Orchestration Manuals - Synapse Music

Book Review: Orchestration Manuals
There is one book on the performance library reference shelf that, while not used often,
will repay its investment in a library emergency. Books on orchestration are primarily
written as texts for the student composer to teach them the characteristics and typical
uses of the orchestral instruments. They may also describe notation practices and
modern or special effects while illustrating these points with musical examples from the
repertoire. Most will discuss instrumentation (the construction, capabilities, and
limitations of the instruments) as well as orchestration (how to write for instruments
singly or in combination).
For the performance librarian, an orchestration manual should present basic information
about each instrument in an easy to use layout suitable for fast reference. It should aid
the librarian who has to transpose a tenor saxophone part for the bassoon and also
serve as a study guide when preparing for the written test at a library job interview.
When choosing from the many orchestration books available, look for several key
features in their description of the instruments: transposition; range (both written and
sounding); keys of the instruments in each family (e.g., clarinet parts may be written for
instruments pitched in A, B-flat, C, D, or E-flat); clefs used to notate the part; other
restrictions, capabilities, or notational requirements (harmonics, trills, pedalings, double
stops, mutes, etc.). A good book will serve as a reference source for many years,
although as Gardner Read notes in his Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices, “nothing
seems to date more quickly than an orchestration text-book.”
The most current and most comprehensive manual is Samuel Adlerʼs The Study of
Orchestration, now in its third edition (New York: W. W. Norton, 2002. ISBN
0-393-97572-X. $75.00). At 839 pages, Adler includes all the basic information along
with charts and diagrams showing a large range of instrument characteristics in a
consistent and convenient layout. Part One describes the instruments, while Part Two
discusses writing for the instruments, and includes a chapter on the preparing the score
and parts. Related materials include a set of six enhanced CDs (ISBN 0-393-10283-1.
$93.75) with recordings of the orchestral examples in the book and video clips of
playing techniques, and a workbook (ISBN 0-393-97700-5. $30.65) with exercises and
self-tests.
Kent Kennan and Donald Granthamʼs The Technique of Orchestration (Upper Saddle
River, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 2002. ISBN 0-13-040771-2. $118.60) is now in its sixth
edition. The book presents all the basic information on instrumentation, but does not
discuss instrument construction or historical background, except where necessary. It is
packaged with an accompanying CD recording of some, but not all, musical examples.
A workbook (ISBN 0-130-40773-3. $48.40) is available for additional self-study.
For many years Walter Pistonʼs Orchestration (New York: W. W. Norton, 1955. ISBN
0-393-09740-4. $60.35) was the standard text for composition courses. It is still highly
regarded as an instructional manual, although the layout is text heavy and therefore not

as convenient for quick reference. Because it has not been updated in many years, it is
starting to show its age. In the chapter on percussion, for example, the most recent
musical example is from the Bartók Concerto for Orchestra (1945) and the only
electronic instrument included is the Ondes Martenot which is “still in an early
experimental stage.”
The Handbook of Instrumentation by Andrew Stiller (Philadelphia: Kallisti Music Press,
2nd edition 1994. ISBN 0-9645431-0-2 [cloth]; for sale in paperback [$69.00] or CD-
ROM [$39.95] from www.npcimaging.com) focuses solely on instrumentation. It includes
detailed line drawings of the instruments with many accompanying tables and charts.
Stiller discusses the instrument characteristics in such depth (including fingering charts)
that this book would also be a valuable aid to a school music teacher. He restricts
coverage to instruments used in contemporary classical and popular music in North
America, but does include a wide variety of percussion instruments (over 130 pages),
keyboard, and electronic instruments, and devotes three chapters to early instruments
used in modern recreation performances (psalteries, lyres, lutes, etc.). The book is
lacking in musical examples from the repertoire (probably due to to the cost of
permissions to reproduce such excerpts), but there are many lists for suggested
listening.
Alfred Blatterʼs Instrumentation/Orchestration (New York: Schirmer Books/Cengage
Learning, 2nd edition revised 1997. ISBN 0-534-25187-0. $90.95) is intended for
beginning or intermediate orchestration students. It has all the necessary information for
a handy reference book, and it begins with a chapter on “Preparing Scores and Parts”—
a fine introduction for the student composer.
Although not intended as an orchestration manual, Anatomy of the Orchestra by
Norman Del Mar (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1983. ISBN
0-520-05062-2. $33.95) contains basic information about the instruments (range,
transposition, etc.), although it is often set inside paragraphs of text. Its strength is in the
descriptions of how the instruments are used in the orchestral repertoire, both in typical
and extended techniques. It is more useful for its educational value than as a ready
reference source.
Alfred Publishing has a volume in their pocket dictionary series that contains basic
instrumental information. The Essential Dictionary of Orchestration by Dave Black and
Tom Gerou (Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing, 2nd edition 1998. ISBN 0-7390-0021-7.
$6.95) is a convenient, portable handbook with an easy to read format. Unfortunately
the instruments are arranged alphabetically within their class and family (clarinets, then
double reeds, then flutes, etc.) rather than by score order or range, as most other
manuals are arranged, and this works against the convenience of this book.
Classic Manuals. The value of early orchestration books to the performance librarian is
for information about instruments that appear in period compositions but are no longer
in common use, such as sarrusophones, ophicleides, serpents, and even the Russian
bassoon. Parts for these instruments still appear in standard repertoire works (such as

