tone row

American  

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.

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tone row British  

noun

1. Also called: note row.  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 See also serialism twelve-tone

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Etymology

Origin of tone row

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

“They’re just more fun. When you have the whole arsenal of the tone row in your head, you can just have a lot more freedom to mess around with it.”

From New York Times • Jan. 19, 2022

In Mr. Schoenberg’s system, a composer begins by arranging the 12 notes of the Western scale in a particular order called a tone row, or series, on which the work is based.

From New York Times • Jan. 30, 2011

The bulk of Composer Riegger's work is atonal�in fact, he was an atonalist back in the days before the tone row had replaced the velvet neckcloth as a musical status symbol.

From Time Magazine Archive

The long-awaited score proved to be typical Orff, avoiding such devices as standard harmonic progressions or even the modern "tone row."

From Time Magazine Archive