George Crumb sought to expand the sounds and techniques of modern pianism in his solo and chamber works for piano. His greatest contribution to the piano repertoire is Makrokosmos I and II for amplified piano. Although the work is widely known; it is typically only performed by specialists in advanced modernist repertoire because of the unfamiliar and demanding techniques that it requires. It is possible, though, for more pianists to learn this work by first mastering the techniques through preparatory pieces. The thirteen such pieces discussed in this dissertation come from different decades of the twentieth century and are in various styles, but they can all be mastered by beginner and intermediate-level students. These include Samuel Adler's Bells and Harp; Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos Vol. IV, No. 102; Seymour Bernstein's "Phoenix," No. 9 from Birds II; John Cage's "Prelude for Meditation" from Prepared Piano Music Volume 2, 1940–47; Paul Cooper's Cycles, II; Henry Cowell's Aeolian Harp and his "Time Table" from Five Encores to Dynamic Motion; George Crumb's "Berceuse for the Infant Jesu," No. 2 from A Little Suite for Christmas, A.D. 1979; Marti Epstein's "Inside the Piano" from American Etudes; Ross Lee Finney's "Black Notes and White Notes" from 32 Piano Games; Alan Hovhaness's Midnight Bell; Lajos Papp's Forte-Piano; and Jean François Proulx's "Scale Practice" from A Pedagogical Guide to Extended Piano Techniques.