the Contralto trumpet in F in the Shostakovich Symphony No. 1 or the orchestral
saxophones in Symphonia Domestica) and, consequently, on library interview tests.
One of the earliest orchestration manuals is Berliozʼs Grand traité dʼinstrumentation et
dʼorchestration modernes, originally published in 1843. A modern edition, edited by
Peter Bloom, is published as volume 24 in the New Edition of the Complete Works of
Berlioz (Kassel, New York: Bärenreiter, 2003. ISBN 978-3-7618-1586-1. €310.00). This
is the first entirely new publication in French since the 1843 edition. An English
translation by Hugh Macdonald is published as Berliozʼs Orchestration Treatise: A
Translation and Commentary (Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press,
2002. ISBN 978-0-5212-3953-2. $74.00) and includes excerpts from Berliozʼs other
writings in addition to Macdonaldʼs annotations.
Richard Strauss revised and enlarged the Berioz treatise and published it in German in
1905. This was translated into English by Theodore Front and published as Treatise on
Instrumentation (New York: Kalmus, 1948; reprint: Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications,
1991. ISBN 0-486-26903-5. $26.95). Straussʼs comments appear in the text identified
by a wavy line in the left margin. He also updated many of the musical examples,
adding a number of Wagner excerpts. The original Kalmus version of this book has
been scanned and is available in pdf format at the International Music Score Library
Project .
Another early classic is Cecil Forsythʼs Orchestration, originally published in 1914 with a
second edition in 1935, currently reprinted by Dover (New York: Dover Publications,
1982. ISBN 0-486-24383-4. $19.95). Forsythʼs book includes 530 pages, 296 repertoire
examples, numerous range, transposition, and characteristic charts, with descriptions of
the contemporary band and orchestral instruments. It is an excellent value for the library
bookshelf.
Orchestration in Other Styles. There are also specific orchestration books for film and
jazz composition. They present techniques for writing in that style, but because they
typically donʼt include specifics about the individual instruments these are less valuable
as a reference source for the performance library. Books about writing for film include
Earle Hagenʼs Advanced Techniques for Film Scoring (Los Angeles: Alfred Publishing,
1990. ISBN 0-8828-4447-4. $39.95), which is an update of his 1971 book Scoring for
Films. This manual is a bit dated, considering the recent rapid advances in computeraided
scoring and digital recording techniques. A more comprehensive guide is On the
Track: A Guide to Contemporary Film Scoring by Fred Karlin (New York: Routledge, 2nd
edition 2004. ISBN 0-4159-4136-9. $70.00).
Some of the jazz manuals are interesting for their explanation of how to write in the
unique style of the author. These include Arranged by Nelson Riddle: The Definitive
Study of Arranging by Americaʼs #1 Composer, Arranger and Conductor by Nelson
Riddle (Miami: Warner Bros., 1985. ISBN 0-8989-8667-2. $29.95), Sounds and Scores:
A Practical Guide to Professional Orchestration by Henry Mancini (Los Angeles: Alfred

Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-8989-8667-2. $49.95), The Complete Arranger by Sammy
Nestico (s.l.: Fernwood Music, 1993; distributed by Kendor Music. $49.95), The
Contemporary Arranger: Definitive Edition by Don Sebesky (Van Nuys, Calif.: Alfred
Publishing, 1984. ISBN 0-8828-4485-7. $49.95), Jazz Composition and Orchestration
by William Russo (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. ISBN 0-2267-3208-8.
Out of print), and even Glenn Millerʼs Method for Orchestral Arranging (New York:
Mutual Music Society, 1943. Out of print).
Extra-Curricular Materials. No one has written more on orchestration practice than
Gardner Read. His Style and Orchestration (New York: Schirmer Books, 1979. ISBN
0-02-872110-1. Out of print) is a historical survey of the technique and performance
practice in the orchestral repertoire from the 1800s to the 20th century. In 1953 Read
published the Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices (reprint: Westport, Conn.: Greenwood
Publishing, 1969. ISBN 0-8371-1884-0. $65.00), a catalog of musical effects and the
compositions that use those effects. He identifies the use of extreme and extended
ranges, harmonics, mutes, off-stage use, and many other characteristics in the
repertoire. This catalog was continued in two later books: Contemporary Instrumental
Techniques (1976) which was revised as Compendium of Modern Instrumental
Techniques (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1993. ISBN 0-313-28512-8. $88.95),
and Orchestral Combinations: The Science and Art of Instrumental Tone-Color
(Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press, 2004, ISBN 0-810-94814-7. $53.60).
For more writings on the art and practice of orchestration, James E. Perone has
compiled an extensive list of books, monographs, and articles in his Orchestration
Theory: A Bibliography (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996. ISBN
0-313-29596-4. $98.95). Writings on orchestration from composers including Berlioz,
Wagner, Stravinsky, Mahler, and others are collected in Orchestration: An Anthology of
Writings, edited by Paul Mathews (New York: Routledge, 2006. ISBN 0-415-97683-1.
$36.95). For the background of orchestral practice, Adam Carse wrote the standard
guide in The History of Orchestration, originally published in 1925 (unabridged and
corrected reprint edition: New York: Dover Publications, 1964. Currently out of print, but
with limited access on Google Books at http://books.google.com).