New-age music is downtempo music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management or to create a peaceful atmosphere in their home or other environments, and is often associated with environmentalism and New Age spirituality.
The harmonies in new-age music are generally modal, consonant, or include a drone bass, and are often structured as variations on a theme. The melodies are sometimes recordings of nature sounds and used as an introduction to a track or throughout the piece. Pieces of up to thirty minutes are common.
New-age music includes both electronic forms, frequently relying on sustained synth 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.
Vocal arrangements were initially rare in new-age music but as it has evolved vocals have become more common, especially vocals featuring Native American, Sanskrit, or Tibetan influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology such as Celtic legends or the realm of Faerie.
History
New-age music was influenced by a wide range of artists from a variety of genres—for example, folk instrumentalists John Fahey and Leo Kottke, classical minimalists Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, synthesizer performers Pink Floyd and Brian Eno, and impressionistic jazz artists Keith Jarrett, Paul Horn (beginning with 1968's Inside) and Pat Metheny. Many different styles and combinations of electronic experimental and acoustic new-age music were introduced in the 1970s including music from Asia, such as Kitaro and Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Steven Halpern's Spectrum Suite, released in 1975, is generally credited as the album that began the new-age music movement. New-age music was initially produced and sold only by independent labels. The sales reached significant numbers in unusual outlets such as bookstores, gift stores, health food stores and boutiques, as well as direct mail. Another prominent example of an early new-age album was when in 1979, R&B musician Stevie Wonder created the soundtrack for the documentary (based on the book) The Secret Life of Plants, which in turn was the first digital recording of a new-age album. In 1981, Tower Records in Mountain View, California added a "New Age" bin. By 1985, independent and chain record retail stores were adding sections for new-age music and major labels began showing interest in the genre, both through acquisition of some existing new-age labels such as Paul Winter's Living Music and through signing of new-age artists such as Kitaro and jazz crossover artist Pat Metheny, both signed by Geffen.
On Valentine's Day in 1987, the former Los Angeles rock radio station KMET changed to a full-time new-age music format with new call letters KTWV, branded as The Wave. During The Wave's new-age music period, management told the station employees to refer to The Wave as a "mood service" rather than a "radio station". DJs stopped announcing the titles of the songs, and instead, to maintain an uninterrupted mood, listeners could call a 1-800 phone number to find out what song was playing. News breaks were also re-branded and referred to as "wave breaks". Stations in other cities followed this lead and in 1983, Stephen Hill's radio showMusic From The Hearts of Space was picked up by NPR for syndication to 230 affiliates nationally. Other new-age music specialty radio programs included Forest's Musical Starstreams and John Diliberto's Echoes. Most major cable television networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for new-age music, such as the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice.
By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing new-age music, and new-age music and adult alternative programs were carried on hundreds of commercial and college radio stations in the U.S., and over 40 distributors were selling new-age music through mail order catalogs.
The harmonies in new-age music are generally modal, consonant, or include a drone bass, and are often structured as variations on a theme. The melodies are sometimes recordings of nature sounds and used as an introduction to a track or throughout the piece. Pieces of up to thirty minutes are common.
New-age music includes both electronic forms, frequently relying on sustained synth 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.
Vocal arrangements were initially rare in new-age music but as it has evolved vocals have become more common, especially vocals featuring Native American, Sanskrit, or Tibetan influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology such as Celtic legends or the realm of Faerie.
History
New-age music was influenced by a wide range of artists from a variety of genres—for example, folk instrumentalists John Fahey and Leo Kottke, classical minimalists Terry Riley, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, synthesizer performers Pink Floyd and Brian Eno, and impressionistic jazz artists Keith Jarrett, Paul Horn (beginning with 1968's Inside) and Pat Metheny. Many different styles and combinations of electronic experimental and acoustic new-age music were introduced in the 1970s including music from Asia, such as Kitaro and Yellow Magic Orchestra.
Steven Halpern's Spectrum Suite, released in 1975, is generally credited as the album that began the new-age music movement. New-age music was initially produced and sold only by independent labels. The sales reached significant numbers in unusual outlets such as bookstores, gift stores, health food stores and boutiques, as well as direct mail. Another prominent example of an early new-age album was when in 1979, R&B musician Stevie Wonder created the soundtrack for the documentary (based on the book) The Secret Life of Plants, which in turn was the first digital recording of a new-age album. In 1981, Tower Records in Mountain View, California added a "New Age" bin. By 1985, independent and chain record retail stores were adding sections for new-age music and major labels began showing interest in the genre, both through acquisition of some existing new-age labels such as Paul Winter's Living Music and through signing of new-age artists such as Kitaro and jazz crossover artist Pat Metheny, both signed by Geffen.
On Valentine's Day in 1987, the former Los Angeles rock radio station KMET changed to a full-time new-age music format with new call letters KTWV, branded as The Wave. During The Wave's new-age music period, management told the station employees to refer to The Wave as a "mood service" rather than a "radio station". DJs stopped announcing the titles of the songs, and instead, to maintain an uninterrupted mood, listeners could call a 1-800 phone number to find out what song was playing. News breaks were also re-branded and referred to as "wave breaks". Stations in other cities followed this lead and in 1983, Stephen Hill's radio showMusic From The Hearts of Space was picked up by NPR for syndication to 230 affiliates nationally. Other new-age music specialty radio programs included Forest's Musical Starstreams and John Diliberto's Echoes. Most major cable television networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for new-age music, such as the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice.
By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing new-age music, and new-age music and adult alternative programs were carried on hundreds of commercial and college radio stations in the U.S., and over 40 distributors were selling new-age music through mail order catalogs.