Trance music

Trance
Stylistic origins	Electronic music (especially EDM)
Cultural origins	Estimated early 1990s, Germany:251
Typical instruments	Synthesizer, Keyboard, Drum machine, Sequencer, Sampler, DAW
Derivative forms	Vocal trance
Subgenres
Acid - Balearic - Euro - Goa - Hard, Progressive - Psychedelic - Tech - Uplifting (complete list)
Fusion genres
Trancestep - Trancecore
Other topics
Raves - Glowsticking

Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that developed in the 1990s. It is usually characterized by a tempo of between 125 and 150 beats per minute.

History

Origin

It is unknown where the dance music genre of trance evolved from. The origin of the term "trance" in regards to the genre is not known either. However, there are some possible antecedents. One possible antecedent is Neil Young's 1982 electronic album, Trans, bears a resemblance to the trance music genre. Other possible antecedents include Klaus Schulze's album Trancefer (1981), Jean-Michel Jarre's earlier works which feature many sounds similar to that commonly used in earlier trance music and the early self-proclaimed trance act Dance 2 Trance who's music was characterised with house, techno and new age music elements. Other schools of thought argue the name may refer to an induced emotional feeling, high, euphoria, chills, or uplifting rush listeners claim to experience, while other suggestions trace the name to the actual trance-like states the earliest forms of the music attempted to emulate in the 1990s before the genre's focus changed. Some religious music such as that used for shamanistic or new age / meditation practices could be labelled as "trance music" for its trance-like properties.

Examples of early Trance releases include but are not limited to German duo Jam & Spoon's 1992 12" Single remix of The Age Of Love.^:15, German duo Dance 2 Trance's 1990 track "We Came in Peace"^:251, and Paul van Dyk's 1993 remix of Humate's 'Love Stimulation'^:15.

Popular

From 1998 to 2010, the most popular DJs in the world often played trance music: #1 DJ Mag ranking: Paul Oakenfold (1998–1999), Sasha (2000), Tiësto (2002–2004), Paul van Dyk (2005–2006), Armin van Buuren (2007–2010).

Production

Roland JP-8000, a synthesizer famous for its incorporation of the supersaw waveform

Classic trance usually employs a "four-to-the-floor" time signature, a tempo of 125 to 150 BPM,^:252 32 beat phrases,^:252 and is somewhat faster than house music.^:35 A kick drum is usually placed on every downbeat and a regular open hi-hat is often placed on the upbeat or every 1/8th division of the bar.^:253 Extra percussive elements are usually added, and major transitions, builds or climaxes are often foreshadowed by lengthy "snare rolls"—a quick succession of snare drum hits that build in velocity, frequency, and volume towards the end of a measure or phrase.^:266

A Simple arpeggiated (Roland JP-8000) Supersaw waveform pattern with chorus and flanging.

A trancegate pattern at 141 bpm as it is heard on a software trancegate. The gated pattern gradually changes, to hear the various rhythms possible with a trance gate. Note that some trancegate patterns are off-beat. (A Roland JP-8000 with the supersaw waveform is used. Minor EQ edits are made).

Rapid arpeggios and minor scales are common features. Trance tracks often use one central "hook," or melody which runs through almost the entire song, repeating at intervals anywhere between 2 beats and several bars, in addition to harmonies and motifs in different timbres from the central melody.^:266

Subgenres

Main articles: List of trance genres and List of electronic music genres

Trance music is broken into a number of subjective subgenres. Chronologically, the major subgenres are Classic trance^{[citation needed]}, Acid trance, Progressive trance, and Uplifting Trance. Uplifting Trance is also known as "Anthem trance", "Epic trance", "Stadium trance", or "Euphoric trance".

Music festivals

The following is a list of dance music festivals that showcase Trance music.

