Compendium of Modern Instrumental Techniques

An important characteristic of contemporary art music has been the use of conventional instruments in unconventional ways, achieving effects undreamed of or thought impossible in the early 20th century. Yet many of these techniques remain poorly understood with respect to both the physical procedures involved and the results in sound output. This compendium codifies these techniques, explains their production in terms of idiomatic peculiarity and limitations, and cites representative scores in which the new devices form an integral part of the composer’s sonoric concepts. Citations and numerous printed examples are taken from an international selection of works by significant composers. Part 1 considers techniques and procedures that, with only slight modification, apply to all instruments: extended ranges, muting, glissandi, harmonics, percussive effects, microtones, amplification and extramusical devices. Part 2 is devoted to idiomatic techniques with specific instruments in the categories of woodwinds and brasses, percussion, harp and other plucked instruments, keyboard instruments, and strings. While demonstrating recent and radical innovations, references are made to historical beginnings of such devices in our classical music heritage. An earlier version of this volume Contemporary Instrumental Techniques (1976), was recognised as a significant achievement in cataloguing and organisation, and as a useful reference tool. Now expanded, with additional techniques, new and revised explanations, and hundreds of recent citations and examples, this survey is designed for any music library or serious musician. A guide for composers and orchestrators, it should also prove valuable as a sourcebook for performers and teachers and as a textbook for courses in composition.