Product Description

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 twentieth century. This compendium codifies these techniques, explains their production and effects, cites representative scores, and provides numerous example from an international selection of composers. Part One considers techniques and procedures that apply to all instruments; Part Two takes up idiomatic techniques with specific instruments in all orchestral categories. This monumental survey is essential for any music library or serious musician.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #322889 in Books
• Published on: 1993-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 296 pages

Review
"Composers may well wish to study the entire volume, as they seek to determine which techniques will endure in compositional practice; but for most readers the book will serve as an excellent resource for exploring individual interests or needs. A debt of gratitude is owned the author for making so much information available in a concise and accessible form. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above." -- Choice

Review
“Composers may well wish to study the entire volume, as they seek to determine which techniques will endure in compositional practice; but for most readers the book will serve as an excellent resource for exploring individual interests or needs. A debt of gratitude is owned the author for making so much information available in a concise and accessible form. Recommended for upper-division undergraduates and above.”–Choice

“This updated volume is a welcome and necessary addition to the literature. Read's style of writing is casual and straightforward. He clearly and concisely describes numerous complex techniques, allowing the reader to visualize and understand the correct means of execution. It should hold up well to vigorous use in library and reference collections and music studios. Any composer or instrumentalist who is interested in music that incorporates the ever-expanding range of techniques that the 20th century has engendered will want to have this book close at hand. Compendium of Modern Instrumental Techniques is highly recommended for composers, instrumental students and teachers and all music libraries.”–Music Reference Services Quarterly

About the Author
GARDNER READ, a noted American composer and Professor of Music Emeritus at Boston University.

Customer Reviews

Exhaustive
Gardner Read has compiled an exhaustive account of modern instrumental techniques, putting aside sujective opinions of their worth or importance and including information about instruments foreign to traditional orchestras, such as the banjo. He sites numerous source examples of each techniques use and the varying methods of notation suggested by pioneering composers. The book serves a dual service to both modern composers and musicians. First, it serves as a reference manual for reviewing and understanding the history of new notations of a particular instrumental techiniue. Second, it serves as a source for ideas and inspiration, simply by flipping through randomly and stumbling upon examples. The first part of the book contains "Generalized Techniques" about extended ranges, muting, glissandi, harmonics, percussive devices, microtones (several suggested notations), amplification and extranmusical devices. The second part of the book focuses on "Idiomatic Techniques" in detail regarding woodwinds and brasses, percussion, harp and plucked instruments, keyboard instruments, and strings. Gardner Read's details suggest that technique experiments of 20th century composer's, mainly the "scrape and scratcher's", in my personal opinion, have been explored to such an extent that they should now be a part of a musician's and composer's arsenal: meaning they should no longer be consider experimental. Composers can get back to composing listenable and interesting music, utilizing the assorted intsrumental techniques when they will benefit the music vs being used primarily as an experiment, resulting in a "composition" that sounds terrible. (It was a good idea on paper, but it sounds like crap.) The experiments have been thourougly hashed out. It's time to start using the results in compositions accesible to those not wearing stuffed shirts.