Extended technique

Unorthodox methods of singing or of playing musical instruments

A prepared guitar, in which various metal objects have been inserted between the strings and the neck.

In music, extended technique is unconventional, unorthodox, or non-traditional methods of singing or of playing musical instruments employed to obtain unusual sounds or timbres.[1]

Composers’ use of extended techniques is not specific to contemporary music (for instance, Hector Berlioz’s use of col legno in his Symphonie Fantastique is an extended technique) and it transcends compositional schools and styles. Extended techniques have also flourished in popular music. Nearly all jazz performers make significant use of extended techniques of one sort or another, particularly in more recent styles like free jazz or avant-garde jazz. Musicians in free improvisation have also made heavy use of extended techniques.

Examples of extended techniques include bowing under the bridge of a string instrument or with two different bows, using key clicks on a wind instrument, blowing and overblowing into a wind instrument without a mouthpiece, or inserting objects on top of the strings of a piano.

Twentieth-century exponents of extended techniques include Henry Cowell (use of fists and arms on the keyboard, playing inside the piano), John Cage (prepared piano), and George Crumb. The Kronos Quartet, which has been among the most active ensembles in promoting contemporary American works for string quartet, frequently plays music which stretches the manner in which sound can be drawn out of instruments.

## Examples

[edit]

### Vocal

[edit]

Main article: Extended vocal technique

* Sprechstimme (speech-singing)
* overtone singing (harmonic singing, or vocal multiphonics)
* ululation
* beatboxing (vocal percussionists)
* growling
* screaming and shouting
* whispering
* panting
* whistling
* hissing
* clucking
* barking
* sucking

### Bowed string instruments

[edit]

Main article: Bowed string instrument extended technique

* playing with a plectrum or pick
* playing with percussion sticks, mallets, or other objects
* bowing on the "wrong" side of the left hand fingers
* bowing behind the bridge
* bowing non-string parts of the instrument[2]
* parallel rather than perpendicular bowing
* exaggerated vibrato
* snap pizzicato, also called Bartók pizzicato
* tapping or rubbing the soundboard of stringed instruments
* string scrapes with finger, nail, or object
* percussive effects on body of instrument
* tapping on the fingerboard
* "seagull" harmonic effects
* detuning a string while playing
* preparation
* resonance effects

### Plucked string instruments

[edit]

* using a bow
* playing with percussion sticks, mallets, or other objects
* playing on crossed strings (called "snare drum effect" on guitar)
* snap pizzicato, in which a string is pulled away from the fingerboard until it snaps back and strikes the fingerboard.
* string scrapes, a technique especially associated with electric guitar and electric bass, as played with a pick.
* percussive effects, such as drumming on a string instrument body
* palm and finger muting ("pizzicato")
* tapping on the fingerboard
* string pops and slaps (fingerboard instruments)
* preparation of a guitar by inserting screws or pieces of metal in the bridge or between the strings.
* detuning a string while playing
* "3rd bridge", a guitar technique using the part of the string between the nut and the stopping finger; see Xenakis' cello piece Nomos Alpha for a similar effect.

### Piano

[edit]

Main article: Piano extended technique

* prepared piano, i.e., introducing foreign objects into the workings of the piano to change the sound quality
* string piano, i.e., striking, plucking, or bowing the strings directly, or any other direct manipulation of the strings
* resonance effects (whistling, singing or talking into the piano)
* silently depressing one or more keys, allowing the corresponding strings to vibrate freely, allowing sympathetic harmonics to sound
* touching the strings at node points to create harmonics
* percussive use of different parts of the piano, such as the outer rim
* slamming piano lid or keyboard cover
* microtones
* use of the palms, fists, or external devices to create tone clusters
* use of other materials to strike the keys
* pedal noises

### Woodwind instruments

[edit]

* multiphonics
* harmonics
* pitch bends ("lipping")
* noisily activating keys without blowing
* combination of a mouthpiece of one instrument with the main body of another, for example, using an alto saxophone mouthpiece on a standard trombone.
* flutter-tonguing,
* breath noises
* blowing a disengaged mouthpiece or reed
* singing through the instrument while playing
* internal muting
* key or tone-hole slap – percussive sound made by slapping a key or keys against their tone holes
* circular breathing

### Brass instruments

[edit]

* singing through the instrument while playing
* exaggerated brass head-shakes
* noisily activating valves without blowing
* pitch bends ("lipping")
* combination of a mouthpiece of one instrument with the main body of another, for example, using a French horn mouthpiece on a standard bassoon
* flutter tonguing
* circular breathing
* double buzz
* half-valve playing
* unconventional mutes or other foreign objects in the bell (e.g. plumbing parts)
* breath noises
* slap tonguing
* blowing a disengaged mouthpiece

