Editing Extended technique (section)

{{short description|Unorthodox methods of singing or of playing musical instruments}}
[[File:myprepguitar.jpg|thumb|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 instrument]]s employed to obtain unusual sounds or [[timbre]]s.<ref name="test">Burtner, Matthew (2005). "[http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=4076 Making Noise: Extended Techniques after Experimentalism] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604044829/http://www.newmusicbox.org/article.nmbx?id=4076 |date=2011-06-04 }}", ''NewMusicBox.org''.</ref>

Composers’ use of extended techniques is not specific to [[Contemporary classical music|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.