Pedals, Pitches, and Pixels: MOLA harp notation webinar

Update: The session is over, but the resources are available to download from the MOLA web site. Here is the video:

The harp is one of the most beautiful instruments in today’s orchestra, but it can also be one of the most challenging to write and notate for. How are the hands distributed? What’s with the tuning and those funny-looking diagrams? And crucially, how does one make it all work with music notation software?

The answers to those questions, and many more, could fill the pages of many volumes of many books — and they have. But where to start your journey into this wonderful world of harp notation?

Let’s put our foot down and not string you along any further. Our good friends at MOLA are sponsoring a webinar entitled Pedals, Pitches, and Pixels: An Introduction to Harp Notation. The 90-minute session is open to the public and is Friday, April 14, 2023, at 3:00 pm EDT (12 noon PDT / 8:00 pm BST / 9:00 pm CET) — that’s today!

The session will be hosted on Zoom, and while the agenda is jam-packed with information, there will be an opportunity for questions. If you can’t attend live, the session will be recorded, and I’ll update this post with the link to the recording once it’s made available.

Danielle Kuntz, professional harpist, harp notation coach, and tremendous advocate for new music, will be leading the session. She’s put together an incredible array of information and musical examples. Michael Ferraguto, head librarian of the Cleveland Orchestra, and Joshua Luty, music librarian of the Houston Grand Opera (and Scoring Notes podcast guest), will co-moderate, and I’ll be there to offer information about how to use the software to achieve results.

Behind the scenes, Elaine Li, assistant orchestral librarian at Juilliard, and Alizabeth Nowland-Meerdink, performance librarian & licensing manager at the University of Michigan have outdone themselves organizing this event, along with MOLA’s intrepid administrator, Amy Tackitt.

While 90 minutes is barely enough time to scrape your fingernails across the surface of this expansive topic, this session will be a terrific way to get (re-)acquainted with how to notate effectively for the harp, and will offer many resources for further study.

So today at 3:00 pm EDT, Definitely Come By! Everyone Finds Great Arpa information on Scoring Notes.