> I'm sure all the music you work with is up-to-the-minute 12-tone stuff with > rippling chromatic runs everywhere > 12 tone was invented by (or at least popularized by) Schoenberg in the 1920's I believe. Schoenberg spent his later years teaching at UCLA where the music hall is named after him to this day. Its not known for chromatic runs - but rather using all twelve tones in harmony so that there is no particular tonal center. And its not devilish, its actually refreshing in some ways, if you're around music a lot, not to hear the familiar cadences and predictable chord changes.