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