SP on Music Theory Print

Space age pop

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

The Space Age pop-music page
Gallery of Space Age pop album covers

Space music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definitions#

AllMusic defines space music as a subgenre of New Age music. Similarly, mainstream retailer Barnes & Noble, independent online music retailer CD Baby, and RealNetwork’s music download service Rhapsody all classify space music as a subgenre of new-age music. Rhapsody’s editorial staff writes in their music genre description for space music (listed as a subgenre of new-age music) that “New Age composers have looked upward for inspiration, creating an abstract notion of the sounds of interstellar music.” Stephen Hill, co-founder of the radio show Music from the Hearts of Space (syndicated nationally in the United States on National Public Radio) uses the phrase “contemplative music, broadly defined” as an overview to describe the music played on his station, along with the term “spacemusic”. He states that the “genre spans historical, ethnic, and contemporary styles”, Gerardo “Pkx” Martinez-Casas, original host, producer and creator of KUSF’s 90.3 FM, University of San Francisco in California, “Moondance (The Beyond Within)” 1981– 198?, described space music as electronic, environmental and spiritual fine art fashion cosmic sounds as an aid and tool for cultural, contemplative, meditative, social and spiritual awareness. In her book The New Age Music Guide, author, editor and music critic P. J. Birosik classifies space music as a subgenre of new-age music, as does Dallas Smith, writer, teacher and recording artist in his essay New Age Jazz/Fusion. Steven Halpern, noted recording artist and workshop leader writes that space music has been considered a synonym for new-age music: " ‘Space’ is a vital dimension of new-age music; so much so that one of the early appellations for the genre was simply ‘space music’, referring both to its texture and to the state that it tended to evoke in the listener." John Diliberto, the host of the radio show, Echoes, and creator of WXPN’s Star’s End, has stated that space music is related to electronic music, Forest, host of Musical Starstreams refers to space music as a separate genre along with Ambient music, and others including dub, downtempo, trip hop, and acid jazz in the list of genres he calls “exotic electronica”. Similarly, WXPN Radio’s Star’s End, programming ambient music since 1976, on its website lists space music as a separate genre, along with Ambient, new-age, and others. Steve Sande, freelance writer for the San Francisco Chronicle considers space music to be “Anything but New Age,” and writes that “spacemusic is also known as ambient, chill-out, mellow dub, down-tempo.” In the same article, he describes Stephen Hill’s “Hearts of Space” spacemusic program as streaming ambient, electronic, world, new-age and classical music. In contrast to this, according to author and National Endowment for the Arts researcher Judith H. Balfe, Billboard editor Jerry Wood describes space music as one of several “genres within the genre” of new-age music.

Space rock

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origins: 1950s–1960s#

Humanity’s entry into outer space provided ample subject matter for rock and roll and R&B songs from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s. It also inspired new sounds and sound effects to be used in the music itself. A prominent early example of space rock is the 1959 concept album I Hear a New World by British producer and songwriter Joe Meek. The album was inspired by the space race and concerned humanity’s first close encounter with alien life forms. Meek then went on to have a UK and US No 1 success in 1961 with “Telstar”, named after the newly launched communications satellite and thus intended to commemorate the new space age. Its main instrument was a clavioline, an electronic forerunner of the synthesizers. Pink Floyd’s early albums contain pioneering examples of space rock: “Astronomy Domine”, “Pow R. Toc H.” and “Interstellar Overdrive” from their 1967 debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn are examples, with free-form improvisations from lead guitarist and then-bandleader Syd Barrett. Their second album A Saucerful of Secrets contained further examples: “Let There Be More Light” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” with explicit science fiction themes, and their third, More (1969), had “Cirrus Minor”. Jimi Hendrix is also an early innovator of the genre, with such tracks as “Third Stone from the Sun”, “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)” and “The Stars That Play with Laughing Sam’s Dice”.

Space-themed music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music about outer space#

In 1777, Joseph Haydn’s opera “Il mondo della luna”(“The world on the moon”) premiered. Author and classical music critic David Hurwitz describes Joseph Haydn’s choral and chamber orchestra piece, The Creation, composed in 1798, as space music, both in the sense of the sound of the music, (“a genuine piece of ‘space music’ featuring softly pulsating high violins and winds above low cellos and basses, with nothing at all in the middle … The space music gradually drifts towards a return to the movement’s opening gesture … “); and in the manner of its composition, relating that Haydn conceived The Creation after discussing music and astronomy with William Herschel, oboist and astronomer (discoverer of the planet Uranus). 1875 saw the premiere of the opera~féerie spectacle “Le voyage dans la Lune”(“A trip to the moon”) by Jacques Offenbach.

