Trance music

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Trance

Stylistic origins

House[1] techno[2] acid house[3] chill-out[3] pop[3] classical music[3][4] film score[4] hardcore
techno[2] tech house ambient music

Cultural origins Late 1980s early 1990s; Germany;[3][5] Goa, India;[6][7] Belgium; and
Netherlands

Typical instruments

Synthesizer keyboard drum machine sequencer sampler digital audio workstation Roland TR-909
Roland JP-8000 Access Virus

Subgenres

Acid trance[8] Balearic trance Goa trance[9] hard trance[8] progressive trance[8] psychedelic
trance tech trance[8] uplifting trance[8] vocal trance[8]

(complete list)

Other topics

Stage lighting liquid light shows glowsticking gloving rave nightclub

Trance is a genre of electronic music[6] that developed during the early 1990s, in Germany.[7] It
is characterized by a tempo lying between 125 and 150 beats per minute (BPM),[5] repeating
melodic phrases,[5] and a musical form that distinctly builds tension and elements throughout a
track often culminating in 1 to 2 "peaks" or "drops."[5] Although trance is a genre of its own, it
liberally incorporates influences from other musical styles such as techno,[3] house,[1] pop,[3]
chill-out,[3] classical music,[3][4] tech house, ambient, and film music.[4]

A trance refers to a state of hypnotism and heightened consciousness. This is portrayed in trance
music by the mixing of layers with distinctly foreshadowed build-up and release. A common
characteristic of trance music is a mid-song climax followed by a soft breakdown disposing of
beats and percussion entirely,[3][5] leaving the melody or atmospherics to stand alone for an
extended period before gradually building up again. Trance tracks are often lengthy to allow for
such progression and commonly have sufficiently sparse opening and closing sections to
facilitate mixing by DJs.

Trance can be purely instrumental, although vocals are also a common feature. Typically they are
performed by mezzo-soprano to soprano female soloists, often without verse/chorus structure.
Structured vocal form in trance music forms the basis of the vocal trance subgenre, which has
been described as "grand, soaring, and operatic" and "ethereal female leads floating amongst
the synths".[10][11]

Contents [hide]

1 History

2 Production

3 Subgenres

4 Music festivals

4.1 Asia

4.2 Europe

4.2.1 Netherlands

4.3 North America

4.3.1 Canada

4.3.2 United States

4.3.3 Mexico

4.4 Oceania
4.4.1 Australia

4.5 South America

4.5.1 Brazil

4.5.2 Peru

5 See also

6 References

7 External links

History[edit]

Trance Energy Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands

Psychedelic trance culture of KaZantip in 2006, showing the decorations common at trance
music events.

The trance name may refer to an induced emotional feeling, high, euphoria, chills, or uplifting
rush that listeners claim to experience, or it may indicate an actual trance-like state the earliest
forms of this music attempted to emulate in the 1990s before the genre's focus changed.[5]

Some trace Trance's antecedents back to Klaus Schulze, a German experimental electronic music
artist who concentrated in mixing minimalist music repetitive rhythms and arpeggiated sounds
(specifically his 1988 album "En=Trance".[citation needed] In truth it was really Sven Vth, his
labels and others in the same group that saw the initial releases of trance[citation needed]
Another possible antecedent is Yuzo Koshiro and Motohiro Kawashima's electronic soundtracks
for the Streets of Rage series of video games from 1991 to 1994.[12][13][14] It was promoted by
the well-known UK club-night megatripolis (London, Heaven, Thursdays) whose scene catapulted
it to international fame.

Examples of early Trance releases include but are not limited to German duo Jam & Spoon's
1992 12" Single remix of the 1990 song "The Age Of Love",[1] and German duo Dance 2 Trance's
1990 track "We Came in Peace".[5]
One writer[who?] traces the roots of trance to Paul van Dyk's 1993 remix of Humate's "Love
Stimulation".[1] However, van Dyk's trance origins can be traced further back to his work with
Visions Of Shiva, which were his first ever tracks to be released.[original research?][15] In
subsequent years, one genre, vocal trance, arose as the combination of progressive elements
and pop music,[3] and the development of another subgenre, epic trance, had some of its
origins in classical music.,[3] with film music also being influential.[4]

Trance was arguably at its commercial peak in the second part of 1990s and early 2000s.[16][17]

Production[edit]

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

Classic trance employs a 4/4 time signature,[5] a tempo of 125 to 150 BPM,[5] and 32 beat
phrases and is somewhat faster than house music.[18] 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.[5] 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.[5]

A Simple arpeggiated (Roland JP-8000) Supersaw waveform pattern with chorus and flanging
(some professionals used Lexicon Hall programs without pre delay).

