Despite the fact that written-out harp pedal notations and diagrams are written left to right (DCB/EFGA), there is a convention among (SOME) harpists that, where pedals on one side are written above those on the other, that the right goes above the left, and this is adopted by Dorico.
However, this is far from universal. As a composer married to a professional harpist, I know that she and many of her colleagues prefer to have the left above the right which, they feel, makes much more sense.
Please could you add an option to have the left-side pedals placed above the right-side where that notation is selected?
Thanks Dan,
I appreciate it.
I’ve been spreading the word to harpists I know as to what a great application it is but I know that feature would be useful to many of them.
Interestingly, the consensus among other harpists consulted by forum members in the past seemed to be “please don’t use pedal diagrams, we want to add them ourselves (but composers please use the tool when composing, so you don’t write impossible parts!)”
Yes, you’re right, they do, as it’s a personal preference.
But where a composer is working closely with the harpist (as with me and my wife), or where the person using Dorico IS the harpist, I think it would still be quite useful.
I am a professional harpist and have found this thread as I am looking into buying Dorico 5 for my work. I second David who wrote earlier that harpists would LOVE the option to notate the left pedals above the right — myself and many of my colleagues use this notation, whereas the right over left generally seems more prevalent in the US. Having this option would cater to the wider harp community and composers working with us.
I am eagerly waiting for the implementation as it would make Dorico a no-brainer for harpists.