Where is "New Age" music going today?

[Corno Dolce]

Hi John Watt,

Ah, ummm, cat killers? Methinks not........Its the intestinal material of Sheep. You can't use cat-gut strings very successfully in very hot and/or humid weather - The strings begin fraying very quickly. Besides, its a whole other playing style. My experience with cat-gut strings on my Double Bass is that the sound is much mellower and softer. I'll gladly play Bach's music with cat-gut strings.

Also, I don't equate Viols with New Age. I do notice that musicians who want another sound for contemporary music for classical instruments will gladly associate it with New Age.

 

[John Watt]

I simply don't know how to start, your admission of using cat-gut, something I'm surprised this domain allows. I always read that Paganini was known for prowling alleys looking for cats to make his own, uh, fresh strings, so fresh, his higher harmonic playing created a red stain on his considerable chin. And you're using even bigger ones on bass, probably fantasizing about your next Canadian vacation, hoping to find some beluga whale intenstines. I'm still trying to get a piece of wire from that decommissioned submarine being scrapped within easy bike-hiking distance, thinking it moved with the whales underwater and reflected actual marine mammal frequencies, like my new "accelerated acoustics" guitar does. Yeah, what's nickel-plated round-wound, with considerations of silver, copper, lead and not gold, compared to getting mellower and softer? Maybe you can humpback me up on bass.
Uh, and I'm not sayin', whale intestines are better, lots left over, not needing your own application of a sea salt flavour and tang, easy to curl into a frying pan, and if you like to sit on arctic ice, sauteeing or using an abandoned American military battery for a slow cooker, you've also got some nice whale-tooth to carve. The next white men who land in a helicopter to shoot a polar bear will shoot you a few bucks for sure, another nice bonus.
And a sincere thanks for expanding my strung-up string theory.

 

[Antiquarian]

New Age music was (I guess in some ways, as it has evolved, it still is) an expression of the whole New Age counterculture that flourished during the early eighties to the late nineties. This was the Era of Thatcher and Reagan, the culture of gross materialism "Greed is Good". New Age music was originally used as a meditative aid, and the producers, such as Deuter and Ray Lynch, we're inspired by gurus such as Gurdjieff and communes such as the Advaitayana Buddhist Communion. People were looking for something unconnected to the commercialism of Popular music, and early labels (Windham Hill, Celestial Harmonies, Living Music to name just a few) were eager to supply it. Unfortunately, as the years passed, New Age music became commercialized, and the artists, who ostensibly were in it for peace, free love, and harmony soon were pressured to produce music that was inoffensive, jazzy, and had a broad appeal. In the late 1980s and early 90's suddenly there was a glut of this on the market, and like any market that distances itself from its core constituency, it collapsed. New Age folded into and incorporated itself into two existing distinct subgenres, Jazz and Ambient, and New Age as a distinct musical category faded away to the fringe. At least that's what I think... and I think I've said enough. Probably the best resource if you are interested in the whole New Age musical movement is The New Age Music Guide : Profiles and Recordings of 500 top New Age Musicians by Patti Jean Birosik (Collier, 1989).

 

[JHC]

A lot of composers have lost the skill of writing a good melody which is one of the basics for any genre of music.
I refuse to sit through a two hour concert of music that is lacking in the basics.

 

[Boot]

A lot of composers have lost the skill of writing a good melody which is one of the basics for any genre of music.
I refuse to sit through a two hour concert of music that is lacking in the basics.

And I certainly wouldn't want to stand.

 

[John Watt]

Antiquarian has really described New Age and New Wave as only an antiquarian could,
but,
there's one defining technology Antiquarian didn't mention, that defined this era,
at least in North America. And that's the change from cassettes to CDs.
When Antiquarian types "any market that distances itself from it's core constituency",
that describes corporations looking for "new" artists to go along with this new CD product.
However, Antiquarian is using an elevated language and concept, "core constituency",
when it's known over here as "existing contracts" or "previous contracts".
It's always your choice, especially if you already sold a lot.
You can be not existing any more, or you can not have a contract any more.
You decide.

You can weaponize your world. You can make your demands.
The Watt Clan stands.