length harps, but the box size and height will be different. I have a medium size one (Morales size #2) and I can barely squeeze it into my '07 Corolla if I move the passenger seat all the way up. A smaller harp will not have as loud a bass sound (this is important because playing the bass line is the harp's primary function) but a large harp may be too unwieldy without proper transportation.
So to answer the question posed in the title of this post: An arpa jalisciense is a floor size harp that may or may not come with levers. It is a part of the mariachi ensemble and it's main purpose is to play basslines in addition to adorning melodies. It is not necessary to use this type of harp to play mariachi music, however the booming bass, distinctive sound, and aesthetic designs make it better fit than other types of harps. Hope this information was helpful.
'Til Next Time; Happy Harping.
-Julio
Today I am going to answer the question: What is an arpa jalisciense? In short is is a lever harp just like any other. I guess we should rewind a little bit:
All harps generally come in 3 sizes and 3 styles and within each category there is tons of variation. The three sizes I like to put harps into are lap harps, floor harps, and large harps. Lap harps are smaller harps that are meant to be played by placing them on your lap. These harps tend to be pretty small and not have very many strings. I suppose if we include lyres, harps do get smaller, but in general lap harps are the smallest of folk harps. Floor harps are also meant to be played sitting down, but are long enough that they can be places directly on the floor, or on a small box if more height is necessary. On average these medium sized harps have 30-something strings. Larger harps are so big that when seated, the tallest part of the harp can easily rise a foot above the player's head! These harps vary in the number of strings they have, but full sized concert harps typically have 47 or so strings. The arpa jalsciense is a medium sized harp. It is not uncommon for people to be surprised when they are told that I have a harp in my case; most seem to think my case is rather small for a harp. The harp does have retractable feet which allow it to be played standing up, but the body size is definitely a floor size harp.
The three styles of harp available are: simple, lever, and pedal. Pedal harps are almost exclusively used by classical harpists, and I will not comment on them at length. A simple harp is a harp that lacks bridge pins and has no means of changing the key on the fly. With these types of harps you either cannot play sharp notes, or you must press the string you with to sharpen against the wood of the harp with your right hand and play the note with the left. Most harps have some sort of sharping mechanism [pedals or levers], but many songs (including most music played on an arpa jalisciense) is fine without them. Traditional arpas jaliscienses are of this type, however, in the last couple decades, more and more jalisciense makers have switched over making lever harps.
Lever harps have small levers that have a small metal bar attached to them. These levers are attached to the harp on some or all of the strings and when you flip these levers up (or down with some models) the bar on the lever presses on its associated string and raises the pitch of the note. For those without music theory knowledge, what this means is that instead of playing a C (for instance) you would be playing a C# (C-sharp), or instead of playing a Bb (B-flat) you would be playing a B. Levers are indispensable when playing with a mariachi group if you plan to be playing in more than one key and pretty much necessary for some of the popurrís (collections of songs reworked into medleys). For example, on my 36 string harp in order to play "Viva Veracruz 1" with Mariachi de Uclatlán, I start with 21 of my 26 levers engaged, 1/2 way through the song I need to flip up the remaining 5 levers, a minute and a half later I need to disengage all except 7 of my levers, and then for the finale I need to set the levers like the beginning: 21 out of 26 engaged. It would be impossible to play this song on a simple non-lever harp without taking some time for some serious retuning. The for a lot of classical solo repertoire they are an absolute must. Harps without levers, however, are still playable in mariachis, and for a lot of folk solo repertoire. For most son jarocho (more on this style later) groups, you will not need levers, but will need to be able to tune a few strings relatively quickly.
Some of the questions your harp maker will ask are "¿De que tamaño lo quieres?" or "What size harp would you like?" and "¿Con palancas o sin palancas?" which means "With or without levers?" You should have these question decided before giving a maker a call. If you plan to play with a mariachi, I really recommend a lever harp, however if you are a purist or traditionalist, you may wish to get one without levers. Consider your transportation when choosing a size. All jalisco harps will be floor length harps, but the box size and height will be different. I have a medium size one (Morales size #2) and I can barely squeeze it into my '07 Corolla if I move the passenger seat all the way up. A smaller harp will not have as loud a bass sound (this is important because playing the bass line is the harp's primary function) but a large harp may be too unwieldy without proper transportation.
So to answer the question posed in the title of this post: An arpa jalisciense is a floor size harp that may or may not come with levers. It is a part of the mariachi ensemble and it's main purpose is to play basslines in addition to adorning melodies. It is not necessary to use this type of harp to play mariachi music, however the booming bass, distinctive sound, and aesthetic designs make it better fit than other types of harps. Hope this information was helpful.
'Til Next Time; Happy Harping.
-Julio
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)