New-age is a genre of 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 Stress management is a wide spectrum of techniques and psychotherapies aimed at controlling a person's level of stress, especially chronic stress, usually for the purpose of and for the motive of improving everyday functioning. Stress produces num ...

to bring about a state of

ecstasy Ecstasy may refer to: * Ecstasy (emotion), a trance or trance-like state in which a person transcends normal consciousness * Religious ecstasy, a state of consciousness, visions or absolute euphoria * Ecstasy (philosophy), to be or stand outside o ...

rather than trance, or to create a peaceful atmosphere in homes or other environments. It is sometimes associated with environmentalism and New Age spirituality; however, most of its artists have nothing to do with "New age spirituality", and some even reject the term. New-age music includes both acoustic forms, featuring instruments such as

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

s, piano,

acoustic guitar An acoustic guitar is a musical instrument in the string family. When a string is plucked its vibration is transmitted from the bridge, resonating throughout the top of the guitar. It is also transmitted to the side and back of the instrument, ...

and a wide variety of non-Western acoustic instruments, and electronic forms, frequently relying on sustained

synth pad A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s or long sequencer-based runs. Vocal arrangements were initially rare in the genre, but as it has evolved, vocals have become more common, especially those featuring Native American-, Sanskrit-, or Tibetan-influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology such as

Celtic legends Celtic mythology is the body of myths belonging to the Celtic peoples.Cunliffe, Barry, (1997) ''The Ancient Celts''. Oxford, Oxford University Press , pp. 183 (religion), 202, 204–8. Like other Iron Age Europeans, Celtic peoples followed a ...

. There is no exact definition of new-age music. An article in ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' magazine in 1987 commented that "New Age music may be the most startling successful non-defined music ever to hit the public consciousness". Many consider it to be an umbrella term for marketing rather than a musical category, and to be part of a complex cultural trend. New-age music was influenced by a wide range of artists from a variety of genres. Tony Scott's '' Music for Zen Meditation'' (1964) is considered to be the first new-age recording. Paul Horn (beginning with 1968's ''Inside'') was one of the important predecessors.

Irv Teibel Irving Solomon "Irv" Teibel (October 9, 1938 – October 28, 2010) was an American field recordist, graphic designer, and photographer. His company, Syntonic Research, Inc., is best known for its influential '' environments'' psychoacoustic reco ...

's ''

Environments Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

'' series (1969–79) featured natural soundscapes, tintinnabulation, and " Om" chants and were some of the first publicly available psychoacoustic recordings. Steven Halpern's 1975 ''Spectrum Suite'' was a key work that began the new-age music movement.Wright, Carol
''Spectrum Suite''—Steven Halpern
AllMusic.

Definitions

New-age music is defined more by the use and effect or feeling it produces rather than the instruments and genre used in its creation; it may be acoustic, electronic, or a mixture of both. New-age artists range from solo or ensemble performances using classical-music instruments ranging from the piano, acoustic guitar, flute, or harp to electronic musical instruments, or from Eastern instruments such as the sitar, tabla and tamboura. There is also a significant overlap of sectors of new-age music with

ambient Ambient or Ambiance or Ambience may refer to: Music and sound * Ambience (sound recording), also known as atmospheres or backgrounds * Ambient music, a genre of music that puts an emphasis on tone and atmosphere * ''Ambient'' (album), by Moby * ...

, classical, jazz,

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...

, world, chillout,

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

, and

space music Space music, also called spacemusic or space ambient, is a subgenre of new-age music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is derived from ambient music and is associated with lounge music, easy listening, and elevator music. ...

, among others. The two definitions typically associated with the new-age genre are: * 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 alternative healing, yoga practice,

guided meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm ...