### Percussion

[edit]

* rudimental or "dynamic" double bass on the drum set, using hand rudiments such as double stroke rolls and flam taps and playing them with the feet
* stacking 2 or more cymbals, one on top of the other, to change the sound properties of the instrument
* bowed vibraphone, cymbals, and gongs
* resonance effects (e.g., cymbal played on a timpani; cow bell struck against a bass drum, etc.)
* pitch bends on mallet percussion
* harmonics
* custom-built percussion mallets, occasionally made for vibraphone or tubular bells (and other pitched-percussion in increasingly rare circumstances) which feature more than one mallet-head, and so are capable of producing multiple pitches and difficult chords (though usually only the chords they were designed to play). These mallets are seldom used, and percussionists sometimes make them themselves when they are needed. When implemented, they are usually only used once or twice in an entire work, and are alternated with conventional mallets; usually they are used only when playing a different instrument in each hand.
* striking a gong and then inserting the vibrating metal into a tub of water, creating a glissando.
* placing a cymbal on a timpani head

### Electronic

[edit]

* added electronics or MIDI control
* Turntablism, such as scratching records or otherwise manipulating a record or turntable platter, often done in combination with a DJ mixer, to create unique sound effects and rhythms
* Using a "kill switch" on an electric guitar to create quasi-scratching rhythmic sounds.
* Circuit bending: DIY experimenting with electronic keyboards and electronic toys.
* playing electric instruments unplugged, or amplifying acoustical parts of normally electronic instruments (e.g. finger noise on the keys)
* exploitation of inherent equipment "defects" (e.g., deliberately driving digital equipment into aliasing; exaggerating hum or hiss coming from speakers, acoustic feedback, key click on a Hammond organ etc.)

### Organ

[edit]

Playing on stops that are partially drawn (has an effect only if the stops are on purely mechanical action, with a slider windchest). Manipulating stops while holding one or more notes (possible on most organs, but most effective if the stops are on purely mechanical action, with a slider chest).

### Other instruments

[edit]

Main article: Experimental musical instrument

* unusual harmonics
* glissandi, tuner glissando

## Notable composers

[edit]

* George Antheil
* Béla Bartók
* Bruno Bartolozzi
* Luciano Berio
* Hector Berlioz
* Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
* François-Adrien Boieldieu
* William Bolcom
* Pierre Boulez
* Glenn Branca
* Benjamin Britten
* Leo Brouwer
* John Cage
* Elliott Carter
* Aaron Cassidy
* Rhys Chatham
* Ghenadie Ciobanu
* Henry Cowell
* George Crumb
* Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac
* Peter Maxwell Davies
* Stuart Dempster
* Pascal Dusapin
* John Eaton
* Robert Erickson
* Julio Estrada
* Carlo Farina
* Morton Feldman
* Brian Ferneyhough
* Carlo Forlivesi
* Sofia Gubaidulina
* Jonathan Harvey
* Hans Werner Henze
* Dick Higgins
* Gustav Holst
* Toshio Hosokawa
* Alan Hovhaness
* Tobias Hume
* Charles Ives
* Ben Johnston
* Garth Knox
* Panayiotis Kokoras
* Nikita Koshkin
* Sophie Lacaze
* Helmut Lachenmann
* György Ligeti
* Gustav Mahler
* Eric Mandat
* Joseph Maneri
* Michael Markowski[3]
* Meredith Monk
* Ken Namba
* Luigi Nono
* Andrew Norman
* Pauline Oliveros
* Leo Ornstein
* Sean Osborn
* Owen Pallett
* Arvo Pärt
* Krzysztof Penderecki
* Gérard Pesson
* Sun Ra
* Lou Reed
* Doina Rotaru
* Christopher Rouse
* Kaija Saariaho
* Camille Saint-Saëns
* Giacinto Scelsi
* John Schneider
* Arnold Schoenberg
* Salvatore Sciarrino
* Stephen Scott
* Karlheinz Stockhausen
* Igor Stravinsky
* Toru Takemitsu
* Bertram Turetzky
* Ken Ueno
* Galina Ustvolskaya
* Franco Venturini
* Heitor Villa-Lobos
* Claude Vivier
* Carl Maria von Weber
* Jörg Widmann[4]
* Iannis Xenakis
* La Monte Young
* Frank Zappa
* John Zorn

## Notable performers

[edit]

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### Bass

[edit]

* Bill Laswell
* Michael Manring
* Jaco Pastorius
* Mark Sandman
* Mike Silverman
* Bertram Turetzky