0:00

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 keys are common features of Trance, the latter being almost
universal. Trance tracks often use one central "hook", or melody, which runs through almost the
entire song, repeating at intervals anywhere between 2 beats and 32 bars, in addition to
harmonies and motifs in different timbres from the central melody.[5] Instruments are added or
removed every 4, 8, 16, or 32 bars.[5]
In the section before the breakdown, the lead motif is often introduced in a sliced up and
simplified form,[5] to give the audience a "taste" of what they will hear after the breakdown.[5]
Then later, the final climax is usually "a culmination of the first part of the track mixed with the
main melodic reprise".[5]

As is the case with many dance music tracks, trance tracks are usually built with sparser intros
("mix-ins") and outros ("mix-outs") in order to enable DJs to blend them together immediately.
[3][5] As trance is more melodic and harmonic than other electronic music,[citation needed] the
construction of trance tracks in the proper way is particularly important in order to avoid
dissonant (or "key clashing", i.e., out of tune with one another) mixes.[citation needed]

More recent forms of trance music incorporate other styles and elements of electronic music
such as electro and progressive house into its production. It emphasizes harsher basslines and
drum beats which decrease the importance of offbeats and focus primarily on a four on the floor
stylistic house drum pattern. The bpm of more recent styles tends to be on par with house music
at 120 to 135 beats per minute. However, unlike house music, recent forms of trance stay true to
their melodic breakdowns and longer transitions.[19]

Subgenres[edit]

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

Trance music is broken into a large number of subgenres.[citation needed] Chronologically, the
major subgenres are classic trance, acid trance, progressive trance,[3] uplifting trance,[3] and
hard trance.[citation needed] Uplifting trance is also known as "anthem trance", "epic trance",
[3] "commercial trance", "stadium trance", or "euphoric trance",[5] and has been strongly
influenced by classical music in the 1990s[3] and 2000s by leading artists such as Ferry Corsten,
Armin Van Buuren, Tisto, Push, Rank 1 and at present with the development of the subgenre
"orchestral uplifting trance" or "uplifting trance with symphonic orchestra" by such artists as
Andy Blueman, Ciro Visone, Soundlift, Arctic Moon, Sergey Nevone&Simon O'Shine etc. Closely
related to Uplifting Trance is Euro-trance, which has become a general term for a wide variety of
highly commercialized European dance music. Several subgenres are crossovers with other
major genres of electronic music. For instance, Tech trance is a mixture of trance and techno,
and Vocal trance "combines [trance's] progressive elements with pop music".[3] Balearic beat,
which is associated with the laid back vacation lifestyle of Ibiza, Spain, is often called "Balearic
trance", as espoused by Roger Shah.[citation needed] The dream trance genre originated in the
mid-1990s, with its popularity then led by Robert Miles. There is also a slower bpm trance music,
this styles are often called "psybient" (synonyms are "psychill", "ambient trance").[citation
needed]

AllMusic states on progressive trance: "the progressive wing of the trance crowd led directly to a
more commercial, chart-oriented sound, since trance had never enjoyed much chart action in
the first place. Emphasizing the smoother sound of Eurodance or house (and occasionally more
reminiscent of Jean-Michel Jarre than Basement Jaxx), Progressive Trance became the sound of
the world's dance floors by the end of the millennium. Critics ridiculed its focus on predictable
breakdowns and relative lack of skill to beat-mix, but progressive trance was caned by the
hottest DJ."[20]

Music festivals[edit]

Main article: List of electronic music festivals

This section focuses too much on specific examples without explaining their importance to its
main subject. Please help improve this article by citing reliable, secondary sources that evaluate
and synthesize these or similar examples within a broader context. (June 2016)

The following is an incomplete list of dance music festivals that showcase trance music.

Asia[edit]

Notes:' Sunburn was not the first festival/event to specialize in India in trance music much earlier
pioneers of Goa parties[7] held events as early as the late 80's and through all of the 1990s[6]

China: Spirit Tribe is a regular event outside of Kunming, Yunnan, China.[21]

India: The Sunburn Festival was 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 and Sander van Doorn participated with
audience numbers running between 15,000 and 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] During 2015 the festival reached
record breaking attendance with over 350,000 people flocking to the event to experience world
class DJ's from the likes of Martin Garrix and Afrojack .[22]

Thailand: Full Moon Party, since 1985. 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 full moon.

