Definition

1. Noun:
   • A system of musical composition: "12-tone music" refers to a method of composing atonal music, developed in the early 20th century, in which all twelve notes of the chromatic scale are treated as equal. No single note is central (tonic), and the music is structured around a specific ordering of these twelve notes.

Usage

• Noun:
  • The composer's shift to 12-tone music marked a radical departure from traditional harmony.
  • Studying 12-tone music requires understanding the concepts of the tone row and its transformations.

Advanced Usage

• "Twelve-tone technique" or "Dodecaphony": These are more technical synonyms for the compositional system itself, often used interchangeably with "12-tone music" when discussing the method rather than a specific piece.
  • He employed the twelve-tone technique throughout the composition.

Variants and Related Words

• Tone row / Note row / Series (n): The specific, ordered arrangement of the twelve pitch classes that serves as the foundational material for a 12-tone composition.
  • The entire piece is derived from a single tone row.
• Serialism (n): A broader term for music structured using a series of elements (pitches, rhythms, dynamics). 12-tone music is a specific type of pitch serialism.
  • Later composers expanded the principles of 12-tone music into total serialism.

Synonyms

• Twelve-tone technique: The systematic method of composition.
• Dodecaphony: A synonym derived from Greek, meaning "twelve sounds."

Related Terminology (Not Phrasal Verbs)

• Inversion: A transformation of the tone row where the intervals are reversed in direction.
• Retrograde: Playing the tone row backwards.
• Retrograde inversion: Playing the inverted row backwards.
• Atonal: Music that lacks a tonal center or key, a characteristic feature of 12-tone music.

Noun

1. a type of serial music introduced by Arnold Schoenberg; uses a tone row formed by the twelve semitones of the chromatic scale (and inverted or backward versions of the row)