### Bassoon

[edit]

* Yusef Lateef

### Cello

[edit]

* Tom Cora
* Helen Liebmann
* Rohan de Saram
* Frances-Marie Uitti

### Clarinet

[edit]

* Tara Bouman
* Walter Boeykens
* Guy Deplus
* Roberto Paci Dalò
* Eric Dolphy
* Eric Mandat
* Sean Osborn
* Michel Portal
* William O. Smith
* Suzanne Stephens
* Jörg Widmann[4]
* Evan Ziporyn

### Drums and percussion

[edit]

* Burkhard Beins
* Han Bennink
* John Bonham
* Bryan "Brain" Mantia
* Keith Moon
* Steve Noble
* Steven Schick
* Ruth Underwood

### Flute

[edit]

* Ian Anderson
* Pierre-Yves Artaud
* Ian Clarke
* Robert Dick
* Roberto Fabbriciani
* John Fonville
* Rahsaan Roland Kirk
* Kathinka Pasveer
* Maggi Payne
* Greg Pattillo

### Guitar

[edit]

* Ichirou Agata
* Cristian Amigo
* Didier Aschour
* Derek Bailey
* Syd Barrett
* Adrian Belew
* Buckethead
* Herman Li
* Nels Cline
* Roland Dyens
* Dominic Frasca
* Fred Frith
* Synyster Gates
* Jonny Greenwood
* GP Hall
* Michael Hedges
* Jimi Hendrix
* Evan Hirschelman
* Martín Irigoyen
* Enver İzmaylov
* Jonsi
* Kaki King
* Uwe Kropinski
* Arto Lindsay
* Andy McKee
* Erik Mongrain
* Thurston Moore
* Tom Morello
* Jimmy Page
* Štěpán Rak
* Lee Ranaldo
* Preston Reed
* Marc Ribot
* Keith Rowe
* Joe Satriani
* Nigel Tufnel
* Steve Vai

### Harp

[edit]

* Carlos Salzedo
* Marianne Smit

### Horn

[edit]

* David Amram
* Hermann Baumann
* Anthony Halstead
* Giovanni Punto
* David Pyatt
* Barry Tuckwell

### Oboe

[edit]

* Heinz Holliger
* Yusef Lateef

### Piano

[edit]

* George Antheil
* Henry Cowell
* Richard Bunger Evans
* Alan Hovhaness
* Leo Ornstein
* David Tudor
* Galina Ustvolskaya
* Franco Venturini
* Claude Vivier

### Saxophone

[edit]

* Peter Brötzmann
* Ornette Coleman
* Mats Gustafsson
* Rahsaan Roland Kirk
* Sam Newsome
* Evan Parker
* Ned Rothenberg
* Skerik
* Colin Stetson
* John Zorn
* Pharoah Sanders
* Anthony Braxton
* John Coltrane

### Trombone

[edit]

* Stuart Dempster
* Vinko Globokar
* John Kenny
* George E. Lewis
* Christian Lindberg
* Paul Rutherford
* Mike Svoboda
* Abbie Conant
* Dan Blackberg

### Tuba

[edit]

* Øystein Baadsvik
* Robin Hayward
* Dan Peck

### Trumpet

[edit]

* Miles Davis
* Jon Hassell
* Håkan Hardenberger
* Peter Evans
* Nate Wooley

### Viola

[edit]

* John Cale
* Garth Knox[5]
* Anne Lanzilotti[6]
* Ysanne Spevack

### Violin

[edit]

* Alexander Balanescu
* Tony Conrad
* Graeme Jennings
* Niccolò Paganini
* Michael Urbaniak
* Paul Zukofsky

### Voice

[edit]

* Blixa Bargeld
* Cathy Berberian
* Jaap Blonk
* Brian Chippendale
* Collegium Vocale Köln
* George Fisher
* Diamanda Galás
* Peter Hammill
* Roy Hart
* Shelley Hirsch
* Joan La Barbara
* Bobby McFerrin
* Meredith Monk
* David Moss
* Sainkho Namtchylak
* Mike Patton
* Maja Ratkje
* Demetrio Stratos[7]
* Tanya Tagaq
* Kazuki Tomokawa
* Ken Ueno
* Michael Vetter
* Trevor Wishart

### Other

[edit]

* Bradford Reed

## See also

[edit]