Thailand: Transmission, originally from Prague, Czech Republic, has a Bangkok edition.

Japan: Re:birth

Europe[edit]

Clubbers at Gatecrasher on April 16, 2006

Romania: Untold

Hungary: Ozora Festival

Switzerland: Street Parade, Zrich, since 1992. The world's biggest electronic music festival
(more than one million visitors attend this event year by year).

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.

Germany: Waldfrieden Wonderland, Stemwede, since 1997. The forest peace wonderland is an
international open air music festival, which takes place every year in August. The main style of
music is psychedelic trance.[23]

Sweden: Monday Bar Cruise has been arranged four times a year since 2002 and takes place on a
2000 people cruise ship between Stockholm and the Baltic countries. Styles include trance,
psytrance, hardstyle and hardcore.[24]

Belgium: Tomorrowland, Boom, since 2005. The largest Belgian open-air electronic music
festival. DJs such as Armin Van Buuren, Tisto, Arty, Cosmic Gate and many more have been
fixtures at the festival.

Czech Republic: Transmission, Prague, since 2006. The biggest indoor trance music event in
middle and eastern Europe. Markus Schulz is a frequent headlining performer at the event.

Germany: We Are One, Berlin, since 2010. Headed by Paul van Dyk, the event plays several
different styles of trance.

Finland: Summer Sound, Helsinki, since 2011. Biggest indoor/outdoor trance music event in
Scandinavia. Starting as a one-day festival in 2011 and held in Suvilahti, Helsinki, it has since
grown into 3-day festival partly inside and partly outside. Every summer, DJs such as Tisto,
Armin van Buuren, and Faithless headline the event.[25]

Greece: Dreamland, Ancient Olympia, since 2014. An innovative and pioneering festival which
aims to achieve boundless cooperation among different types of electronic music, between art
and culture as well as to promote the participants ecological awareness.[26]

United Kingdom: Gatecrasher also promotes sporadic events and have in the past also used
venues such as Birmingham N.E.C.

Netherlands[edit]

Sensation White 2006

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

Armin Only, Jaarbeurs, Utrecht: As the name states, 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. The 2013 edition was held in the Ziggo Dome,
Amsterdam

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 in the Netherlands, usually in Utrecht.

Electronic Family: Organized by ALDA Events.

Mysteryland. A series of electronic music festivals held by the Netherlands-based promoter

ID&T. Being the first of its kind in the country dates back to 1993.

Luminosity: Amsterdam, founded in 2007. With the slogan "Spreading The Love Of Trance
Music", the Luminosity festival is organized by the foundation Luminosity Events and is attended
by thousands worldwide including trance guru Katie Whitely

Psy-Fi: psy-fi, open air psychedelic trance festival, Leeuwarden.

North America[edit]

Canada[edit]

Bal en Blanc is a rave party that is hosted annually, in April during Easter holiday weekend, in
Montreal. 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.

Digital Dreams Festival in Toronto featured a full trance stage in June 2014

Escapade Music Festival hosted on Canada Day (July 1) in Ottawa

United States[edit]

Electronic music festivals in the United States feature various Electronic Music genres such as
trance, House, Techno, Electro, Dubstep, and Drum & Bass:

Fractalfest - Fractaltribe's annual outdoor psytrance festival held in Stephentown, NY.

Fractaltribe is a community of artists, musicians & organizers dedicated to creating meaningful
experiences and immersive atmospheres; celebrations to foster creative expression in a healthy
and supportive environment through the vessel of psychedelic music and culture.

Decibel Festival, an annual music and digital arts festival started in 2004 in Seattle. It is dedicated
to live electronic music performance, visual art and new media. The core of the festival
comprises concerts, performances, commissioned work, film screenings and exhibitions. The
programming is presented in a variety of locations throughout Seattle, centered on the Capitol
Hill neighborhood and Downtown. Since its inception, Decibel has hosted over 750 acts ranging
from underground dance and experimental electronic music to transmedial art.

Ultra Music Festival, an annual outdoor electronic music festival that occurs in March in the city
of Miami, Florida. A State of Trance has frequently held milestone celebrations at the festival.

Electric Daisy Carnival, an annual massive organized by Insomniac Events that was held in
Southern California from 1997 to 2010, and was moved to Las Vegas in 2011. In 2009, the festival
was expanded to a three-day event.

Nocturnal Festival, are annual events held in southern California and Thorndale, Texas organized
by Insomniac Events, held at the NOS Events Center in San Bernardino, California in either
August or September.

