Joropo Rhythm from Venezuela
Megan Tully from California composed this piece four years ago, when she was 16. The title reflects Megan's love of hats! The piece also reflects her enjoyment of Latin American harp music.
Megan is a student at a university in Washington. She is currently spending her junior year abroad, studying Arthurian Literature, and jewelry making -- among other things! -- at a university in Wales.
Much harp music from Latin America makes use of rhythmic accompaniment patterns in the bass hand. The patterns provide a strong underpinning and a distinctive character to the music. Many of these pieces were dance tunes, so it's important to keep that strong rhythm!
Megan's piece combines two rhythmic patterns from two different countries.
The 2nd measure (and 4th, etc.) in "Deseo ..." uses a joropo rhythm, a traditional rhythm from Venezuela.
Joropo Rhythm from Venezuela
The 3rd measure is a galopa rhythm from Paraguay. It really has a 3/4 feel (which you could count as 1-and- 2-and-3-and ...) rather than the 6/8 feel of the joropo rhythm (which has the feel of 1-and-uh--2-and-uh).
Galopa Rhythm from Paraguay
2. Play them using different chords.
3. Still playing them separately, try noodling something in your melody hand (play anything!). See if you can keep that rhythm steady while you noodle!
4. Now try combining both patterns and noodling on top of that!
5. If you arrange your tunes, try using these patterns. Go ahead--try plugging them into a Celtic tune or whatever. They're great fun!