Twelve-tone technique (12-tone music)
The Twelve-tone technique, also known as twelve-tone music, is a method developed by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg in the early 20th century for composing atonal music—music that does not center around a single pitch. This innovative approach emerged in the 1920s and represents a significant departure from the tonal music tradition, which had dominated Western classical music for centuries. The technique involves the use of a twelve-tone row, a specific sequence of all twelve pitches of the chromatic scale arranged by the composer.
Composers utilizing this technique are required to create music that avoids repeated notes until all twelve have been used, ensuring a balance among the pitches. Variations of the original row can be employed, including transpositions and reversals, allowing for a wide range of creative expression despite the strict rules. While the twelve-tone technique was groundbreaking and led to further exploration in music composition, it faced limited public acceptance, as many listeners found it less accessible compared to traditional tonal music, which often sounds more harmonious and familiar. Despite this, Schoenberg's twelve-tone method has left a lasting influence on contemporary music, continuing to inspire composers even decades after its introduction.
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Twelve-tone technique (12-tone music)
Twelve-tone technique is a method for writing atonal music, or music that does not have a single central pitch. It is most commonly associated with composer Arnold Schoenberg (also spelled Schönberg), who developed the technique in the early part of the twentieth century. The technique was considered revolutionary in the musical world but was met with limited interest by the public. However, Schoenberg's technique continues to be used and still influences musical compositions decades after it was first introduced.
Background
Composed music is generally either tonal, or atonal. Tonal music refers to music written in a major or minor scale. A scale is a sequence of eight musical notes. It can get higher, or ascend, with each succeeding note, or go lower, or descend, as each note sounds. Each scale starts with one note and continues in whole and half steps up the eight notes of the scale, or octave, until the same note in the next highest octave is reached.
For instance, a major scale that starts with C will continue through D, E, F, G, B, A, and up to the next highest C. The famous "Do-Re-Mi" sequence sung in The Sound of Music is an example of a major tonal scale. Scales can start on any note but follow a set pattern whether that key is major or minor. The tones largely remain related to the starting note and generally sound pleasant and harmonious when two or more are played together. While a song may modulate, or shift to a different key, it will generally return to the starting key to finish the song. Most classical music written in the Western world is tonal.
Atonal music lacks this central focus around a specific note. It does not conform to the usual combinations of notes that form harmonies or follow any set rules about returning to the starting combination of notes. While tonal music was the norm from around the 1500s, composers played with atonal alternatives for their work throughout the centuries. However, it was not until around the 1920s that Austrian composer Schoenberg established a method for composers of atonal music to follow. Essentially his system of rules eliminated the possibility of atonal music having sections that sounded like tonal music. This became known as the twelve-tone technique.
Overview
Also known as twelve-tone music or twelve-tone composition, this technique starts with the composer choosing a twelve-tone row of musical pitches arranged at the discretion of the composer. A standard musical scale moves in an orderly procession of steps up or down the musical staff; this twelve-tone row can move up or down in any pattern the composer chooses.
There are some additional rules that govern how these notes are chosen and used. There can be no repetition of notes from a pitch class; a pitch class is all the notes with the same name regardless of their octave (middle C and high C, for instance). Each row must, however, have all twelve of the pitch classes of the chromatic scale, or the set of twelve notes that are each one half step above or below the next note.
In addition to this initial row, the composer can use alternate variations of these twelve notes. For example, they can be played in the reverse order, in the reverse order with the rhythms also reversed, or played one half note above the original notes. The composer can also use the transpositions of these variations—playing them in a different key—as long as the resulting piece still adheres to the basic rules.
The musical piece should not include any harmonious combinations or melodies that are similar to those in tonal music. In atonal music, no single note should be sounded long enough that it becomes dominant or more important than any of the others. The strictest application of the twelve-tone technique also requires that no single note be repeated until the other eleven notes of the row have been used first.
Following these rules is not as restricting as it might seem. Adherence to the rules still leaves the composer with forty-eight variations of the original row with which to work. These can be charted on a grid that is twelve squares by twelve squares, forming the basis for composing.
Schoenberg facilitated this by writing out the possible notes on strips of paper that each included a single sheet music staff. He then took these strips and wrapped them side by side around a cardboard tube, aligning them so that he could read across the strips to find the corresponding notes that would fit the requirements set for the piece.
Not every composer of atonal music followed every rule. Schoenberg himself was known to deviate from it on occasion. Others also experimented with the technique, including Josef Matthias Hauer and Charles Ives, but Schoenberg's method became the best known. He published Theory of Harmony, which promoted atonal music, in 1911 and composed several works using his method throughout the 1920s. He believed his work would secure Germany as a musical powerhouse for generations. "Erwartung," composed in 1909, is one of his most famous atonal works.
While musicians and composers found the technique and the concept of atonal music to be important, the music-listening public was less interested. Some people find atonal music to be jarring, unpleasant, and difficult to hear. This is possibly because most Western cultures are more accustomed to tonal music and learn to prefer it from childhood. The lack of melody and seemingly random tones of some stretches of atonal music can make it seem discordant to listeners. In the latter part of the twentieth century, some composers began to compensate for this by including bits of more traditional tonal music within their atonal works.
Bibliography
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Hoffman, Miles. "Atonal Music." South Carolina Public Radio,8 June 2016, etvradio.org/post/atonal-music. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.
Ribe, Neil M. "Atonal Music and Its Limits." Commentary,1 Nov. 1987, www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/atonal-music-and-its-limits/. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.
Román, Dan. "Twelve-Tone Technique: A Quick Reference." Musike, Revista Del Conservatorio de Musica de Puerto Rico, musike.cmpr.edu/docs/v001/roman-eng.pdf. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.
Service, Tom. "Schoenberg: the Anti-Revolutionary." Guardian, 24 Jan. 2013, www.theguardian.com/music/tomserviceblog/2013/jan/24/schoenberg-anti-revolutionary. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.
Tommasini, Anthony. "Unraveling the Knots of the 12 Tones." New York Times, 14 Oct. 2007, www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/arts/music/14tomm.html. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.
"Twelve-Tone Composition." Northern Arizona University, jan.ucc.nau.edu/~krr2/12tone/12tone1.html. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.
"Twelve-Tone Technique: A Primer." Tufts University, emerald.tufts.edu/~mdevoto/12TonePrimer.pdf. Accessed 9 Jan. 2017.