Notating Music for Harp in Sibelius

This is a document describing how to create pedal and lever harp notation in Sibelius. It includes information on using the Norfolk Harp Std font, which contains pedal harp notation symbols used in Salzedo’s Modern Study of the Harp.

Available symbols. Click to enlarge.

Notating Music for Harp in Sibelius is a reference book rather than a blog post; you will more likely look at a single topic than read it in one sitting. This is a work in progress, and I will update it from time to time.

The Norfolk Harp Std font

To use any of the example scores offered on this page, you will first need to install the free Norfolk Harp Std font. It is distributed as part of the Norfolk font set. You can read about Norfolk Harp Std in the Scoring Notes blog, and here is a link for downloading and installing the Norfolk fonts from NYC Music Services.  This is discussed in more detail in Notating Music for Harp In Sibelius in the section Fonts and Other Support Files.

To use these resources, you do not need the full set of Norfolk fonts (though I recommend you that you install them because there are a very nice addition to the set of fonts that work with Sibelius). You can install Norfolk Harp Std by itself,  and download a copy of the font here:

NorfolkHarpStd-2019-03-28

It comes in a zip file, and you should unzip the file, and install it by the usual methods appropriate for your operating system.  It is made available under the SIL Open Font License, which means that the fonts are free to download, use, embed, redistribute with other software (including commercial software) or to create derivative versions.

Support scores

This page also includes some Sibelius scores for using the Norfolk Harp Std font, including:

  • Harp Techniques Opus Norfolk Harp, a score containing additional copyable symbols, text objects, and lines that use characters in the Norfolk Harp Std font.
  • Opus Norfolk Harp, a score that can be exported as Manuscript Paper to create new scores that include characters in the Norfolk Harp Std font.
  • Examples of Pedal Harp Techniques, a score used to create examples in the document.

These scores are available in Sibelius 5, 6, and 7 format. Use the Sibelius 7 format files for all Sibelius version after version 7.

If you are not interested in the pedal harp symbols in Norfolk Harp Std you will not need these files.

These files were last updated on April 11, 2019. They are not likely to need to be updated in the future.