* List of notable pieces which use extended techniques

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Burtner, Matthew (2005). "Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Experimentalism Archived 2011-06-04 at the Wayback Machine", NewMusicBox.org.
2. ^ "Cello Map :: Index". www.cellomap.com. Archived from the original on 2017-10-29. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
3. ^ The cave you fear. Michael Markowski. (2024, July 14). https://www.michaelmarkowski.com/music/the-cave-you-fear/
4. ^ a b Dierickx, Zachary (2018). The Clarinet Works of Jörg Widmann: A Performance Guide to Fantasie for Clarinet Solo with a Survey of Unaccompanied Clarinet Repertoire and Guide to Contemporary Techniques (DMA). Ohio State University. Archived from the original on 2019-06-02. Retrieved 2019-06-02.
5. ^ "Garth Knox – Violist Composer". www.garthknox.org. Retrieved 2017-10-28.
6. ^ "Anne Lanzilotti".
7. ^ Ceolin Elena; Tisato Graziano; Zattra Laura. "Demetrio Stratos Rethinks Voice Techniques: A Historical Investigation at ISTC in Padova" (PDF). Proceedings of the SMC Conference 2011 (Sound and Music Computing), Padova 6–9 July 2011. pp. 48–55\. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 2013-01-11.48-55&rft.pub=Proceedings+of+the+SMC+Conference+2011+(Sound+and+Music+Computing),+Padova+6–9+July+2011&rft.au=Ceolin+Elena&rft.au=Tisato+Graziano&rft.au=Zattra+Laura&rft_id=http://smcnetwork.org/system/files/smc2011_submission_73.pdf&rfr_id=info:sid/en.wikipedia.org:Extended+technique" class="Z3988">

## Further reading

[edit]

* Bruno Bartolozzi; New Sounds for Woodwind, second edition, translated by Reginald Smith Brindle. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. ISBN 978-0-19-318611-8.
* Stuart Dempster; The Modern Trombone: A Definition of Its Idioms, The New Instrumentation 3. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1979. ISBN 978-0-520-03252-1.
* Michael Edward Edgerton; The 21st-Century Voice. The New Instrumentation 9. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0-8108-5354-6.
* Douglas Hill. Extended Techniques for the Horn: A Practical Handbook for Students, Performers and Composers. [S.l.]: Alfred Music Publishing, 1996. ISBN 978-0-7692-2355-1.
* Evan Hirschelman; Acoustic Artistry: Tapping, Slapping, and Percussion Techniques for Classical and Fingerstyle Guitar. Private Lessons (Musicians Institute). Milwaukee: Musicians Institute Press/Hal Leonard, 2011. ISBN 978-1-4234-0571-9.
* Linda L. Holland and Evan Conlee. Easing into Extended Technique, 5 vols. [Ridgefield, Wash.]: Con Brio, 1999.
* Thomas Howell; The Avant-Garde Flute: A Handbook for Composers and Flutists. The New Instrumentation 2. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1974. ISBN 978-0-520-02305-5.
* Ruth Inglefield and Lou Ann Neill; Writing for the Pedal Harp: A Standardized Manual for Composers and Harpists. The New Instrumentation 6. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1985. ISBN 978-0-520-04832-4.
* J. Michael Leonard; Extended Technique for the Saxophone. Wayland, MA : Black Lion Press, 2004.
* Gardner Read; Contemporary Instrumental Techniques. New York: Schirmer Books, 1976. ISBN 978-0-028-72100-2.
* Gardner Read; A Thesaurus of Orchestral Devices. New York: Greenwood Press, 1969. ISBN 978-0-837-11884-0.
* Philip Rehfeldt; New Directions for Clarinet, revised edition. The New Instrumentation 4. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1994. ISBN 978-0-520-03379-5. Reprinted, Lanham, MD: The Scarecrow Press, 2013.
* Jamie Leigh Sampson; Contemporary Techniques for the Bassoon: Multiphonics. Bowling Green, OH: ADJ·ective New Music, LLC, 2014. ISBN 978-0-615-99938-8.
* John Schneider; The Contemporary Guitar, revised and enlarged edition. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2015. ISBN 978-1-442-23789-6.
* Reginald Smith Brindle; Contemporary Percussion. London and New York: Oxford University Press, 1991. ISBN 978-0-19-816247-6.
* Patricia and Allen Strange; The Contemporary Violin. The New Instrumentation 7. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2001. ISBN 978-0-520-22409-4.
* Bertram Turetzky; The Contemporary Contrabass, new and revised edition. The New Instrumentation 1. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0-520-06381-5.