, or

chakra Chakras (, ; sa , text=चक्र , translit=cakra , translit-std=IAST , lit=wheel, circle; pi, cakka) are various focal points used in a variety of ancient meditation practices, collectively denominated as Tantra, or the esoteric or ...

auditing. The proponents of this definition are almost always musicians who create their music expressly for these purposes.Steven Halpern, ''New Age Voice Magazine'', June 1999 issue To be useful for meditation, music must have repetitive dynamic and texture without sudden loud chords or improvisation, which could disturb the meditator. It is minimalist in conception, and musicians in the genre are mostly instrumentalists rather than vocalists. Subliminal messages are also used in new-age music, and the use of instruments along with sounds of animals (like whales, wolves and eagles) and nature (waterfalls, ocean waves, rain) is also popular. Flautist Dean Evenson was one of the first musicians to combine peaceful music with the sounds of nature, launching a genre that became popular for massage and yoga. Other prominent artists who create new-age music expressly for healing or meditation include

, Paul Horn, Deuter, Steven Halpern,

Paul Winter Paul Winter (born August 31, 1939) is an American saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. He is a pioneer of world music and earth music, which interweaves the voices of the wild with instrumental voices from classical, jazz and world music. The ...

, Lawrence Ball,

Karunesh Karunesh ( sa, करुणेश, "God of Compassion"; born Bruno Reuter in 1956)Karunesh

Krishna Das, Deva Premal, Bhagavan Das, and

Snatam Kaur Snatam Kaur Khalsa ( pa, ਸਨਾਤਮ ਕੌਰ ਖ਼ਾਲਸਾ, born 1972 in Trinidad, Colorado), is an American singer, songwriter and author. Kaur performs new age Indian devotional music, kirtan, and tours the world as a peace acti ...

. * Music found in the new-age sections of record stores. This is largely a definition of practicality, given the breadth of music classified as "new age" by retailers that are often less interested in finely grained distinctions between musical styles than are fans of those styles. Music that falls into this definition usually cannot be easily classified into other, more common definitions, but can contain almost any kind of music; it is more of a marketing slogan rather than musical category.

Debate and criticism

Stephen Hill, founder of ''

Hearts of Space ''Hearts of Space'' is an American weekly syndicated public radio show featuring music of a contemplative nature"When you listen to space and ambient music you are connecting with a tradition of contemplative sound experience whose roots are an ...

'', considers that "many of the artists are very sincerely and fully committed to New Age ideas and ways of life". Some composers like Kitarō consider their music to be part of their spiritual growth, as well as expressing values and shaping the culture. Douglas Groothuis stated that rejection of all music labeled as "new age" would be to fall prey to a taboo mentality, as most of the music belongs to the "progressive" side of new-age music, where composers necessarily do not always have a New Age worldview. However, it is often noted that "new-age music" is a mere popular designation that successfully sells records. J. Gordon Melton argued that it does not refer to a specific genre of music, but to music used for therapeutic or other new-age purposes.

Kay Gardner Kay Gardner (born 1927) was a municipal politician in Toronto, Ontario. She was born in Poland and moved with her family to Canada in 1929. The family lived in Alberta and British Columbia. In 1947 she married a journalist, Ray Gardner, in Londo ...

