“music for the mind, not music for the masses.”
The Characteristics of trance.
Naturally rules are made to be broken and many of the big guns in trance have expanded beyond the typical rules, but many of the characteristics are still there.
Some say the history of trance music goes as far back as the religous roots of shamanism, tribalism, bhuddism and various eastern cultures. The modern genre as we know it began surfacing out of the club scene in Germany in the early 90’s. It’s an offshoot of house music which is basically what Disco morphed into after it’s heyday in the 70’s and early 80’s. Some believe that the name “house” came from Chicago’s Warehouse district. One of the prominant clubs in Chicago took on the the name “The Warehouse”
Juan Atkins, an originator of Detroit technomusic, claims the term “house” reflected the exclusive association of particular tracks with particular DJs; those tracks were their “house” records (much like a restaurant might have a “house” salad dressing).
In Britian, the late 80’s, early nineties gave rise to the Acid House music scene and the phenomonen of “raves”. There’s actually a term called the “Second Summer of Love” refferring to 1989 when the rave scene took off in the UK. Hedonism and psychedelic drugs were making as big of a comeback as San Francisco in the 60’s. Manchester, England seemed to be the eye of the storm.
House music derived it’s rhythms from disco, particularly the term 4-on-the-floor beat. (A kick drum on every beat in 4/4 time. For you non music people think of the sound “onst, onst, onst, onst” when you’re standing outside of a club!). In addition to electronic elements, house incorporated real world samples of basses, guitars and also included latin flavors of percussion. The tempo is often between 118-135 beats per minute.
The most distinguishing elements of Trance is that it’s usually the most melodic of electronic music. Trance contains a series of rifts and anthems that morph and change throughout a song. The music transitions between Major & minor chords creating Epic sounding melodies and more emotive qualities then other “dance” genres. The music is generally all synthesized with minimal “real sounding” instruments to create a dreamlike soundscape and provide a feeling of euphoria and endless energy. A typical trance track will build up and breakdown which adds tension & dynamics and keeps the dance floor of a club packed.
- Rifts, rolls, breakdowns and buildups.
- Short samples often going into 16th and 32nd notes.
- Epic Anthems.
- Highly intermixed major and minor chords.
