{"id":5152,"date":"2021-09-26T22:52:08","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T03:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/?p=5152"},"modified":"2021-09-27T15:37:56","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T20:37:56","slug":"the-harp-do-you-see-it-as-a-white-instrument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pages.stolaf.edu\/americanmusic\/2021\/09\/26\/the-harp-do-you-see-it-as-a-white-instrument\/","title":{"rendered":"The Harp: Do You See It As A White Instrument?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the average American were asked what they envision when they think of harp music, it is likely that their description would most closely match Western classical music. Their image of a harpist might match that of either a white woman, angel, or cherub.<\/p>\n

\"Angel

a white-faced angel playing the harp in white robes1<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Conversely, if the average American were asked what instruments they think of when they think of mariachi music, son jarocho music, or Mexican music more broadly, the harp would unlikely be one of the first instruments named.<\/p>\n

\"Behind

a Google Doodle of a mariachi band featuring a guitar, a violin, and a trumpet2<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Traditionally, however, the harp was integral to the music of Mexico. Two primary source documents from 1875 and 1881, one detailing a visit to Mexico and one detailing a visit to Albuquerque, New Mexico, list the harp as one of the primary instruments of Mexican and Mexican American musical performances.<\/p>\n

Detailing his experience in La Venta, which is present-day Tabasco, Mexico, a man by the name of D.S. Richardson writes in a publication of the Californian<\/i> (1880-1882),<\/p>\n

\u201c… by the time we had finished our supper the music of harp and bandalon could be heard, and the dance was once more in progress\u201d3<\/sup><\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is worth noting that the harp was the first instrument listed. J.T. Lippincott, in his Magazine of Popular Literature and Science (1871-1885), also highlights the use of the harp, although critically, during a Christmas Eve Celebration in New Mexico:<\/p>\n

\u201cA native harpist adds the music of his many strings; and not bad music either, though he does not know a quaver from a semibreve, and his harp is of his own manufacture. The sameness, however, caused by playing always and everything in the same key is perceptible.” 4<\/sup><\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To clarify, the harp used would have been an arpa jarocha, a standing harp without pedals, which would explain why the key remained the same.<\/p>\n

Clearly, harps were once known to be central instruments to Mexican music. Why is harp not so readily included in a modern American perception of Mexican music? The simplest answer would be commercialization.<\/p>\n

The commercialization of son jarocho and mariachi music led to the erasure of harp from the average American\u2019s perception of Mexican music.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

To support this case, I will use the popular song \u201cLa Bamba\u201d, recorded by Ritchie Valens in 1958, the first Spanish song to take a number one spot on American charts.<\/p>\n