considered the label "new age" an inauthentic commercial intention of so-called new-age music, saying "a lot of new age music is schlock", and how due to record sales, everyone with a home studio put in sounds of crickets, oceans or rivers as a guarantee of sales. What started as ambient mood music related with new-age activity became a term for a musical conglomeration of jazz, folk, rock, ethnic, classical, and electronica, among other styles, with the former, markedly different musical and theoretical movement. Under the umbrella term, some consider Mike Oldfield's 1973 progressive rock album '' Tubular Bells'' one of the first albums to be referred to under the genre description of new-age. Others consider music by Greek composer Vangelis and general modern jazz-rock fusion as exemplifing the progressive side of new-age music. Other artists included are Jean-Michel Jarre (even though his electronic excursions predate the term), Andreas Vollenweider, George Winston, Mark Isham, Michael Hedges, Shadowfax, Mannheim Steamroller, Kitarō, Yanni, Enya, Clannad, Era and Enigma. However, many musicians and composers dismiss the labeling of their music as "new age". When the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album was first created in 1987, its first winner, Andreas Vollenweider, said, "I don't have any intention to label my music... It's ridiculous to give a name to anything that is timeless". Peter Bryant, music director of WHYY-FM (90.9) and host of a new-age program, noted that "I don't care for the term... New-age has a negative connotation... In the circles I come in contact with, people working in music, 'new-age' is almost an insult", that it refers to "very vapid, dreamy kinds of dull music... with no substance or form or interest", and that the term has "stuck". Harold Budd said, "When I hear the term 'new-age' I reach for my revolver... I don't think of myself as making music that is only supposed to be in the background. It's embarrassing to inadvertently be associated with something that you know in your guts is vacuous." Vangelis considers it to be a style that "gave the opportunity for untalented people to make very boring music". Yanni stated that "I don't want to relax the audience; I want to engage them in the music, get them interested", and that "New age implies a more subdued, more relaxed music than what I do. My music can be very rhythmic, very energetic, even very ethnic." David Van Tieghem, George Winston and Kitarō also rejected the label of new-age artist. David Lanz said that he "finally figured out that the main reason people don't like the term new age is because it's the only musical category that isn't a musical term". Andreas Vollenweider noted that "we have sold millions of records worldwide before the category new age was actually a category", and shared the concern that "the stores are having this problem with categorization". Ron Goldstein, president of Private Music, agreed with such a standpoint, and explained that " Windham Hill was the hub of this whole thing. Because of that association, new-age has come to be perceived as this West Coast thing". However, Windham Hill's managing director Sam Sutherland argued that even the label's founders William Ackerman and Anne Robinson "shied away from using any idiomatic or generic term at all. It's always seemed a little synthetic", and they stopped making any kind of deliberate protests to the use of the term simply because it was inappropriate. Both Goldstein and Sutherland concluded that the tag helped move merchandise, and that new-age music would be absorbed into the general body of pop music within a few years after 1987. '' The New York Times'' music critic Jon Pareles noted that "new-age music" absorbed other styles in more softer form, but those same, well-defined styles do not need the new-age category, and that "new-age music" resembles other music because it is aimed as a marketing niche—to be a "formula show" designated for urban "ultra-consumers" as status accessory; he also said the Andean, Asian and African traditional music influences evoke the sense of "

cosmopolitanism Cosmopolitanism is the idea that all human beings are members of a single community. Its adherents are known as cosmopolitan or cosmopolite. Cosmopolitanism is both prescriptive and aspirational, believing humans can and should be " world citizens ...

", while nature in the album artwork and sound evoke the "connection to unspoiled landscapes".

Alternative terms

The borders of this umbrella genre are not well-defined, but music retail stores will include artists in the "new-age" category even if they belong to different genre, and those artists themselves use different names for their style of music. Kay Gardner called the original new-age music "healing music" or "women's spirituality".

, considered a new-age music pioneer, also dismissed the term, preferring "earth music". The term "instrumental music" or "contemporary instrumental" can include artists who do not use electronic instruments, such as solo pianist David Lanz. Similarly, pianists such as Yanni and Bradley Joseph use this term as well, although they use keyboards to incorporate layered orchestral textures into their compositions. Yanni has distinguished the music genre from the spiritual movement bearing the same name.Puckett, Jeffrey Lee
"Yanni up close: Musician known for larger-than-life venues also loves the Louisville Palace"
'' The Courier-Journal,'' April 26, 2012. The term "contemporary instrumental music" was also suggested by Andreas Vollenweider, while "adult alternative" by Gary L. Chappell, which was the term by which ''

'' called the new-age and world-music album charts.

History

The concept arose with the involvement of professional musicians in the New-Age movement. Initially, it was of no interest to the musical industry, so the musicians and related staff founded their own small independent recording businesses. Sales reached significant numbers in unusual outlets such as bookstores, gift stores, health-food stores and boutiques, as well as by direct mail. With the demand of a large market, the major recording companies began promoting new-age music in the 1980s. 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, minimalists Terry Riley,

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

La Monte Young La Monte Thornton Young (born October 14, 1935) is an American composer, musician, and performance artist recognized as one of the first American minimalist composers and a central figure in Fluxus and post-war avant-garde music. He is best kno ...