## External links

[edit]

* Shaken Not Stuttered by Anne Lanzilotti. Extended techniques for strings. Includes masterclass videos and notation suggestions.
* Cello Map by Ellen Fallowfield
* Woodwind Fingering charts
* New Sounds for Flute by Mats Möller
* Guide How to Prepare a Guitar on hypercustom.com
* The Orchestra: A User's Manual by Andrew Hugill with The Philharmonia Orchestra. Includes definitions, descriptions and video interviews of extended techniques for most all common orchestral instruments.
* oddmusic A website dedicated to unique, odd, ethnic, experimental and unusual musical instruments and resources.

* v
* t
* e

Experimental music

Related contemporary
classical music genres

* Aleatoric
* indeterminacy
* Avant-garde
* Drone
* Electroacoustic
* Acousmatic music
* Tape music
* Minimal
* Musique concrete
* Noise
* Danger

Experimental popular
music genres

| By style|

* Avant-garde jazz
* Avant-garde metal
* Post-metal
* Avant-pop
* Avant-prog
* Avant-punk
* Biomusic
* Deconstructed club
* Experimental pop
* Experimental rock
* krautrock
* math rock
* neo-prog
* no wave
* noise rock
* post-punk
* post-rock
* Intelligent dance music
* Neofolk
* Wave

|

Related|

* Art pop
* Art punk
* Art rock
* Avant-funk
* Ambient
* Drone metal
* Free improvisation
* Free jazz
* Glitch
* Hyperpop
* Industrial
* Progressive jazz
* Punk jazz
* Witch house

Extended techniques|

* 3rd bridge
* Circuit bending
* Frippertronics
* Plunderphonics
* Prepared guitar
* Prepared piano
* Scordatura
* Turntablism

Related concepts|

* Cymatics
* Dada
* Data sonification
* Experimental musical instrument
* Experimental luthier
* Fluxus
* Progressive music
* Sound art
* Sound collage
* Sound installation
* Sound sculpture
* Soundscape
* Electroacoustic improvisation

Events and lists|

* List of experimental music festivals
* List of electronic music festivals
* List of experimental musicians

* v
* t
* e

Modernist music

List of modernist composers

Composers|

| Europe|

* Austria
* Berg
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* Mahler
* Schoenberg
* Webern
* Belgium
* Pousseur
* Czechia
* Hába
* Finland
* Bergman
* France
* Henry
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* Koechlin
* Messiaen
* Milhaud
* Varèse
* Germany
* Reger
* Strauss
* Greece
* Skalkottas
* Hungary
* Bartók
* Poland
* Szymanowski
* Russia
* Prokofiev
* Scriabin
* Stravinsky

|

Americas|

* United States
* Antheil
* Carter
* Cowell
* Ives

Genres and
techniques

* Atonality
* Experimental
* Expressionism
* Futurism
* Microtonal
* Modes of limited transposition
* Neotonality
* New Complexity
* New Objectivity
* Noise
* Pandiatonicism
* Polyrhythms
* Polytonality
* Post-romanticism
* Process
* Quartal and quintal harmony
* Serialism
* Sound mass
* Spectral
* Stochastic
* Surrealism
* Tone cluster
* Twelve-tone technique

Schools of composition|

* Second Viennese School
* Darmstadt School

← Romantic music

* Category
* Portal

* v
* t
* e

Musical techniques

General|

* Articulation
* Bowing
* Damping
* Double stop
* Extended technique
* Fingering
* Finger substitution
* Finger vibrato
* Glissando
* Harmonics
* Intonation
* Multiphonic
* Phrasing
* Pizzicato
* Position
* Slapping
* Stopped note
* Thumb position
* Tremolo
* Vibrato

Wind instruments|

* Saxophone technique
* Circular breathing
* Embouchure
* Flutter-tonguing
* Growling
* Harmonica technique
* Overblowing
* Slap tonguing
* Split tone
* Tonguing

Piano|

* Piano extended techniques
* Finger tapping
* Luthéal
* Three-hand technique
* Prepared piano
* String piano
* Tack piano

Bowed string instruments|

* Bowed string instrument extended technique
* Violin technique
* Cello technique
* Bariolage
* Pizzicato
* Bartók pizz.
* Col legno
* Free bowing
* Martelé
* Spiccato
* Two bows

Guitar|

* Downpicking
* Fingerstyle
* Flatpicking
* Picking
* Hybrid picking
* String bending
* Tambour
* Third bridge
* Prepared guitar

Harp|

* Prepared harp

Percussion|

* Snare drum technique
* Burton grip
* Cymbal choke
* Drum roll
* Stevens grip
* Rimshot

Human voice|

* Extended vocal technique
* Beatboxing
* Death growl
* Overtone singing
* Screaming
* Sprechgesang

Related articles|

* Étude

* Category:Musical performance techniques

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