New Age music is peaceful music of various styles that is intended to create relaxation and positive feelings. Some but not all new age music is associated with New Age beliefs. New Age music is typically relaxing and inspiring, and is often used by listeners for such activities as yoga, massage, meditation, reading, as a method of stress management^[1] or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments. This article is about Western art music from 1000 AD to the present. ... For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ... Musique concrète (French; literally, concrete music), is a style of avant-garde music that relies on natural environmental sounds and other non-musical noises to create music. ... For the Swedish political music movement, see progg. ... Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that attempts to replicate the mind-altering experiences of hallucinogenic drugs. ... World music is, most generally, all the music in the world. ... Krautrock, also known as Kosmische Musik, is a generic name for the experimental music scene that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s. ... Experimental music is any music that challenges the commonly accepted notions of what music is. ... Ambient music is a musical genre in which sound is more important than notes. ... For other uses, see Minimalism (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... Pianoforte redirects here. ... Synth redirects here. ... An AKAI MPC2000 sampler Playing a Yamaha SU10 Sampler A sampler is an electronic music instrument closely related to a synthesizer. ... The word sequencer can mean: a microsequencer in a computer CPU a music sequencer in the field of electronic music a DNA sequencer or a protein sequencer in the field of biology Sequencer (album) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share... This article is about the machine. ... A string instrument (also stringed instrument) is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. ... Found art, or more commonly and less confusingly, Found Object (French: objet trouvé) is a term used to describe art created from common objects not normally considered to be artistic (also assemblage). ... Blackbird (Turdus merula), singing male. ... Humpback whales are well known for their songs Whale song is the sounds made by whales to communicate. ... For other uses, see Waterfall (disambiguation). ... Acoustic guitar can refer to the following musical instruments: Nylon and gut stringed guitars: Renaissance guitar Baroque guitar Romantic guitar Classical guitar, the modern version of the original guitar, with nylon strings Flamenco guitar Steel stringed guitars: Steel-string acoustic guitar, also known as western, folk or country guitar Twelve... For other uses, see Flute (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Harp (disambiguation). ... Diagram of some sitar parts. ... The tambura is a musical instrument used in various places around the world. ... The tabla (Hindi: तब्ला, tablā, Urdu: تبلہ) is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in the classical, popular and religious music of the Indian subcontinent and in Hindustani classical music. ... Old Pipe organ in Église Saint-Thomas, Strasbourg, France. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... The term post-rock was coined by Simon Reynolds in issue 123 of The Wire (May 1994) to describe a sort of music using rock instrumentation for non-rock purposes, using guitars as facilitators of timbres and textures rather than riffs and powerchords. ... Celtic Fusion is a broad umbrella term for modern music which incorporates traditional Celtic influences, or Celtic music which incorporates modern music. ... A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in one movement in which some extra-musical programme provides a narrative or illustrative element. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... For other uses such as Yoga postures, see Yoga (disambiguation) Statue of Shiva performing Yogic meditation Yoga (Sanskrit: योग Yog, IPA: ) is a group of ancient spiritual practices designed for the purpose of cultivating a steady mind. ... Massage in Frankfurt, Germany. ... For other senses of this word, see Meditation (disambiguation). ... A cluttered environment with too many tasks can lead to stress. ...

The harmonies in new age music are generally modal, consonant, or include a drone bass. The melodies are often repetitive, to create a hypnotic feeling, and sometimes recordings of nature sounds are used as an introduction to a track or throughout the piece. Songs of up to 30 minutes duration are not uncommon. This article is about modes as used in music. ... In music, a consonance (Latin consonare, sounding together) is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance, which is considered unstable. ... In tonal music, a pedal point (also pedal tone, organ point, or just pedal) is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i. ...