, and

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

, classical avant-garde Daniel Kobialka, synthesizer performers

Brian Eno Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (; born Brian Peter George Eno, 15 May 1948) is a British musician, composer, record producer and visual artist best known for his contributions to ambient music and work in rock, pop an ...

and

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experimentation, philo ...

, and jazz artists

Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American jazz and classical music pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a ...

, Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Paul Horn (beginning with 1968's ''Inside''), Paul Winter (beginning in the mid-1960s with the Paul Winter Consort) and Pat Metheny.Birosik, Patti Jean (1989). ''The New Age Music Guide''. Collier Books. .Werkhoven, Henk N. (1997). ''The International Guide to New Age Music''. Billboard Books / Crown Publishing Group. . Tony Scott's '' Music for Zen Meditation'' (1964) is considered to be the first new-age recording, but initially it was popular mostly in California, and was not sold nationally until the 1980s. Another school of meditation music arose among the followers of

Rajneesh Rajneesh (born Chandra Mohan Jain; 11 December 193119 January 1990), also known as Acharya Rajneesh, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, and later as Osho (), was an Indian Godman (India), godman, Mysticism, mystic, and founder of the Rajneesh movement. H ...

; Deuter recorded '' D'' (1971) and '' Aum'' (1972), which mixed acoustic and electronic instruments with sounds of the sea.

's song ''Lunamuse'' (1974) and first recording ''Mooncircles'' (1975), which were a synthesis of music, sexuality and Wiccan spirituality, were "new-age music before it got to be new-age music". Her ''A Rainbow Path'' (1984) embraced Halpern's theory of healing music from that time with women's spirituality, and she became one of the most popular new-age sacred-music artists. Mike Orme of ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' writes that many key

Berlin school Berlin School may refer to: * Berlin School of Creative Leadership * Berlin School of filmmaking *Berlin School of electronic music, or ''Krautrock'' *Berlin School of experimental psychology *Berliner Modell The Berlin Model (german: Berliner Mo ...

musicians helped popularise new-age. The 1972 Italian progressive group Celeste was the first to have created a new rock in the New Age style.

's '' Missa Gaia/Earth Mass'' (1982) is described as "a masterpiece of New Age ecological consciousness that celebrates the sacredness of land, sky, and sea". His work on the

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

is considered to be one of the most important musical expressions of new-age spirituality. On the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

, musicians concentrated more on music for healing and meditation. The most notable early work was Steven Halpern's ''Spectrum Suite'' (1975), the musical purpose of which was described as to "resonate specific areas of the body... it quiets the mind and body", and whose title relates "to the seven tones of the musical scale and the seven colors of the rainbow to the seven etheric energy sources (chakras) in our bodies". In the 1970s his music work, and the theoretical book ''Tuning the Human Instrument'' (1979), pioneered the contemporary practice of musical healing in the United States. In 1976 the record label Windham Hill Records was founded, with an initial $300 investment, and would gross over $26 million annually ten years later. Over the years many record labels were formed that embraced or rejected the new-age designation, such as Narada Productions, Private Music,

Music West Music West Records was an independent record company founded by Allan Kaplan on December 1985 in San Rafael, California. The company was initially formed to promote Ray Lynch, their first artist. During its run, artists released under the record ...

, Lifestyle, Audion, Sonic Atmospheres, Living Music, Terra ( Vanguard Records), Novus Records (which mainly recorded jazz music), FM ( CBS Masterworks) and Cinema (

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

). Between the intentional extremes of the U.S.' coasts are some of the most successful new-age artists, like George Winston and

R. Carlos Nakai Raymond Carlos Nakai (born April 16, 1946) is a Native American flute, Native American flutist of Navajo people, Navajo and Ute people, Ute heritage. Nakai played brass instruments in high school and college, and auditioned for the Armed Forces ...

