History of Ambient Music
A Short History of Ambient Music
Ambient music is a musical genre closely connected to or also seen as a sub-genre of New Age music, that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an “atmospheric”, “visual” or “unobtrusive” quality.
Ambient evolved from the early 20th century music of the impressionists, composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman and minimalist composers and early electronic composers of the 1960s and 1970s, to rock musician Brian Eno, who is responsible for coining the phrase ambient music in the manifesto liner notes of his 1979 album Ambient 1: Music for Airports.
Music For Airports - Brian Eno
Ambient & New Age music have influenced many genres, including some forms of more rhythmic music often found in chill-out rooms at raves & other dance events, the intention to create a calmer, relaxed atmosphere for ravers to take a break from dancing.
Early 20th century French composer Erik Satie created an early form of ambient music that he referred to as “furniture music” (Musique d’ameublement), in reference to something that could be played during a dinner whose sound would simply create an atmosphere for that activity rather than be the specific focus of attention.
Brian Eno is generally credited with coining the term “ambient music” in the mid-1970s to refer to music that, as he stated, can be either “actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener”, and that exists on the “cusp between melody and texture.” Eno, who describes himself as a “non-musician”, termed his experiments in sound as “treatments” rather than as traditional performances. Eno used the word “ambient” to describe music that creates an atmosphere that puts the listener into a different state of mind; having chosen the word based on the Latin term “ambire”, “to surround”.
The liner notes of Eno’s 1978 release Ambient 1: Music for Airports includes a manifesto describing his philosophy of ambient music:
“Ambient Music must be able to accommodate many levels of listening attention without enforcing one in particular; it must be as ignorable as it is interesting.” Brian Eno, Music for Airports liner notes, September 1978
Eno has acknowledged the influence of Erik Satie and John Cage, in particular Cage’s use of chance such as throwing the I Ching to direct a musical composition; and minimalist music in general. This influence was manifested in Oblique Strategies, a set of cards devised by Eno and Peter Schmidt and intended to direct the musician or artist when a dilemma occurred in a working situation. Eno used the term “ambient music” to distance his work from elevator music and Muzak. Eno also acknowledged influences of the mood music of Miles Davis and Teo Macero, especially their 1974 epic piece, “He Loved Him Madly”, about which Eno wrote, “that piece seemed to have the ’spacious’ quality that I was after…it became a touchstone to which I returned frequently.”
Early albums such as Ummagumma by Pink Floyd and by the “kosmische Musik”-oriented krautrock artists, like Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, and Cluster have greatly influenced the genre[citation needed]. Among the first electronic New Age ambient albums were Affenstunde (1970) and In den Gärten Pharaos (1971) by Popol Vuh. Other notable albums include Sonic Seasonings (1972) by Wendy Carlos and L’Apocalypse des animaux (1973; recorded in 1970) by Vangelis. Additional early artists, such as Klaus Schulze (a former member of Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel), Jean Michel Jarre, and Kraftwerk in the 1970s and 1980s, were influential.
Links
Dreamstate - Ambient Music Resources
Discography of New Age, Electronic, and Ambient Music
Ambient Techno (Article - Sound On Sound)
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