Editing Serialism (section)

{{Short description|Musical method or technique of composition}}
{{for|the theory of dreams and time|Serialism (philosophy)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
[[Image:Nono - Variazioni canoniche, rhythmic values row.png|thumb|upright=1.5|Six-element [[set (music)|row]] of rhythmic values used in ''Variazioni canoniche'' by [[Luigi Nono]].{{sfn|Whittall|2008|p=165}}]]

In music, '''serialism''' is a method of [[Musical composition|composition]] using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other [[elements of music|musical elements]]. Serialism began primarily with [[Arnold Schoenberg]]'s [[twelve-tone technique]], though some of his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as a form of [[atonality|post-tonal]] thinking. Twelve-tone technique orders the twelve notes of the [[chromatic scale]], forming a [[tone row|row]] or series and providing a unifying basis for a composition's [[melody]], [[harmony]], structural progressions, and [[variation (music)|variations]]. Other types of serialism also work with [[set (music)|sets]], collections of objects, but not necessarily with fixed-order series, and extend the technique to other musical dimensions (often called "[[parameter (music)|parameters]]"), such as [[duration (music)|duration]], [[Dynamics (music)|dynamics]], and [[timbre]].

The idea of serialism is also applied in various ways in the [[visual arts]], [[design]], and [[architecture]],{{sfn|Bandur|2001|pp=5, 12, 74}}{{sfn|Gerstner|1964|loc=passim}} and the musical concept has also been adapted in literature.{{sfn|Collot|2008|p=81}}{{sfn|Leray|2008|pp=217–219}}{{sfn|Waelti-Walters|1992|pp=37, 64, 81, 95}}

'''Integral serialism''' or '''total serialism''' is the use of series for aspects such as duration, dynamics, and register as well as pitch.{{sfn|Whittall|2008|p=273}} Other terms, used especially in Europe to distinguish post-World War II serial music from twelve-tone music and its American extensions, are '''general serialism''' and '''multiple serialism'''.{{sfn|Grant|2001|pp=5–6}}

Composers such as [[Arnold Schoenberg]], [[Anton Webern]], [[Alban Berg]], [[Karlheinz Stockhausen]], [[Pierre Boulez]], [[Luigi Nono]], [[Milton Babbitt]], [[Elisabeth Lutyens]], [[Henri Pousseur]], [[Charles Wuorinen]] and [[Jean Barraqué]] used serial techniques of one sort or another in most of their music. Other composers such as [[Tadeusz Baird]], [[Béla Bartók]], [[Luciano Berio]], [[Bruno Maderna]], [[Franco Donatoni]], [[Benjamin Britten]], [[John Cage]], [[Aaron Copland]], [[Ernst Krenek]], [[György Ligeti]], [[Olivier Messiaen]], [[Arvo Pärt]], [[Walter Piston]], [[Ned Rorem]], [[Alfred Schnittke]], [[Ruth Crawford Seeger]], [[Dmitri Shostakovich]], and [[Igor Stravinsky]] used serialism only in some of their compositions or only in some sections of pieces, as did some [[jazz]] composers, such as [[Bill Evans]], [[Yusef Lateef]], [[Bill Smith (jazz musician)|Bill Smith]], and even rock musicians like [[Frank Zappa]].