A compositional system in music using all twelve tones of the chromatic scale equally, with no tone repeated until all twelve have been used.
From Greek 'dodeca' (twelve) + 'phonē' (sound) + '-ism' (doctrine or practice). The term was coined in the early 20th century to name Arnold Schoenberg's revolutionary musical method, also known as serialism or twelve-tone technique.
Dodecaphonism literally changed how composers think about music—before Schoenberg, most Western music was built on the idea that some notes are 'home base' and others are tension, but dodecaphonism said: treat all twelve pitches as equals, which felt shocking and liberating to some, atonal and chaotic to others.
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