New Age music includes both electronic forms, frequently relying on sustained pads or long sequencer-based runs, and acoustic forms, featuring instruments such as flutes, piano, acoustic guitar and a wide variety of non-western acoustic instruments. In many cases, high-quality digitally sampled instruments are used instead of natural acoustic instruments. Vocal arrangements were initially rare in New Age music but as it has evolved vocals have become more common, especially vocals featuring Sanskrit, Tibetan or Native American-influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology such as Celtic legends or the realm of Faerie. For other uses, see Electronic music (disambiguation). ... A Synth pad is a synthesizer which generates a harmonic background sound used in electronic music pieces. ... In the field of electronic music, a sequencer was traditionally a device or piece of software that allows the user to record, play back and edit musical patterns. ... Acoustic music refers to music that solely or primarily uses instruments which produce sound through entirely acoustic means, as opposed to electronic means. ... This article is about reusing existing sound recordings in creating new works. ... Sanskrit ( , for short ) is a classical language of India, a liturgical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism, and one of the 23 official languages of India. ... This article is about historical/cultural Tibet. ... For other uses, see Native Americans (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Mythology (disambiguation). ... The nature and functions of these ancient gods can be deduced from their names, the location of their inscriptions, their iconography, the Roman gods they are equated with, and similar figures from later bodies of Celtic mythology. ... In mythology and in fiction, Faerie (see also fairy) is an otherworldly realm, home to the Fae or fairies, though many believe this place to be neither mythical nor fictional, but quite real. ...

History

New Age music has its basis in the work of 1960s European and American electronic and acoustic musicians exploring music for creating expanded consciousness. In the late 1970s, music began to be recorded specifically for the purposes of meditation and relaxation. During the early 1980s, the term "New Age music" was introduced more widely to the public by radio stations and then by music retailers and some record companies, as a marketing tag applied to a variety of non-mainstream instrumental music styles. Radio stations in major markets (such as "the Wave" in Los Angeles) defined themselves as "New Age", while playing some New Age music and using nature sounds in their station-id's, yet those stations also heavily featured styles musically and philosophically unrelated to New Age music, for example, Smooth Jazz. The first true New Age radio station is the U.S. was KLRS (Colours) in Santa Cruz, CA with a non-stop playlist of New Age music and is considered the first New Age station in the world. Most major cable television networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for New Age music, such as for example, the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice. ..New Age Music is designed to enhance your natural state of being; promoting relaxation, healing, enlightenment, general connectivity to the Universe, and any other form of positive energy. Philosophies from Pagan, to Christian, to a number of eastern philosophies are embraced through New Age music, depending on the artist. Smooth Jazz, also sometimes referred to as new adult contemporary music,[1] is generally described as a genre of music that utilizes instruments (and, at times, improvisation) traditionally associated with jazz and stylistic influences drawn from mostly R&B, but also funk and pop. ... Cable TV redirects here. ... Music Choice is a U.S. company that programs music and produces music-related content for digital cable, cell phones, and cable modem subscribers in the US. Music Choice programs dozens of audio music channels for digital cable subscribers, as well as programs and produces music-related content for on...

Definitions

Etherea (Colin Ross)

An example of new age music, performed on recorder and featuring ambient chirping birds. 3 min 8 sec

Problems listening to the file? See media help.

New Age music is defined more by the feeling it produces rather than the devices used in its creation; it may be electronic or acoustic, or a mixture of both. New Age artists range from solo or ensemble performances using Western instruments such as piano, acoustic guitar, flutes, harps and many others, to electronic musical instruments, and Eastern instruments such as sitar, tamboura, tabla; and instruments from all other parts of the world, the human voice singing in languages from all around the world. Various recorders The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes — whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle and ocarina. ... Western music is the genres of music originating in the Western world (Europe and its former colonies) including Western classical music, American Jazz, Country and Western, pop music and rock and roll. ... An electronic musical instrument is a musical instrument that produces its sounds using electronics. ...

Some New Age music artists openly embrace New Age beliefs, while other artists and bands have specifically stated that they do not consider their own music to be New Age, even when their work has been labeled as such by record labels, music retailers, or radio broadcasters. New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ...

There is a significant overlap of sectors of New Age music, Ambient music, electronica, World music, Chillout, spacemusic and others. The two definitions typically used for New Age are: Ambient music is a musical genre in which sound is more important than notes. ... Electronica refers to a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; but unlike electronic dance music, is not specifically focused on the dance floor. ... World music is, most generally, all the music in the world. ... Chill out (sometimes chillout), a term derived from a slang injunction to relax, emerged in the early and mid-1990s as a catch-all term for various styles of relatively mellow, slow-tempo music made by contemporary producers in the electronic music scene. ...

• New age music with an ambient sound that has the explicit purpose of aiding meditation and relaxation, or aiding and enabling various alternative spiritual practices, such as meditative healing, chakra auditing, and so on. The proponents of this definition are almost always musicians who create their music expressly for these purposes.^[2] Prominent artists who create New Age music expressly for healing or meditation include Aeoliah, Deuter, Deepak Chopra, and Steven Halpern.

