tone row

noun

, Music.

1. a series of tones in which no tone is duplicated, and in which the tones generally recur in fixed sequence, with variations in rhythm and pitch, throughout a composition.

tone row

noun

1. music a group of notes having a characteristic pattern or order that forms the basis of the musical material in a serial composition, esp one consisting of the twelve notes of the chromatic scale Also callednote row See also serialism twelve-tone

Word History and Origins

Origin of tone row¹

First recorded in 1940–45