Serialism is a compositional technique in which a numeric series was the unifying idea of a composition. a series of five pitches could be constantly repeated. a series of rhythms, dynamics, or tone colors could serve as a unifying idea. a series of musical ideas would follow each other in quick succession.

Serialism is a compositional technique in which a series of rhythms, dynamics, or tone colors could serve as a unifying idea. Arnold Schoenberg was the pioneer of such method when he composed the twelve-tone technique. Some of his contemporaries during that time period also attempted to do such composition but they were trying to establish it as form of post-tonal thinking.