• Music which is found in the New Age section of the record store.^[2] This is largely a definition of practicality, given the breadth of music that is classified as "new age" by retailers who are often less interested in finely-grained distinctions between musical styles than are fans of those styles. Music which falls into this definition is usually music which cannot be easily classified into other, more common definitions, but often includes well-defined music such as Worldbeat and Flamenco guitar. Musicians as varied as George Winston, Dean Evenson, Will Ackerman, Suzanne Ciani, Jim Brickman, Enya, B-Tribe, Deep Forest, Jean Michel Jarre, Enigma, Kitaro, Yanni, Oscar Lopez, Mike Oldfield and Steve Roach are typically classified as New Age despite their wildly divergent musical styles. It also includes expressly spiritual New Age music as a subset.

For the Naruto jutsu, see Chakra (Naruto). ... Aeoliah is an ambient musician. ... For the backpack brand, see Deuter Sport. ... Deepak Chopra (Hindi: ; born October 22, 1946), an Indian medical doctor and writer, has written extensively on spirituality and diverse topics in mind-body medicine. ... In popular music, worldbeat refers to any style of music which fuses folk music from non-traditional sources (essentially, outside the Appalachian folk and Celtic traditions) with Western rock or other pop influences. ... Flamenco is a Spanish musical genre with strong, rhythmic undertones and is often accompanied with a similarly impassioned style of dance characterized by its powerful yet graceful execution, as well as its intricate hand and footwork. ... George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana. ... Dean Evenson is a New Age musician and producer. ... William Ackerman is a musician specializing in acoustic-based instrumental music. ... Suzanne Ciani is a pioneer in electronic music and one of the few women to blaze a trail in the genre. ... Jim Brickman (born November 20, 1961) is an American composer and contemporary pianist. ... For the letter Ñ pronounced Enye, see Ñ. Enya (born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin[4] on 17 May 1961, Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, Ireland), sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan, is an Irish singer and songwriter. ... B-tribe is a band originating in Spain whigh features electronically synthesized sounds, flamenco guitar, and opera-like vocals. ... Deep Forest is a musical group consisting of two French musicians, Eric Mouquet and Michel Sanchez. ... Jean-Michel André Jarre (born August 24, 1948 in Lyon, France) is a French composer, performer and music producer. ... Enigma is an innovative electronic musical project founded by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. ... Kitaro Kitaro (喜多郎 Kitarō) (born as Masanori Takahashi (高橋正則 Takahashi Masanori) on February 4, 1953 in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. ... Yanni (born Yiannis Chrysomallis, Greek: Γιάννης Χρυσομάλλης, on November 14, 1954) is a Greek keyboardist and composer. ... Oscar Lopez (born 1954 in Santiago, Chile) is a Chilean-Canadian folk guitarist. ... Michael Gordon Oldfield (born May 15, 1953 in Reading, England) is a multi-instrumentalist musician and composer, working a style that blends progressive rock, folk, ethnic or world music, classical music, electronic music and more recently dance. ...

Influences and themes

From 1968 to 1973, German musicians such as Holger Czukay (a former student of Karlheinz Stockhausen), Popol Vuh and Ashra released a number of works featuring experimental sounds and textures build with "electronics", synthesizers, acoustic and electric instruments; their music, referred to as Cosmic music can be regarded as Ambient or New Age, depending on point of view. Later Brian Eno defined the styles and patterns of Ambient in a way that easily merged and co-developed with the styles of many musicians such as Robert Fripp, Jon Hassell, Laraaji, Harold Budd, Cluster, Jah Wobble from late 1970s to today. Holger Czukay (born March 24, 1938) is a German musician, probably best known as a co-founder of the krautrock group Can. ... Karlheinz Stockhausen (born August 22, 1928) is a German composer, and one of the most important and controversial composers of the 20th century (Barret 1988, 45; Harvey 1975b, 705; Hopkins 1972, 33; Klein 1968, 117; Power 1990, 30). ... Popol Vuh is a German cosmic music band founded by pianist and keyboardist Florian Fricke in 1970 together with Holger Trulzsch (percussion) and Frank Fiedler (electronics). ... Ash Ra Tempel were one of the more notable German Krautrock groups of the 70s and 80s. ... Kosmische Musik is a style of mostly electronic music that was born in Germany in late 1960s-early 1970s; the term often refers to the whole German electronic and prog rock scene, including the so called Krautrock. ... Brian Eno (pronounced IPA: ) born on 15 May 1948 in Woodbridge, Suffolk, England) is an English electronic musician, music theorist and record producer. ... Robert Fripp (born 16 May 1946 in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England) is a guitarist, record producer and a composer, perhaps best known for being the guitarist for, and only constant member of, the progressive rock band King Crimson. ... Not to be confused with The Libertiness bassist John Hassall Jon Hassell (born March 22, 1937, Memphis, Tennessee) is an American musician and trumpet player. ... Born Edward Larry Gordon in 1943 in Philadelphia, he studied violin, piano, trombone and voice in his early years in New Jersey. ... Harold Budd (born May 24, 1936) is an American ambient/avant-garde composer. ... Cluster is a German krautrock musical group who influenced the development of new age music and ambient music. ... Jah Wobble (born John Wardle, Stepney 1958) is an English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. ...

