New Age Music

New Age music is a genre of music for pieces that are meant to inspire, relax, encourage meditation, and stir in the listener general positive feelings. As such it is seen as an essential element in living out New Age Spirituality philosophies – with the sound meant to play a distinctly therapeutic and spiritual role. Combining elements of world music, folk, jazz, progressive rock, classical, acoustic, and electronic music, New Age music can be solo or ensemble, composed or improvised, electronic or acoustic, and is typically highly and lightly melodic, rhythmic, and evocative of mood rather than of emotion. Among the most influential New Age artists and bands are George Winston, Andy Summers, William Ackerman, Michael Hedges, Yanni, Deepak Chopra, Steve Roach, Ray Lynch, Deep Forest, Jim Brickman, Keith Jarrett, Enya, and Alex de Grassi.

What is New Age Music?

New Age music is so new that the Grammys recognized it as a category only in 1987, with Andreas Vollenweider winning the award. New Age music is unique for its ambient sound, which is explicitly intended to aid meditation, contemplation, upliftment, stress management, and relaxation. This is evident in New Age records by Deepak Chopra, Deuter, and Steven Halpern. Instrumentation varies highly: it can be acoustic, electronic, vocal, and even “environmental” (it is not unusual if nature sounds – i.e. birds chirping – are used in New Age records). Themes, meanwhile, usually focus on the cosmos, environment, nature, wellness in being, dreams, and harmony between the self and the world. The tempo of pieces belonging to the New Age genre is usually free flowing and vibrant, and the harmonies modal or consonant, and the melodies light and repetitive: these characteristics contribute to the hypnotic effect of New Age music.

How “New” is New Age Music?

New Age Music began to emerge during the 1960s, when European and American acoustic and electronic musicians – such as Holger Czukay, Popol Vuh, Ashra, and Steven Halpern – experimented with sound with the view of creating a sort of expanded consciousness; they focused more on the feelings that were being produced instead of the devices that were used in the creative process. The genre became more defined and prominent from the 1970s onwards, with the further merging of musical styles and with the influence of New Age records of artists such as Brian Eno, Robert Fripp, Jon Hassell, Harold Budd, Tony Conrad, Keith Jarrett, and Ralph Towner.

Much of what typifies New Age music, however, can be identified in performances in New Age records and CDs produced by the Windham Hill record label, to which are associated New Age artists such as Andy Summers, William Ackerman, Alex de Grassi, George Winston, and Michael Hedges.

Today’s Most Popular New Age Artists

Today, the definition of New Age music continues to evolve and diversify. Musicians as varied as Dean Evenson, Ray Lynch, David Lanz, Bradley Joseph, Jim Brickman, Enya, Deep Forest, Kitaro, Enigma, Oscar Lopez, and Steve Roach are often seen as having incorporated New Age themes and characteristics into their works. Other well-listened-to New Age artists and New Age bands include Medwyn Goodall, Kevin Kern, Michael Stearns, Tim Janis, and Paul Cardall.

New Age Record Labels

The record label that is most often associated with the New Age genre is Windham Hill – with many noted New Age artists to its name, such as George Winston, Jim Brickman, Michael Hedges, and Yanni. However, labels like The Orchard (Angel, Serge Blenner, Michael Monroe, Eric Chapelle) and Higher Octave (Doug Cameron, Buckethead, Ottmar Liebert) also produce New Age records and CDs.

New Age Records and New Age CDs

George Winston CDs, Andreas Vollenweider CDs, Michael Hedges CDs, Jim Brickman CDs, Andy Summers CDs, William Ackerman CDs, Yanni CDs, Enya CDs, Steve Roach CDs, Deepak Chopra CDs, and Deep Forest CDs, among other New Age records and New Age CDs by New Age artists and bands from 1960s onwards, are available at MusicStack. New Age vinyl LPs are also available.

New Age Records and New Age CDs

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

George Winston
Michael Hedges
Jim Brickman
Steve Roach
Deep Forest
Enya
Andy Summers

New Age Websites

New Age at Wikipedia New Age music page at Wikipedia
Definition of New Age Music Encyclopedia of Music in Canada’s definition of New Age music
New Age at Lala.com New Age Music page at Lala.com