Many music schools and conservatories offer training for musicians interested in developing their skills as orchestral percussionists.
Gershwin's Porgy and Bess remains the most requested xylophone excerpt at auditions, with Copland's Appalachian Spring, Kodály's Háry János Suite, and Kabalevsky's Colas Breugnon being other common choices, although the list is practically endless.
Dukas's The Sorcerer's Apprentice as well as Respighi's Pini di Roma are both extremely common excerpts on audition lists.
In orchestral literature, the bass drum usually deals more with coloring and shading the sounds of the orchestra as opposed to providing a solid, rhythmic foundation like in marching band drumset.
Though the bass drum is possibly the least frequently requested instrument at auditions, it actually takes a fair amount of skill to play correctly.
Some important excerpts for the bass drum in orchestral literature include Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring, Tchaikovsky's Symphony No.
Tuned and played correctly, it can produce sounds ranging from quick, short, and snappy to thick, warm, whip-crack-like accents.
This particular part presents a number of problems for the orchestral percussionist, but its main difficulty lies in keeping the various rudiments (flams, four-stroke ruffs, etc.)
Another difficult Snare Drum piece in classical music is: Bolero (somewhat demanding due to the exposed nature, the same two measures repeated for about 15 minutes, driving the entire orchestra to the end).
Other auxiliary percussion instruments include: Crash cymbals have been used in an orchestral setting since the time of Mozart when he adopted their sound from traditional Turkish bands to be used in his opera Abduction from the Seraglio.
Since then, crash cymbals have become one of the most written for percussion instruments in classical music and they are easily one of the most recognized sounds within the orchestra.
This nipple is a small dome in the centre of the cymbal that produces a single note when struck with a soft beater.