New Age Music

NEW AGE MUSIC

WHAT IS NEW AGE MUSIC?

A genre of music intended to create:

• Artistic Inspiration

• Relaxation

• Optimism.

WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

• Yoga

• Massage

• Meditation

• Reading as a method of stress management

• To create a peaceful atmosphere in their home

HOW IS IT MADE?• Electronic forms

• Sustained synth pads or long sequencer-based runs

• Acoustic forms

It features instruments like

• Flutes

• Piano

• Acoustic Guitar

• Non-Western Acoustic Instruments

HOW IS IT MADE?

• Vocal arrangements were initially rare Now it features

• Native American

• Sanskrit

• Tibetan-influenced chants

• lyrics based on mythology such as Celtic legends.

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

• A religious or spiritual movement that developed in Western nations during the 1970s.

• The movement is characterized by a holistic view of the cosmos, a belief in an emergent Age of Aquarius

• Emphasizes on self-spirituality and the authority of the self, a focus on healing (particularly with alternative therapies), a belief in channeling, and an adoption of a "New Age science"

WHERE DID IT COME FROM?

• After the political turmoil of the 1960s, many activists in North America and Europe became disillusioned revolutionary political ideologies.

• Some began searching for a new system that gave special weight to consciousness, ecology, personal and spiritual development, community empowerment, and global unity

HOW DID IT EVOLVE?

Pioneers included

• Pink Floyd

• Brian Eno

• Kitaro

HOW DID IT EVOLVE

• On Valentine's Day in 1987, Los Angeles rock radio station KMET changed to a full-time new-age-music format with new call letters KTWV, branded as The Wave

• Management told the station employees to refer to The Wave as a "mood service" rather than a "radio station".

HOW DID IT EVOLVE

• DJs stopped announcing the titles of the songs to maintain an uninterrupted mood,

• Listeners had to call a 1-800 phone number to find out what song was playing.

• News breaks were re-branded and referred to as "wave breaks".

HOW DID IT EVOLVE• Most major cable television networks launched new

age channels like "Soundscapes" on Music Choice.

• By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing new-age music

• New-age music was carried on hundreds of commercial and college radio stations in the U.S.,

• Over 40 distributors were selling new-age music through mail-order catalogs.

SUB GENRES

• Neoclassical New Age

• Space Music

• Andean New Age

FUSION GENRES

• Celtic Fusion