Twelve-tone technique—also known as
dodecaphony,
twelve-tone serialism, and (in British usage)
twelve-note composition—is a method of musical
composition devised by Austrian composer
Arnold Schoenberg (1874–1951). The technique is a means of ensuring that all 12 notes of the
chromatic scale are sounded as often as one another in a piece of music while preventing the emphasis of any one note through the use of
tone rows, orderings of the 12
pitch classes. All 12 notes are thus given more or less equal importance, and the music avoids being in a
key. The technique was influential on composers in the mid-20th century.