Hal Leonard

Hal Leonard began in Winona, Minnesota, in 1947, when Harold and Everett Edstrom and Roger Busdicker developed a publishing business from their arrangements of popular songs for school bands. The name came from the brothers’ earlier dance band. Instructional publishing expanded through Learning Unlimited, established in 1970, and the company later developed the Essential Elements methods. SheetMusicDirect, launched in 1997, extended its work into digital scores. With corporate headquarters in Milwaukee and production operations in Winona, Hal Leonard joined Muse Group in 2023. Harold and Everett Edstrom, brothers from Winona, Minnesota, went into music publishing in 1947 with the musician Roger Busdicker; the firm's name joins the two brothers' familiar names. Hal Leonard grew into the largest sheet-music publisher in the world — method books with audio, band and orchestral arrangements, choral editions, reference works — and now operates from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with offices across Europe, Asia and Australia.