Dodecaphony

Dodecaphony, or twelve-tone music, took root in early 20th-century Vienna when a chap named Arnold Schoenberg decided that the traditional way of composing was a bit too predictable for his liking. This genre is all about using each of the twelve semitones of the chromatic scale without repeating any, which sounds like a tedious puzzle that even the most patient of souls might find a touch infuriating. The result is a soundscape that can resemble a cat walking over a piano, with dedicated fans arguing passionately about its brilliance whilst the rest of us quietly wonder what on earth just happened.