Books on Orchestration

Thanks Flint, pretty sure Adler is my best bet. I ain't in no college environment and as far as instrumentation goes I'm not really looking for anything out of the ordinary just yet.

Originally Posted by Chris

I looking into getting a theory book on Orchestration.

Highly recommend the Kennan "Technique of Orchestration." The Rimsky-Korsakov is also good.

However imho nothing can substitute for playing in an orchestra...

The one fault of nearly all orchestration books I've read is that they are all horrible and unintuitive when it comes to explaining how string crossings and arpeggio/multiple-stop figures can be easy, workable, or impossible. For that, talk to a string player

I tried this with some John Williams scores I found online, and it was quite helpful, although difficult to take in all at once.

His scores are crazy, there's so much going on at once. I tried listening repeatedly until I knew the piece by ear. Then listened through one time for each family (strings, wind, brass) while following that family in the score. Then I got a better appreciation.

You can find the Rimsky-Korsakov and Strauss edited Berlioz online at various places.

I recently dug up a book at school, by Cecil Forsyth. It was written in 1914, so it's a little outdated, and some of his scientific explanations about how woodwind instruments work are a bit dubious. But it's written very well, and is certainly informative. I found his chapters on horns and strings to be especially useful. There's also alot of interesting, if slightly useless, information about the evolution of each instrument. And, best of all, there is an abundance of examples from Wagner!

I also quite enjoy his slightly sarcastic tone. He keeps making snide comments about instruments and composers, and he has a right go at "the German school of oboe playing" And, rather than "tuned" and "untuned" percussion, he uses the words "musical" and "unmusical". That made me chuckle!

i got one for 20 dollars from a second hand book shop...
its good.