The Netherlands

Electronic Dance Music festivals in the Netherlands are mainly organized by four companies ALDA Events, ID&T, UDC and Q-Dance:

• Armin Only, Jaarbeurs Utrecht, Utrecht: the only DJ to mix at this event is Armin van Buuren. Organized by ALDA Events. Armin Only 2005 was held in Ahoy, Rotterdam. The 2008 and 2010 editions were held in Jaarbeurs Utrecht.
• Dance Valley, Spaarnwoude: an outdoor festival organized by UDC.
• Sensation, Amsterdam Arena. Organized by ID&T.
• Energy, (Formerly Trance Energy) Jaarbeurs, Utrecht: Previously Trance only under the name "Trance Energy", the festival was renamed "Energy" in 2011 and begun to incorporate other genres. Organized by ID&T.
• Amsterdam dance event, One of the worlds trance and electronic music festivals held every year in Amsterdam in October.
• A State of Trance, Armin van Buuren's weekly radio show A State of Trance celebrates every 50th episode with an event. Episode 400 was held in Rotterdam, Episode 450 was not held in the Netherlands, episode 500 was held in the Brabandhallen, Den Bosch, and episode 550 will be in Den Bosch as well.

United Kingdom

Clubbers at Gatecrasher

• Gatecrasher also promote sporadic events and have in the past also used venues such as Birmingham N.E.C. Gatecrasher is currently on hiatus until further notice due to fire damage.

North America

Electronic Dance Music festivals in North America feature various genres such as Trance, House, Techno, Electro, Dubstep, Breaks, and Drum & Bass:

• Nocturnal Festival, an annual southern California massive, held at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino in either August or September. Typically bringing in crowds of over 50,000 although this number has been steadily growing.^{[citation needed]}
• World Electronic Music Festival (WEMF): held annually in Canada, this three-day-long outdoor event, consisting mainly of Trance, Hard Dance and Jungle (also featuring happy hardcore) has been held since the 1990s. The 2008 festival was planned to be the final one in its current form, though another WEMF was held in 2011.
• Bal en Blanc: is a huge rave party that is hosted annually, in April during Easter holiday weekend, in Montreal, Canada. It features headliner DJs from all over the world and attracts over 15,000 attendees. This event usually has two separate rooms, one catering to house music and the other to trance music. It usually lasts for more than 14 hours. April 2009 15th anniversary line up: Insomnia, Markus Schulz, Above and Beyond, Armin Van Buuren, Roger Shah, King Louis, Uppercut, Offer Nissim, Ana Paula, Axwell, Deadmau5, Victor Calderone.

Other

• Portugal: Boom Festival (the last edition was in Idanha-a-Nova) since 1997. This event is an outdoor festival running every two years with a duration of several days, focusing in psychedelic goa trance. The festival also features workshops, presentations, and cinema.
• Switzerland: Street Parade – The world's biggest electronic music festival (more than one million visitors attend this event year by year).
• Belgium: Tomorrowland (festival) – The largest Belgian open-air electronic music festival. 2010 had more than 120.000 visitors.^{[citation needed]} Tomorrowland in 2011 will have a capacity of up to 180.000 visitors. DJs such as David Guetta, Armin Van Buuren, Bob Sinclar, Roger Sanchez, Felix The Housecat and many more.
• India: Sunburn Festival launched in December 2007 as South Asia's first electronic music festival, and featured heavyweights like Carl Cox and John '00' Fleming. Located seaside in Goa, on India's west coast, the festival has its roots in Goa trance. Sunburn treated more than 5,000^{[citation needed]} electro revelers to a three-day party by the beach in December 2008. At the 2009 festival, DJs such as Armin Van Buuren, Roger Sanchez, and Sander van Doorn participated with audience numbers running between 15,000 to 18,000 making it the biggest edition yet.^{[citation needed]}As of the 2010 festival, it showed the likes of Paul Van Dyk and many other DJ's with estimated crowds of 30,000 people.^{[citation needed]}
• Thailand: Full Moon Party Held each month on the island of Koh Phangan. Thousands of people from across the world gather on Haad Rin Nok (Sunrise Beach) to dance under the moonlight.

External links

• Trance music at the Open Directory Project