Instrumentation/Orchestration

If you're arranging music and you need to know how to notate music or transpose for a given instrument, this is the bible for orchestration.

I have been a professional arranger/orchestrator for nearly fifty years. My copy of the first edition of this book, which I obtained in 1982, is well worn from constant use because it is the best source of accurate information about the widest variety of instruments. Alfred Blatter understood what an orchestrator wants and needs to know about the capabilities and limitations of the instrumental forces. For students, this book provides reliable data on which they can build a useful and dependable knowledge base. For experienced writers, it is a superb source of reminders as well as information about some instruments for which one may not have previously encountered. The book's fingering charts have often helped me make decisions about how a tricky passage could be made more comfortable for the players. Information about accessible ranges for student performers vs. those of professionals has also been of immense value to me. In short, this book is an excellent reference work.

I haven't bought it yet, but Blatter is the orchestration textbook recommended by my composition tutor [Cambridge] because it has a lot of detail.

A composition teacher recommended that I get this book and I'm rarely without it. It is a basic tome for all composers, regardless of caliber, as well as anyone remotely interested in the parameters of musical instruments.Along with being clear and concise, it also refrains from presuming proper aesthetic context with regard to musical aspects.

The second edition of Blatter's Instrumentation/Orchestration is available now. (Spring 1997) This is the best orchestration book I know, because it covers more contemporary materials.