How do I import music but leave it in external hard drive?

I just got my first MacBook air yesterday and am currently trying to move all of my files over etc.
I want to leave my music in an external portable hard drive and not save it to the mac itself. I did this with my last pc and prefer it to be this way (saves space).
I can't find any way to do this?
Can someone please help me? In my ITunes on my PC there seems to be a whole lot more options about importing but there is no bar at the top of iTunes on the Mac to do different things?
Thank you

Thank you! I just realised that the top menu applies to whatever application you have open! I had no idea...
I'm very new to the mac thing!
Can you suggest a good youtube tutorial for me to look at for the basics?
I'm going to try to import from the external hard drive now.
Thank you for your help. I really appreciate it.

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