Instrumental Music

As the name implies, instrumental music is music without lyrics or vocal accompaniment. It is written, recorded or performed solely with the use of instruments – usually a broad range that includes the piano, brass, strings, and wind instruments, among many others. While instrumental music is often perceived as being performed by big ensembles and orchestras, the genre can also be used to describe lyrically unaccompanied pieces that are produced using modern electronic music devices and instruments. Today’s top-selling artists in the instrumental music genre are: Herb Alpert, Richard Clayderman, 101 Strings Orchestra, Percy Faith, Bert Kaempfert, Martin Denny, Xavier Cugat, Roger Williams, Steve Allen, Henry Mancini, and Paul Weston, among many other instrumental music artists.

What Makes Instrumental Music Unique?

Instrumental music is distinguished by its exclusive use of musical instruments in a song, which is recorded or composed without lyrics or any other sort of vocal music. The genre is often used to describe popular music and not other instrumental forms, such as European classical music; sometimes this may mean that the instrumental record or instrumental album contains renditions of previous popular music releases that used vocals. Of course, there are also original instrumental musical compositions. Moreover, there are instrumental singles and records that have been classified as so which included vocals, coming in the form of whistling, vocal percussion, verbal interjections, and yodeling. Instrumental music is often viewed as producing ambient sounds, with musical qualities that are light, soothing, and comfortable.

The Origins of Instrumental Music

The origins of instrumental music can be traced to as far back as the Baroque Age of classical music, when Bach and Handel brought about major symphonies that took on the form of what would later be known as instrumental music. However, one way in which music historians and experts gauge the difference between classical and instrumental music is by making the assertion that the latter, at least today, draws upon traditional popular music standards whereas the former doesn’t. Moreover, the instrumental genre is also heavily tied in with easy listening as well as related genres like orchestral pop, lounge, instrumental pop, and mood music.

Today’s Instrumental Music Artists

While majority of popular music today are accompanied by vocals, instrumental music has experienced its own share of commercial success, growth, and popularity. More and more concert bands, orchestras, and big-band-jazz ensembles are recording and performing pieces without lyrics. Even instrumental music artists and composers such as Percy Faith, Tornados, Paul Mauriat, Herb Alpert, and Vangelis have released instrumental records and tracks that entered the pop charts.

While usually instrumentals adapt pop, jazz, or rock songs whose melodies are already familiar to the audience, as in the case of 101 Strings Orchestra, Richard Clayderman, and Xavier Cugat, there are also pioneers in the instrumental music genre like Bert Kaempfert and Henry Mancini whose original arrangements and composers have introduced new standards to popular music. Moreover, instrumental musicians such as Roger Williams, Vangelis, and Doc Severinsen who have composed whole film scores and show tunes.

Instrumental Records and Instrumental CDs

Let instrumental music stir your soul. Here at MusicStack, Herb Alpert CDs, Richard Clayderman CDs, Xavier Cugat CDs, Martin Denny CDs, 101 Strings Orchestra CDs, Percy Faith CDs, Bert Kaempfert CDs, Tornados CDs, Paul Mauriat CDs, Vangelis CDs, Henry Mancini CDs, Roger Williams CDs, Steve Allen CDs, Living Strings CDs, Paul Weston CDs, and Doc Severinsen CDs, among other instrumental music albums, records, and CDs, are all available, as are instrumental vinyl LPs.

Instrumental Records and Instrumental CDs

Find all kinds of rare, hard to find and out-of-print Instrumental records and Instrumental CDs on MusicStack.

Roger Williams
Percy Faith
Vangelis
Doc Severinsen
Xavier Cugat
Henry Mancini
Bert Kaempfert
101 Strings Orchestra
Tornados

Instrumental Websites

Instrumental Music Instrumental Music page at Wikipedia
Top Instrumental Albums Browse Top Instrumental Albums at AllMusic.com