12Tone

Kaii Lee had combined several piano/keyboard method books and her life long music learning books to create this sequential music theory study for this website. This page is about the understanding of Serialism, or the 12-Tone Music. After learning many rules and styles of music throughout music history for centuries, the Serialism is just about to break every rule! It is a style of atonality music. By clicking on the other colored links at the bottom of this page, the other music theory topics can be found easily.

For more information, please contact Kaii directly: info@kafm.net

Serialism is one of the modern music compositional techniques. In this type of music compositions, composers would take all 12 tones, or pitches, in a scale to create a melody. Each tone/pitch is only allowed to be used once in the Series, or Twelve-Tone Row. Once the main melody has been created, it can then be manipulated by using Transposition, Inversion, Retrograde, Augmentation, and Diminution.

Arnold Schoenberg, the Austrian-born composer, is credited with the invention of this technique, although other composers, such as Charles Ives, an American composer, anticipated Schoenberg’s invention by writing music that in a few respects was similar technically to the 12-tone music. About WWI's time, Schoenberg was searching for a new method of composition that would provide a new foundation for music structure to replace the old basis of tonality. Instead of using 1 or 2 tones as main points of focus for an entire composition as tonal centers, such as Dominant and Tonic, Schoenberg was using all 12 tones in any scale that each tone only appeared once in the Series, or Twelve-Tone Row. All things being equal, in such system, unlike tonality, no notes would be the focal points, nor would any importance be assigned to any individual tone.

To create a 12-tone music composition, composers need to write a melody by using all 12 tones in a scale without repeating any tones at all. Therefore, the main melody, or called "Prime", in all 12-tone music have 12 tones. Once the main Twelve-Tone Row is created, composers may want to use their skills of Transposition, Inversion, Retrograde, Augmentation, and Diminution to create their atonal music composition. The following chart uses a chromatic scale to show the basics of Serialism. It refers to a piece that uses a fixed, repeating Series of a particular musical element as the basis of a piece (P = Prime, R = Retrograde, I = Inversion, and RI = Retrograde Inversion).

Prime refers to the 12-tone row in its original form. Retrograde means the tone row is played in reverse order, from back to front. Inversion means the 12-tone row is up-side-down. Lastly, Retrograde Inversion is reverse order and up-side-down at the same time.

Prime - Retrograde - Inversion - Retrograde Inversion

Here is a step-by-step method to compose a 12-tone music:

Compose a 12-tone row as "Prime" and avoid creating sounds of major or minor triads
Follow the "Prime" and create the Retrograde, Inversion, and Retrograde Inversion forms.
Transpose the "Prime" to other octaves or by other intervals to create more 12-tone rows.
Layer the tone rows to create more depth of the music. With tone rows in different intervals or layers, there could be incidents of traditional triads and other chords.
Keep in mind that the principal idea of Serialism is that all 12 tones in a scale must be used; however, the durations, dynamics and other aspects of music other than the pitch can be freely chosen by the composer, and there are also no rules regarding when the Twelve-Tone Row would be used in the composition. Here is an example of Scheonberg's work for piano solo from 1923.

Arnold Scheonberg's "5 Klavierstücke", Op.23, No.5, Waltz, 1923

Back to the top

The next topic in this Music Theory site is all about "Compositional Methods - Traditional." Thank you for reading!

Music Theory that every musician could use and should know

The Basics

Math in Music

More Math and Signs

Music Forms

Time Signatures Intervals Modulations Homophonic Style

Polyphonic Style

Diatonic & Chromatic Steps Transposition Contrapuntal Techniques

Key Signatures Triads & Inversions Binary Form

Primary Triads Augmented Sixth Chords Ternary Form

Secondary Triads Traditional Compositional Tools Dance Suites

Scales Seventh Chords Contemporary Compositional Tools Prelude & Fugue

Secondary Dominant Musical Signs Sonata Form

Cadences Rondo Form

Modes Chord Progressions Musical Terms Theme & Variations

Figured Bass & Basso Continuo Serialism

For more information, please contact Ms. Lee at: info@kafm.net

Back to the top

Home | Vocal Music | Piano Music | Music Theory | General Music | About