Ambient music is a genre that focuses on creating an atmosphere of sound. It has an unobtrusive characteristic that gives it a unique sound. The earliest beginnings of the ambient genre go as far back as the early 20th century, prior to World War I. The sound was associated with two art movements: Dadaism and Futurism. These movements also influenced non-musical artists such as painters as well as writers. As the musical genre began to emerge, it attracted musicians like the Futurist Francesco Balilla Pratella and Dadaists Erwin Schulhoff and Kurt Schwitters.
French composer Erik Satie was inspired by the explorations of Dadaists and began to compose early forms of ambient music. He called his sounds “furniture music.” He described the compositions as a music that could be played during dinner to create a background atmosphere. The idea was that his music would enhance the background rather than become the focal point for those who were listening to it.
Later, modernist composers began to pick up on the movement towards ambient music. These sounds would influence modern ambient artists. Composers such as John Cage, La Monte Young, Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Terry Riley all contributed. American composer Douglas Leedy created a three LP set in 1971 that featured six compositions of “environmental music.”
The term “ambient music” was credited to English musician and composer Brian Eno. During the mid 1970s, Eno referred to a genre that he said could either be “actively listened to with attention or as easily ignored, depending on the choice of the listener.” Eno also considered himself a non-musician and referred to his performances as treatments. He used the word ambient when referring to this type of music, which would build an atmosphere around the listener, placing them in a different state of mind. Ambient was selected based on its Latin roots, which originate with the term “ambire,” meaning “to surround.”
Ambient music began to take on different forms as modern artists adopted the concept. By the early 90s, many artists were already experimenting and creating new kinds of ambient music. These include Aphex Twin, the Orb, Irresistible Force and SeeFeel. The music industry gave their sounds many different names, including ambient techno, ambient house and IDM (or “intelligent dance music”). It was also sometimes referred to simply as “ambient.”
The ambient music genre has also spread to other media industries. It has been utilized in television shows, films and video games. It’s ability to create a unique soundscape (or atmosphere) made it ideal for science fiction productions.
About 