Spanish jazz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Jazz festivals#

Festival de Jazz de Barcelona (Barcelona)
Vitoria-Gasteiz jazz festival (Vitoria-Gasteiz)
San Sebastian Jazz Festival (Donostia-San Sebastian)
Festival de Jazz de Terrassa (Terrassa)
Festival de Jazz de Valencia (Mar-i-jazz)

20th century#

Ramón Evaristo - bandleader, violinist
Pedro Iturralde - saxophonist in jazz and classical
Tete Montoliu - pianist

Late 20th century#

Established in late 20th century, and continuing later * Alberto Conde - pianist * Chano Domínguez - pianist * Jorge Pardo - saxophonist and flautist who worked with Chick Corea * Mario Rossi- samba and jazz * Jorge Rossy - drummer who worked 10 years with the first trio of Brad Mehldau * Perico Sambeat - saxophonist, flamenco nominee in Latin Grammy Awards of 2005 * Ximo Tebar - guitarist * Ignasi Terraza - pianist * Tomatito - guitarist and composer blending flamenco and jazz

Spanish opera

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early history#

Opera was slow to develop within Spain in comparison to France, Italy and (to a lesser extent) Germany, all of which have had continuous traditions of opera since the early part of the 17th century. One of the reasons for this slow development was Spain’s strong tradition of spoken drama, which made some critics believe that opera was a less worthy art form. However, there was a tradition of songs given within largely spoken plays which began in the early 16th century by such distinguished composers as Juan del Encina. The earliest Spanish operas appeared in the mid-17th century, with libretti by such famous writers as Calderón de la Barca and Lope de Vega to music by such composers as Juan Hidalgo de Polanco. These early operas, however, failed to catch the imagination of the Spanish public. It was not until the increasing popularity of such genres as ballad opera and opéra comique that opera in Spain started to gain momentum, since the use of speech in the vernacular inevitably encouraged Spanish composers to develop their own national style of opera: zarzuela.

Spatial music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Context#

The term “spatial music” indicates music in which the location and movement of sound sources is a primary compositional parameter and a central feature for the listener. It may involve a single, mobile sound source, or multiple, simultaneous, stationary or mobile sound events in different locations. There are at least three distinct categories when plural events are treated spatially: #essentially independent events separated in space, like simultaneous concerts, each with a strong signaling character #one or several such signaling events, separated from more “passive” reverberating background complexes #separated but coordinated performing groups.

Spectral music

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Definition#

Defined in technical language, spectral music is an acoustic musical practice where compositional decisions are often informed by sonographic representations and mathematical analysis of sound spectra, or by mathematically generated spectra. The spectral approach focuses on manipulating the spectral features, interconnecting them, and transforming them. In this formulation, computer-based sound analysis and representations of audio signals are treated as being analogous to a timbral representation of sound. The (acoustic-composition) spectral approach originated in France in the early 1970s, and techniques were developed, and later refined, primarily at IRCAM, Paris, with the Ensemble l’Itinéraire, by composers such as Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail. Hugues Dufourt is commonly credited for introducing the term musique spectrale (spectral music) in an article published in 1979. Murail has described spectral music as an aesthetic rather than a style, not so much a set of techniques as an attitude; as Joshua Fineberg puts it, a recognition that “music is ultimately sound evolving in time”. Julian Anderson indicates that a number of major composers associated with spectralism consider the term inappropriate, misleading, and reductive. The Istanbul Spectral Music Conference of 2003 suggested a redefinition of the term “spectral music” to encompass any music that foregrounds timbre as an important element of structure or language.

Speed garage

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Speed garage features sped-up NY garage 4-to-the-floor rhythms that are combined with breakbeats. Snares are placed as over the 2nd and the 4th kickdrums, so in other places of the drum pattern. Speed garage tunes have warped, heavy basslines, influenced by jungle and reggae. Sweeping bass is typical for speed garage. It is also typical for speed garage tunes to have a breakdown. Speed garage tunes sometimes featured time-stretched vocals. As it is heavily influenced by jungle, speed garage makes heavy use of jungle and dub sound effects, such as gunshots and sirens.