. Winston's million-selling '' December'' (1982), released by Windham Hill Records, was highly popular. Most of Nakai's work, with his first release ''Changes'' in 1983, consists of improvised songs in native North American style. During the 1990s, his music became virtual anthems for new-age spirituality. 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, and major labels began showing interest in the genre, both through acquisition of some existing new-age labels such as

's Living Music and through signing of so-called "new-age" artists such as Japanese electronic composer Kitarō and American crossover jazz musician Pat Metheny, both signed by Geffen Records. Most of the major record labels accepted new age artists by the beginning of the next year. In the late 1980s the umbrella genre was the fastest-growing genre with significant radio broadcast. It was seen as an attractive business due to low recording costs. From 1982 to 1989, working on his own and with Lura Jane Geiger, Adam Geiger, a New Age composer/keyboardist, produced and sold a series of cassette tapes of New Age music on the LuraMedia recording label. Stephen Hill founded the new-age radio show ''

'' in 1973. In 1983, it was picked up by NPR for syndication to 230 affiliates nationally, and a year later Hill started a record label, Hearts of Space Records. 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 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". Other new-age-specialty radio programs included Forest's ''

Musical Starstreams ''Musical Starstreams'' (also known as ''Starstreams'') is a terrestrial and internet radio program that first aired in the San Francisco bay area in December 1981. Originally known as ''Music for Your Inner Space'', it has been produced, programm ...

'' and John Diliberto's ''

Echoes Echoes may refer to: * Echo (phenomenon) Film and television * ''Echoes'' (2014 film), an American supernatural horror film * ''Echoes'' (miniseries), a 2022 Netflix original drama series * "Echoes" (''Fear Itself''), an episode of ''Fear Itse ...

''. Most major cable television networks have channels that play music without visuals, including channels for New age, such as the "Soundscapes" channel on Music Choice. The two satellite radio companies Sirius Satellite Radio & XM Satellite Radio each had their own channels that played new-age music. Sirius— Spa (Sirius XM) (73), XM— Audio Visions (77). When the two merged in November 2008 and became SiriusXM, the Spa name was retained for the music channel with the majority of Audio Vision's music library being used. In 1987 was formed the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album, while in 1988 the ''

s New Age weekly charts. In 1989

Suzanne Doucet Suzanne Doucet is a German new-age musician, producer, composer, and singer, best known for being one of the founders of new age music. She was the founder of the first new age music store in Hollywood, California ''Only New Age Music'' in 1987 ...

produced and held the first international New-Age Music Conference in Los Angeles. By 1989, there were over 150 small independent record labels releasing new-age music, while new-age 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. In the 1990s many small labels of new-age style music emerged in Japan, but for this kind of instrumental music the terms "relaxing" or "healing" music were more popular. Enigma's Sadeness (Part I) became an international hit, reaching number one in 24 countries including UK, also number five on the US Billboard Hot 100, selling over 5 million worldwide. At the time Holland was the home of two leading European new-age labels—Oreade and Narada Media. Oreade reported that in 1997 the latest trend was "angelic" music, while Narada Media predicted that the genre would develop in the direction of world music (with Celtic, Irish and African influences). In 1995 some "new-age" composers like Kitarō, Suzanne Ciani and

Patrick O'Hearn Patrick John O'Hearn (born September 6, 1954) is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and recording artist. Known primarily as a bass guitarist and keyboardist, O'Hearn came to prominence with Frank Zappa and co-founded the early 1980s ...

moved from major to independent record labels due to lack of promotion, diminishing sales or limited freedom of creativity. In 2001 Windham Hill celebrated its 25th anniversary, Narada and Higher Octave Music continued to move into world and ethno-techno music, and Hearts of Space Records were bought by Valley Entertainment. Enya's " Only Time" peaked at #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the album '' A Day Without Rain'' at #2 on the Billboard 200, being the number one new-age artist of the year.

References

* * * * * *

External links