Reddit reviews The Technique of Orchestration and CD Recording Package (6th Edition)

If you get more serious -

Kent Kennan's The Technique of Orchestration was the de-facto standard on orchestration when I was in school. Not sure if a newer one has claimed the throne.

Just 2 main comments:

1. Pay much more attention to your orchestration. It was too blurry to see the finer details, but there are many things that can be done better. For starters: there is no need for there to be 6 key changes in the first 30 or so measures. Aurally it works, but just add in accidentals for sections that modulate successively, otherwise it looks sloppy. In a similar vein, never show people a non-transposing score. It's great for a composer's purposes, but it actually makes reading it more difficult for others (especially conductors). Little mistakes like random dynamics in resting instruments and unnecessary subdivided rests can add up; and there are places where you obviously want it slurred, so be sure to add them. Also, I don't know if you are a singer, but generally in instrumental scores crescendos are notated below the single-staff instruments and in-between instruments on a grand staff. These are a just a few of the problems I saw, but just know to always go through your piece with a fine tooth comb. I very much recommend this book and looking at other scores as much as possible. It pretty much will answer any orchestrational and notational question you may have (that is, aside from many contemporary techniques)
   
   
   
   
2. Aurally, the piece is interesting, and although I understand that you meant to not repeat any of the themes, I disagree with the final outcome because of it. It needs to have some sort of form or unifying factor for the listener, especially in a piece this filmscore-like. The piece is so harmonically and melodically standard that the lack of form just seems odd and causes the ending to be abrupt. Hell, the unifying factor could be something as simple as a single triangle attack or snare drum role, just something that makes if feel less like a random assortment of themes that for some reason ends in the middle.
   
   
   
   That all being said, the themes are very intriguing and I would love to hear them expanded and varied a bit. You plant many seeds for a large scale work, but it ultimately ends before it come to fruition. Of course, you can disagree and disregard any or all of these comments if you want, that's your right as the composer. However, I do think you should take my first comment to heart. I reiterate this mainly because you are using this as an audition piece, and the very first thing they will do is read through the score without the music (so you want your first impression to be a good one). People really do appreciate a clean score, though it is the most tedious and time consuming part of the compositional process (and the part I personally hate the most). Good luck in your endeavors and never stop composing.

Ahh, that makes sense, sorry \^\^;

There are books on a huge variety of subjects in music, so it does depend a little bit on what you are interested in specifically. For a broad overview, I liked A History of Western Music - the current edition is the 8th, but much of the materials from the 7th edition are available online. Another book I recommend is Harold C. Schonberg's The Lives of the Great Composers. It is less in-depth, but is written in a more narrative style while still hitting on a lot of the "who's who" in classical music from the Baroque to the 20th century (although it's maybe a tad outdated in the later 20th and 21st century).

Besides those two, I actually don't have any others on the top of my head that are good overviews. /u/m3g0wnz does have a guide to music theory textbooks on the sidebar that details out some of the main texts in that area. And, of course, there are books that specialize on a variety of subjects within music theory and history - Ebenezer Prout's book on fugues is one such example that I've looked at, as well as both the Kennan and Adler on the subject of orchestration. (Actually, Kennan also wrote a book on Counterpoint.)

On the subject of sight-singing, I've used both Rhythm and Pitch and A New Approach to Sight Singing in my aural skills classes - I like the Berkowitz a little better in the way it's organized, but both offer plenty of examples for practice. Alternatively, picking up a hymnal is possibly an easier alternative to sightsinging that gives you lots of tonal material for practice.

With most of my other suggestions, though, you don't really need a book. Print out some scores on IMSLP or pick up a cheap study edition (like this one of Mozart piano sonatas) and work through a harmonic/formal analysis.

With transposition, I think probably just working through some scores on IMSLP would be a good start, as well - I can't think of any other better way to get exercises for that. It's one of those topics that's pretty easy to quiz yourself with as long as you keep yourself honest. :)

Edit to add: As far as specifics of literature, that is obviously pretty instrument-dependent. I am a vocalist, and I usually choose language first and then begin exploring pieces that might work with my current technical goals. I know a lot of instrumentalists treat genre/time period the same way. So depending on your instrument, you may have a different approach, but it helps to narrow things down to a few composers you might like to explore for your instrument, and then seeing if anything works for you. Although be wary - for me I end up getting so involved in lit studies that I have a list a mile long of pieces I want to study in the future. It's a double-edged sword for sure.

> ...I have definitely been wanting to pick up a book on orchestration.

Is this really what you meant to write? Orchestration won't do you much good if you can't compose convincingly for the piano. Get the Kostka book first and then move on to an orchestration book after you've got part writing under your belt.

> Here is one that I've read and would recommend.

The Adler is a must. The Grantham is also helpful.

In case you aim to have a live orchestra perform your works, remember that synth programs can do a ton of stuff that sounds fine, but would be needlessly difficult or impossible IRL.