New Age Music - How Its Made

Different styles of music have different "sounds." We can all pretty much agree on that point. For example, Jazz uses seventh chords almost exclusively. This, and the kind of chord progressions used in Jazz gives it its unique flavor. But what about new age music? Does it have it's own special ingredients? Yes it does.

Now, there are no hard and fast rules here but for the most part, new age music is a consonant music. That is, there is little or noharshness going on in the music. No Saxes wailing and what not. Having said that we can eliminate most of the tense jazz chords and their voicing. So what are we left with? Mostly Major and minor chords based on the regular scales and the modes. The chord progressions are simpler and usually start on the l chord. No ll-V-l progressions here.

What about melody? In jazz, we have a soloist who usually plays a lot of chromatic notes. This is rare in new age music because it would create dissonance. New age melodies tend to be softer and more on the spiritual side. Solos, if there are any, are not so much concerned with the expression of the self than they are with letting the music express itself. A subtle but very important distinction. Jazz players may have some ego invested in their performance. New age musicians learn to let the music play them. They learn to become a channel for the music itself allowing it to speak through them. Of course, I'm not saying that this can't happen in Jazz, but, just watch a Jazz performer and you'll see what I mean.

Last but not least is rhythm. Let's do a comparison/contrast between Jazz and New Age music. Jazz has a definite discernible rhythm. It is what makes Jazz Jazz. New age music can have a pattern or an underlying rhythm to the music. It can be used to create trance like states in the listener. Drums are usually a part of Jazz music. Percussion is mostly absent from the New Age sound simply because it would not add to the atmosphere most New Age musicians create. Timing is very important to the Jazz musician. The soloist has the freedom to play whatever he wants as long as he maintains the meter and stays in time. New Age music is more elastic in that timing is there, but is not a master of the player. The New Age player can disregard time altogether. Just listen to Zen flute music as a good example of this.

Now, what does all this mean for the aspiring New Age musician? A couple of good things. It means that there is a definite new age "sound" out there. That it is here to stay and that people like and need to hear it. And it means that there are some guidelines out there for what defines the meaning of New Age music.

Edward Weiss is a pianist/composer and webmaster of Quiescence Music's online piano lessons. He has been helping students learn how to play piano in the New Age style for over 14 years and works with students in private, in groups, and now over the internet. Stop by now at http://www.quiescencemusic.com/piano_lessons.html for a FREE piano lesson!

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Bid to open prison doors for music - The Press Association

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Musebin: The future of music reviews? - Los Angeles Times

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There are basically two ways you can compose a piece of music. The first and most traditional way is to write out the melody and then harmonize it.

Playing The Violin Is For Everyone Who Loves Music
Every day musical instruments enrich the lives of people around the world and continue to promote culture and art throughout every society and community, no matter what size or structure. Even those people of the world who live outside the realm of technology enjoy and use musical instruments to tell stories or entertain.

CD Review: Amber - My Kind of World
Pop/Rock Recording Artist Amber, who has scored seven #1 Billboard Hits (and 3 more Top Tens) in her Career, including "If You Could Read My Mind", "This is Your Night" and "Sexual (Li Da Di)", is back! And she does not disappoint! "My Kind of World" marks the beginning of a new stage in Amber's career. Like Janet Jackson before her, Amber has taken complete creative "control" on this new project and the result is an artistic triumph with huge commercial appeal!The first Single "You Move Me" hit #1 on Satellite Radio Stateside and went Top Ten on the Billboard Dance Club Play Chart.

Does Your CD Cover $ell (Or Suck)?
Oh, I know the last part of the title (Suck) isn't a very pleasant description to apply to anyone's CD cover. But, in the interest of plain old honesty, and to face our demons head on, I wanted to (again) utilize a worst case scenario that we can only improve from.

Formation of a Song (Recording)
As industry insiders, we sometimes forget that when discussing the recording process, the rest of the world really has no idea what we are talking about. Hopefully this will provide an explanation of the song formation process in layman's terms so that there may be less disconnect between the professional and the consumer.

Defining The True Artist - Do You Have What It Takes?
"The real communicating artists seek unique expression. They are not interested anymore in sounding like their heroes, they are searching constantly, developing and refining their own unique voice.

Reaching For The Soul Zone
Every searching artist wants to get there. It's that magical place where something takes over, you know, when something bigger than you whispers in your ear and says "Relax - I'll take it from here!"I like to call it the 'soul zone', others simply call it the 'zone', I'm sure there are many other names for it.

How Many Chords Are There, Anyway?
Since chords (the main component of harmony) are one of the three most vital elements of music - the others being melody and rhythm - it would be useful to know how many chords there are. And it doesn't matter whether you play piano or guitar or some other instrument - chords are chords.

History of the Clarinet From the 19th Century
While composers had already begun to write music for the clarinet, such as Mozart with the Clarinet Concerto and Clarinet Quintet, it was the 19th century that saw an explosion of use of the clarinet in the music of most composers of the day. This was mainly due to two factors.

Music as Therapy?
Frustrated in a gridlocked?Job got you stressed out?The children have you going crazy?You pop in your favorite tune and you take a deep breathand as if by magic for a few minutes nothing matters anymore!No it's no magic! It's music and it's power!Truly amazing isn't it?Even plants responds to music as was proven by some researcherat a well known university in the USA.Why? Many reasons, I am sure some scientist would quote somethingabout physiological responses to stimuli within the progressions of notes.

Taps; Piping Military Honors: A Ceremonial Guide for Highland Bagpipers
It has become increasingly popular for U.S.

Is it Possible to Download Music Legally Anymore?
Throughout the past few years downloading music on the internethas increased in popularity. At the same time though, it hasbecome illegal through many companies to download music asmusicians and artists have been losing money on their CD sales.

Reasons to Ditch Your Guitar Pick
Lately, I haven't been using my guitar pick all that much. I got this tab book of some good ol' Gatemouth Brown finger picking blues.

Six Reasons to Play New Age Piano
Here are six very good reasons to learn how to play piano in the New Age style:1. It's easy.

Be Your Own DJ - Digital Audio Processing Tools Overview
SoundEdit Prohttp://www.deprice.