Beat Lab Artist Series Recap: Katherine Redlus

This past weekend we had an another Artist Series workshop brought to you by Beat Lab Academy, featuring professional Harpist Katherine Redlus. Katherine went through the presentation by giving a bit of history leading up to today. She fell into Harp like many young musicians do with their respective instruments, an authority figure or guardian urges you into the practice. In Katherine’s case, it was her grandmother who wished to have a Harp player in the family so Katherine was granted that fate. Fast forward to high school, Katherine had persisted with the instrument and was quickly outpacing her peers. By the time Katherine headed off to undergrad university she had performed and mastered nearly every classical piece of music written for a Harp; that’s why she sought new frontiers to explore in college. Ableton Live gave her the new sense of direction and experimentation she was looking for and she found herself in the New Music scene where electro-acoustic experimentation is paired with classical musical styling.

Katherine broke down some of her Live Sets and how she utilizes her pedals (Boss RC-1 Loop Station and Keith McMillen SoftStep). She uses the SoftStep for launching scenes which she has set up in order to organize her song sections, she stated that because the Harp requires foot movement to change the string tuning she was already accustomed to using her feet. Katherine played us a few songs, each of them as hauntingly beautiful as the last. Her profession has taken her through experiences in film scoring and orchestral playing but her true passion lies in songwriting and New Music experimentation. It was a pleasure having Katherine share some insight into her process and the little-known world of Harp. Watch the video below of her performing one of her songs set to be released on her upcoming album, and join us for our next Beat Lab Artist Series workshop focusing on the use of Odd Time Signatures!

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