Space music

Not to be confused with Kosmische Musik, Space age pop, or Spatial music.
Space music
Space music typically evokes a sense of spatial imagery and emotion or sensations of floating, cruising, flying and other transportative sensations.
Stylistic origins
Cultural originsEarly 1970s, Germany and Japan[1][2]
Fusion genres
Other topics

Space music, also called spacemusic or space ambient, is a subgenre of ambient music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is derived from new-age music and is associated with lounge music, easy listening, and elevator music.[3]

According to Stephen Hill, co-founder of a radio show called Hearts of Space, the term is used to describe music that evokes a feeling of contemplative spaciousness.[4][5][6] Hill states that space music can range in character, the sonic texture of the music can be simple or complex, it can be instrumental or electronic, it may lack conventional melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic features, and may be less concerned with the formal compositional schemes associated with other styles of music.[7][8] Hill proposes that space music can be found within a wide range of genres.[7][9] Space music may have influences from western classical, world, Celtic, traditional and experimental music.[10][11][12]

Hill believes that space music can evoke a "continuum of spatial imagery and emotion",[13] which can be beneficial for introspection, and for developing, through a practice of deep listening, an awareness of the spatiality of sound phenomenon.[14] This type of psychonautic listening can produce a subtle trance-like state in certain individuals[15][16][17] which can in turn lead to sensations of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering.[18][19]

Hill states that some individuals use space music for both background enhancement and foreground listening, often with headphones, to enable states of relaxation, contemplation, inspiration, and generally peaceful expansive moods; it may promote health through relaxation, atmospherics for bodywork therapies, and effectiveness of meditation.[20] Space music appears in many film soundtracks and is commonly played in planetariums.[21]

According to Hill space music is an eclectic music produced almost exclusively by independent labels and it occupies a small niche in the marketplace, supported and enjoyed by a relatively small audience of loyal enthusiastic listeners.[22]

  1. ^ Holmes, Thom (2008). "Live Electronic Music and Ambient Music". Electronic and experimental music: technology, music, and culture (3rd ed.). Taylor & Francis. p. 403. ISBN 978-0-415-95781-6. Retrieved 2011-06-12.
  2. ^ Thom Holmes (2015), Electronic and Experimental Music: Technology, Music, and Culture, page 453, Routledge
  3. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press. p. 185. ISBN 0-472-08942-0.
  4. ^ "In fact, almost any music with a slow pace and space-creating sound images could be called spacemusic." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, What is spacemusic?
  5. ^ "When you listen to space and ambient music you are connecting with a tradition of contemplative sound experience whose roots are ancient and diverse. The genre spans historical, ethnic, and contemporary styles. In fact, almost any music with a slow pace and space-creating sound images could be called spacemusic." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, What is spacemusic?
  6. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press. p. 184. ISBN 0-472-08942-0. space music evokes vague images of regal landscapes perhaps encountered in past lives or the tones of a harmonic convergence between earth and other celestial bodies...
  7. ^ a b "A timeless experience...as ancient as the echoes of a simple bamboo flute or as contemporary as the latest ambient electronica. Any music with a generally slow pace and space-creating sound image can be called spacemusic. Generally quiet, consonant, ethereal, often without conventional rhythmic and dynamic contrasts, spacemusic is found within many historical, ethnic, and contemporary genres."Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, sidebar "What is Spacemusic?" in essay Contemplative Music, Broadly Defined
  8. ^ "The early innovators in electronic "space music" were mostly located around Berlin. The term has come to refer to music in the style of the early and mid-1970s works of Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel, Popol Vuh and others in that scene. The music is characterized by long compositions, looping sequencer patterns, and improvised lead melody lines." – John Diliberto, Berlin School, Echoes Radio on-line music glossary Archived 2007-06-14 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Herberlein, L. A. (2002). The Rough Guide to Internet Radio. Rough Guides. p. 95. ISBN 1-85828-961-0.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference ref48 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference ref36b was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Hurwitz, David (2005). Exploring Haydn: A Listener's Guide to Music's Boldest Innovator. Amadeus Press Unlocking the Masters Series. Hal Leonard. pp. 78–81. ISBN 1-57467-116-2.
  13. ^ "This music is experienced primarily as a continuum of spatial imagery and emotion, rather than as thematic musical relationships, compositional ideas, or performance values." Essay by Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, New Age Music Made Simple
  14. ^ "Innerspace, Meditative, and Transcendental... This music promotes a psychological movement inward." Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, essay titled New Age Music Made Simple
  15. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press. p. 184. ISBN 0-472-08942-0. Space music is just as important for its ability to confound our spoon-fed sense of time and place. Its mercurial stirrings create openings between worlds: inner and outer space; ancestral rhythms and ultra-civilized electronics, the clock on the wall and the hallucinatory "psyhonaut" time that drifts in and out of waking life.
  16. ^ Lanza, Joseph (2004). Elevator Music: A Surreal History of Muzak, Easy-listening, and Other Moodsong. University of Michigan Press. p. 185. ISBN 0-472-08942-0. The mystique of communing with some larger, transpersonal, extraterretrial Gaia is commonly included as part of space music's packaging. Explaining compositions such as 'The Galactic Chalice' and 'Celestial Communion', Constance Demby refers to the 'transformative journey' with 'sounds to awaken and activate soul memory of our true origin.'
  17. ^ Lancaster, Kurt; Brooks McNamara (1999). Warlocks and Warpdrive: Contemporary Fantasy Entertainments With Interactive and Virtual Environments. McFarland & Company. p. 29. ISBN 0-7864-0634-8. Space music presents a virtual fantasy of traveling in outer space.
  18. ^ "...Spacemusic ... conjures up either outer "space" or "inner space" " – Lloyd Barde, founder of Backroads Music Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive
  19. ^ "Space And Travel Music: Celestial, Cosmic, & Terrestrial... This New Age sub-category has the effect of outward psychological expansion. Celestial or cosmic music removes listeners from their ordinary acoustical surroundings by creating stereo sound images of vast, virtually dimensionless spatial environments. In a word – spacey. Rhythmic or tonal movements animate the experience of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering within the auditory space."Stephen Hill, co-founder, Hearts of Space, in an essay titled New Age Music Made Simple
  20. ^ "Restorative powers are often claimed for it, and at its best it can create an effective environment to balance some of the stress, noise, and complexity of everyday life." – Stephen Hill, Founder, Music from the Hearts of Space What is Spacemusic?
  21. ^ "This was the soundtrack for countless planetarium shows, on massage tables, and as soundtracks to many videos and movies."- Lloyd Barde Notes on Ambient Music, Hyperreal Music Archive
  22. ^ "Like most people in the independent side of the music business, we inhabited what are called the niche genres... All niche music regardless of style or content has one thing in common: it's all something that relatively small numbers of people really, truly, love." Stephen Hill, "Powered By Love: Niche Music in the New Millennium", feature article in Ambient Visions Magazine, 2002