How to open files (NOT copy) from external hard drive

Hello there,
I have a Western Digital My Passport external harddrive. I bought the hard drive so I could take stuff like my music off my laptop harddrive, free up space and make it run smoother.
Problem is, every time I select a music file on the ex harddrive to play in itunes, the file is copied to the laptop harddrive! Completely defeats the purpose.
Does anyone know how to stop my laptop from copying music files and just get it to play files from the external hard drive? I have looked and looked but to no avail - this is my first Mac and it is the one issue that really bugs me.
Any help will be much appreciated!
N.B. it doesn't seem to do this with other file types (documents etc.) just music files/files supported by itunes.

How are you selecting the music files? I have my entire music library on an external drive. If you go to preferences in iTunes, their is an option to select where your music library resides. I think it is under advance but I'm not sure since I don't have access to my mac.
Glor

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