Other influences are early electronic music, classical music, ethnic music and world music. The minimalism of Terry Riley and Steve Reich (Indian influenced in the former case) can also be cited as an influence, along with artists like Tony Conrad, LaMonte Young who utilized drones since the early 1960s. Connected to the creation of New Age music is the resurgence of interest in Gregorian Chant during the second half of the 20th century. Now, New Age music has branched out and also includes chanting of "spiritual" or ancient languages, and includes, but is not limited to Sanskrit, Latin, Gaelic and Hebrew. Popular artists in this genre include: Krishna Das, Deva Premal, and Bhagavan Das. This article is about Western art music from 1000 AD to the present. ... Folk music, in the original sense of the term, is music by and of the people. ... World music is, most generally, all the music in the world. ... This article is about a musical style. ... Terry Riley – (Portrait by Betty Freeman) Terry Riley (born 24 June 1935) is an American composer associated with the minimalist school. ... Stephen Michael Reich (born October 3, 1936) is an American composer. ... Tony Conrad (born Anthony S. Conrad in 1940) is an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician/composer, sound artist, teacher and writer. ... La Monte Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer whose eccentric and often hard-to-find works have been included among the most important post World War 2 avant garde or experimental music. ... Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song of the Roman Catholic Church. ... Krishna Das (born Jeffrey Kagel in Long Island, New York) is a singer who performs Indian chants called kirtans. ... Deva Premal (born in 1970 in Germany), is a musician known for her New Age meditative music, which puts ancient Hindu mantras into atmospheric, contemporary settings. ... Sri Bhagavan Das Bhagavan Das (born Kermit Michael Riggs in Laguna Beach, California in 1945, also known as Anagorika Dharma Sara within the Buddhist tradition), is a Western Yogi who lived for many years in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. ...

The solo ECM performances by artists like Keith Jarrett (especially his record The Köln Concert), Ralph Towner (especially his records Blue Sun and Solo Concert) and Lyle Mays's first eponymous album, are usually thought to be an influence on Ambient/New Age music. ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is a record label founded in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. ... For other persons named Keith Jarrett, see Keith Jarrett (disambiguation). ... The Köln Concert is a recording released through ECM by the renowned jazz pianist Keith Jarrett, who performed solo improvisations at the Cologne Opera House at Köln/Cologne in 1975. ... Ralph Towner (b. ... Lyle Mays (born November 27, 1953) is a jazz pianist. ...

The acoustic solo and group performances by the early Windham Hill artists such as Andy Summers, William Ackerman, Alex de Grassi, George Winston, and Michael Hedges were called New Age for much of the last 30 years. Windham Hill Records is a record company, founded in the 1976 by guitarist and carpenter William Ackerman and wife Anne Robinson. ... Andy Summers (born Andrew James Somers 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist and composer best known for his work in The Police. ... William Ackerman is a musician specializing in acoustic-based instrumental music. ... Alex de Grassi is a Grammy Award-nominated American fingerstyle guitarist. ... George Winston (born 1949) is an American pianist who was born in Michigan, and grew up in Miles City, Montana. ... Michael Hedges 1953-1997 Michael Hedges (December 31, 1953 – December 2, 1997) was an American acoustic guitarist born in Enid, Oklahoma. ...