Speed metal

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

New wave of British heavy metal#

One of the key influences on the development of speed metal was the new wave of British heavy metal, or NWOBHM. This was a heavy metal movement that started in the late 1970s in Britain and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. NWOBHM bands toned down the blues influences of earlier acts, incorporated elements of punk, increased the tempo, and adopted a “tougher” sound, taking a harder approach to their music. It was an era directed almost exclusively at heavy metal fans and is considered to be a major foundation stone for the extreme metal genres. The NWOBHM came to dominate the heavy metal scene of the early-mid-1980s. It was musically characterised by fast upbeat tempo songs, power chords, fast guitar solos and melodic, soaring vocals. Groups such as Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Venom, Saxon and Motörhead as well as many lesser-known ones, became part of the canon that influenced American bands that formed in the early eighties.

Speedcore

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Aside from tempo, speedcore can often be distinguished from other forms of hardcore mainly by the accompanying space now being punctuated with percussion fills. Most producers will overdrive their kicks to an extent of overtly resembling square waves. Producers often resort to transgressive themes in their music to push the boundaries of the genre. Since the 2000s, the use of digital audio workstations (DAWs) has grown, preferred to the use of analog synthesizers or trackers.

Spiritual jazz

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Characteristics#

Spiritual jazz does not follow a strictly defined musical style but generally features elements of free jazz, avant-garde jazz and modal jazz with influences from Asian and African music. Quartal harmonies, the Dorian mode, meditative sounds as well as the musical language of blues and bebop are often employed in spiritual jazz. Musicians frequently play instruments not traditionally used in jazz or western music, electric keyboards and utilise the recording studio as an instrument.

Spirituals

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Terminology#

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians—one of the largest reference works on music and musicians —itemized and described “spiritual” in its electronic resource, Grove Music Online, an important part of Oxford Music Online, as a “type of sacred song created by and for African Americans that originated in oral tradition. Although its exact provenance is unknown, spirituals were identifiable as a genre by the early 19th century.” The term was generally employed without the descriptor “African American”. “Negro spirituals” is a 19th-century term that according to writer Arthur Evans was “used for songs with religious texts created by African Enslaved in America”. The first published book of slave songs referred to them as “spirituals”. In the introductory phrase, the singular form is used without the adjective “African American.” Throughout the encyclopedia entry, the singular and plural forms of the term are used without the “African American” descriptor. The Library’s introductory sentence observes that “A spiritual is a type of religious folksong that is most closely associated with the enslavement of African people in the American South. The songs proliferated in the last few decades of the eighteenth century leading up to the abolishment of legalized slavery in the 1860s. The African American spiritual (also called the Negro Spiritual) constitutes one of the largest and most significant forms of American folksong.”

Sporting song

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External references#

Morrisey and the Russian Sailor *

Sports podcast

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Podcasts in general began to gain a following in the mid and late 2000s. In October 2004, Sam Coutin began The Sports Pod and shortly after he launched the My Sports Radio podcast network. By 2006, shows on Coutin’s network were achieving 500,000 downloads each month. In 2007, Bill Simmons stumbled upon a podcast interview of Boston Celtics executive Danny Ainge by ESPN NBA draft analyst Chad Ford. Simmons, also an ESPN employee at the time, inquired to his management about hosting a podcast of his own. Simmons was sent basic audio equipment and hosted his B.S. Report podcast in a DIY fashion from his home. His Bill Simmons Podcast hosted on the website was “the lone sports program among iTunes’ 20 most popular podcasts in 2017 “. From 2015 to 2020, ad revenue for podcasts rose 1,350%; sports podcasts were near the top of all genres driving that revenue. By the late 2010s, podcast versions of sports television talk shows like The Herd with Colin Cowherd and First Take were among popular sports podcasts. Established sports networks, such as ESPN, also offered original podcast programming in addition to their repackaged content. In 2021, television station group Tegna purchased the Locked On Podcast Network, “which produces 160 daily shows for U.S. sports teams”. In January 2022, Fox Sports launched Fox Audio Network, a podcast network to leverage its on-air talent such as Skip Bayless and Nick Wright, in the audio space.

Spouge

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

SP on Music Theory Print

Space age pop

External links#

Space music

Definitions#

Space rock

Origins: 1950s–1960s#

Space-themed music

Music about outer space#

Spanish jazz

Jazz festivals#

20th century#

Late 20th century#

Spanish opera

Early history#

Spatial music

Context#

Spectral music

Definition#

Speed garage

Characteristics#

Speed metal

New wave of British heavy metal#

Speedcore

Characteristics#

Spiritual jazz

Characteristics#

Spirituals

Terminology#

Sporting song

External references#

Sports podcast

History#

Spouge

Sources#