Music Definitions
Trance : overview
Trance music is a subgenre of electronic
dance music developed in the 1990s. Perhaps the most ambiguous
genre in the realm of electronic dance music (EDM), trance
could be described as a melodic, more-or-less freeform style
of music derived from a combination of techno and house. Regardless
of its precise origins, to many club-goers, party-throwers,
and EDM adherents, trance is held as a significant development
within the greater sphere of post- modern dance music.
Trance is a form of music best characterized by quarter note
drum patterns, and 16th/32nd note rhythm synthesizer patterns.
It has a meter of 4/4 always, with a quarter note bassdrum
acting as metronome, and quarter note high-hat hits offset.
This unwavering drum mechanism may be constantly tweaked with
for effect, with the attack, decay, resonance, frequency, tone,
delay, reverb all given liberal treatment. The tempo is generally
around 130-150 bpm.
The rhythm section consists mostly of a repeating 1-4-5 (A-D-E)
32nd note sequencing arpeggio, and a bass section of minor
whole notes usually drifting through the aeolian scale (though
not always). Additional rhythm sections are added and subtracted
every 16 measures (sometimes 8, and sometimes 32) to add weight
and anticipation to the composition. The bass chord will usually
change every 4 measures. A typical trance song has 2-4 bass
chords, tops.
There is a lead synth, and it will be a simple minor scale
melody of 8th notes, looping every 4 measures (some have 2,
some have 8. Some even have 16).
Trance is produced with computerized synthesizers, drum machines,
and music sequencer software (sometimes MIDI, sometimes not).
The average trance song has a polyphony of 8. The most busy
will have 16.
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