twelve-tone technique

American  

noun

Music.

1. a modern system of tone relationships in which the 12 tones of an octave are not centered around any one tone, but are unified by a selected order of tones for a given composition.

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Example Sentences

By reputation an expert practitioner of twelve-tone technique, Lieberson had always had a secret yen for sensuous, late-Romantic harmony.

From The Guardian • May 28, 2013

Four poetic movements in the often unpoetic twelve-tone technique.

From Time Magazine Archive

Four of them are in his revolutionary twelve-tone technique; all provide fascinating, sometimes irritating, ear-tweaking listening.

From Time Magazine Archive

Written in the twelve-tone technique, it combines all the nervous subtleties of that idiom with the undeniable decadence of Berg's own style, but still appeals strongly to the ear.

From Time Magazine Archive

Their music is based on jazz materials, but it is embroidered with twelve-tone technique and polyrhythms.

From Time Magazine Archive