Popular themes in New Age music include space and the cosmos, environment and nature, wellness in being, harmony with one's self and the world, dreams or dreaming and journeys of the mind or spirit. Titles of New Age songs are frequently descriptive: examples include Principles of Lust (Enigma), Shepherd Moons (Enya), Straight' a Way To Orion (Kitaro), and One Deep Breath (Bradley Joseph). Dreaming is the subjective experience of imaginary images, sounds/voices, thoughts or sensations during sleep, usually involuntarily. ... Principles of Lust is a 1991 song created by the musical project, Enigma. ... Enigma is an innovative electronic musical project founded by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. ... Shepherd Moons is an album by Irish musician Enya, 1991 (see 1991 in music). ... For the letter Ñ pronounced Enye, see Ñ. Enya (born Eithne Patricia Ní Bhraonáin[4] on 17 May 1961, Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, Ireland), sometimes presented in the media as Enya Brennan, is an Irish singer and songwriter. ... Kitaro Kitaro (喜多郎 Kitarō) (born as Masanori Takahashi (高橋正則 Takahashi Masanori) on February 4, 1953 in Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan) is a composer and multi-instrumentalist. ... One Deep Breath is Bradley Josephs fifth album, released in 2002 (see 2002 in music). ... Bradley Joseph (born in 1965) is an American composer, pianist, keyboardist, arranger, and recording artist, performing on the international stage for many years with artists such as Yanni and Grammy-winner Sheena Easton, as well as having vast experience with artists from RCA, Epic Records, Warner Bros. ...

Alternative terms to "New Age"

As described in this article, the borders of this genre are not well defined; however music retail stores will include artists in the "New Age" category even if the artists themselves use different names for their style of music. Here are some other terms used for "New Age".

Contemporary Instrumental

This is a term that may be used most often, and can include artists that do not use electronic instruments in their music, such as solo pianist David Lanz.^[3] Similarly, pianists such as Yanni ^[4] and Bradley Joseph ^[5] both use this term as well, although they use keyboards to incorporate layered orchestral textures into their compositions.

Adult Contemporary

This term, used by Jim Brickman^[6]; it is a type of radio format that plays mainstream contemporary pop music, excluding hip hop and hard rock; this music is intended more for adults than teens.

Contemporary Adult Instrumental

This term was suggested by Steven Halpern in the June 1999 issue of New Age Voice as an alternative catch-all label for music which is classified by retailers as "New Age", but which is not expressly spiritual in nature.

This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Yanni (born Yiannis Chrysomallis, Greek: Γιάννης Χρυσομάλλης, on November 14, 1954) is a Greek keyboardist and composer. ... Bradley Joseph (born in 1965) is an American composer, pianist, keyboardist, arranger, and recording artist, performing on the international stage for many years with artists such as Yanni and Grammy-winner Sheena Easton, as well as having vast experience with artists from RCA, Epic Records, Warner Bros. ... Piano, a well-known instance of keyboard instruments A keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. ... For other uses, see Orchestra (disambiguation). ... Adult contemporary music, frequently abbreciated to just AC, is a type of radio format that plays mainstream and pop music, without hip-hop or rap since, as per the name, it is geared more towards adults than teens. ... Jim Brickman (born November 20, 1961) is an American composer and contemporary pianist. ... This article is about the genre of popular music. ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began amongst urban African American youth in New York and has since spread around the world. ... Hard Rock redirects here. ...

References

See also

• Ambient music
• Biomusic
• Meditation music
• List of new age and new instrumental musicians
• Space music
• World music

Ambient music is a musical genre in which sound is more important than notes. ... This is a list of New Age music and/or new instrumental music artists with articles on Wikipedia: New age music is broadly defined as relaxing, even meditative, music that is primarily instrumental. ... For other uses see Space-themed music, Space rock, Space jazz, or Space (disambiguation) Space music typically evokes a sense of spatial imagery and emotion or sensations of floating, cruising, flying. ... World music is, most generally, all the music in the world. ...

External links

• New Age Reporter comprehensive online resource of music reviews and radio play rankings of New Age, Contemporary Instrumental, Acoustic, Electronic, Celtic, Ambient, Meditative, Native American, World CD releases that fall outside the coverage of areas of Billboard.

• rec.music.newage resource Vast Newage resource site.
• New Age Music? What is it? Paul Adams' New Age Music article.
• Discography of New Age, Electronic, and Ambient Music