From Strings to Systems: How a Mariachi Harpist Found Harmony in Engineering 

August 2025
By Sandra Ramirez '08, '21

It was during a mariachi conference at a downtown El Paso hotel that Adrian Perez '13 took a break from his guitar class and wandered the halls, drawn by the unique sound of strings into a room where a lone instructor played.  

“If the harp is an instrument that is hard to find and hard to learn now, imagine 20 years ago. It was almost impossible,” Perez recalled. 

The instructor, a musician from Mexico City and a member of the world-renowned Mariachi Vargas de Tecalitlán, gave Perez a beginner lesson on the harp. Perez quickly realized he had a natural talent. 

“Because of my classical guitar background, it facilitated the ability to showcase that my fingers were capable of developing further,” he said. “It was the classical guitar technique superimposed on the harp.” 

After the lesson, Perez convinced his parents to buy him a harp and has spent the past 20 years mastering his craft. He attended countless mariachi conferences, studied with harp professionals, and eventually became a mentee to a well-known harpist with Mariachi Los Camperos de Nati Cano, based in Los Angeles. 

“I would go to L.A. during my high school years to study with him,” Perez said. “I would go during summer breaks, Christmas break and spring break. It was a constant back and forth. Back then there was no YouTube, so I would study for weeks, then bring that all back and try to learn it. I wouldn’t go back until I learned it.” 

Eventually, Perez was invited to perform with various professional mariachi groups, balancing life as a musician with his studies at the University of Texas at El Paso, where he pursued a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. 

“I was always inclined to take things apart, like my bikes, and build models,” he said. “There was a certain level of curiosity that said, ‘Let’s figure out how this thing works,’ whether it was a bike, a guitar, a harp or a math equation.” 

Perez continued playing the harp professionally throughout college, traveling to California, Florida and Europe. 

He graduated from UTEP in 2013 and now lives in Tucson, Arizona, working in missile design and testing as a systems engineer. While these two roles might seem drastically different, Perez said he sees similarities. 

He explained that missile projects require concept development, planning, risk mitigation and execution. It is a structure he believes also applies to music. 

“From a concept perspective, you decide what kind of music you’re going to play and come up with a plan for the musical techniques that will be needed,” he said. “The execution is following that plan, and it ends with a performance.” 

“It’s the same thing I do at work with the technical stuff. I think they translate back and forth pretty easily.” 

Perez remains active in the mariachi world, teaching the next generation of harpists. For the past 16 years, he has taught at the very same mariachi conferences that first inspired him to explore the harp. He also teaches at local high schools and works as a consultant for schools developing mariachi programs. 

He serves as an executive board member for the Tucson International Mariachi Conference, which hosts 1,200 students each year. 

“I’m very passionate and excited to be invited to do things like that because that’s what ignited the flame for me,” he said. “If I’m able to use the whole process of what I’ve learned and use the opportunities I’ve been afforded, I think it’s come full circle.”