Beyond Wonderland, an electronic dance festival in northern California organized by Insomniac

Events.

Dreamstate, first produced by festival organizer Insomniac Events on November 2728, 2015, at
the National Orange Show in San Bernardino, California, is the first all-trance festival in North
America.

Electric Zoo Festival, an annual electronic music festival held over Labor Day weekend in New
York City on Randall's Island Park.

Electric Forest Festival, a four-day annual festival in Michigan.

TomorrowWorld, a three-day annual festival in Chatahoochee Hills, Georgia. Organized by ID&T,

TomorrowWorld is a sister festival to TomorrowLand.

Sonic Bloom, three-day annual electronic/psytrance music festival in Rye, Colorado.

Spring Awakening, three-day annual festival in Chicago, Illinois.

Mexico[edit]

Beyond Wonderland Mexico, an electronic dance festival in northern Mexico organized by

Insomniac Events.

Oceania[edit]

Australia[edit]

DoofA type of outdoor dance party, which is generally held in a remote country area or just
outside big cities in surrounding bush or rainforests and similar to raves or teknivals. Doofs
generally have live electronic artists and DJs playing a range of electronic music, commonly goa
trance, techno, drum and bass, and psychedelic trance.

Defqon.1 FestivalA music festival that mostly plays hardstyle and related genres such as
hardcore techno, hard house and hard trance, the event has been hosted in Sydney in mid-
September since 2009 at the Sydney International Regatta Centre.

Rainbow Serpent FestivalA large electronic music, art and lifestyle festival, located in Victoria.
The festival is mainly known for psychedelic trance and minimal techno music, but also features
other genres of electronic music and non electronic music in the smaller stages.

StereosonicLargest Electronic music festival in Oceania, two days celebration since 2013,
located in Australia. The festival features a full Trance Stage every year during the day in summer,
and also includes big names of Trance music in the Main Stage such as, Armin Van Buuren,
Above And Beyond, etc.

South America[edit]
The trance scene in South America is constantly growing. The most important trance festival in
South America is called Universo Paralello. The subgenre that was most popular in Brazil was
psy-trance. The xxxperience festival was one that had success for a couple of years in the early
2000s.

Brazil[edit]

Shivaneris Easter Festival

Trance in Moon

Festival Mundo de Oz

Peru[edit]

Arkana Festival

See also[edit]

List of trance genres

References[edit]

^ Jump up to: a b c d Bom, Coen (2009). Armin Only: A Year in the Life of the World's No. 1 DJ.
Oxford, UK: Dutch Media Uitgevers BV. ISBN 978-90-488-0323-1: p. 15

^ Jump up to: a b "Trance". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 July 2012.

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Fassbender, Torsten (2008). The Trance Experience.

Knoxville, Tennessee: Sound Org Inc. ISBN 978-0-2405-2107-7: p. 15, 16, 17, 19

^ Jump up to: a b c d e Webber, Stephen (2008). DJ Skills: The Essential Guide to Mixing and
Scratching. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Press. ISBN 978-0-240-52069-8: p. 35

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Snoman, Rick (2009). The Dance Music Manual:

Tools, Toys, and Techniques Second Edition. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Press. ISBN 0-9748438-4-9: p.
251, 252, 253, 266

^ Jump up to: a b c St John, Graham (1 June 2004). "Rave Culture and Religion". Routledge. p.
242. Retrieved 25 January 2016.

^ Jump up to: a b c D'Andrea, Anthony (24 January 2007). "Global Nomads: Techno and New Age
as Transnational Countercultures in Ibiza". books.google.com. Routledge. p. 177. Retrieved 25
January 2016.

^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Hewitt, Michael (2009). Composition for Computer Musicians. Knoxville,
Tennessee: Cengage Learning. ISBN 978-1-59863-861-5: p. 9

Jump up ^ "Goa Trance". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 July 2012.

Jump up ^ Hawkins, Erik (2004). The Complete Guide to Remixing. Boston, MA: Berklee Press.
ISBN 0-87639-044-0: p. 51

Jump up ^ Trance MusicWhat is Trance Music?

http://dancemusic.about.com/od/genres/g/Trance_Music

Jump up ^ McNeilly, Joe (April 19, 2010). "Game music of the day: Streets of Rage 2".
GamesRadar. Retrieved 28 July 2012.

Jump up ^ Ryan. "Streets of Rage 2 Original Soundtrack (US): Review". Square Enix Music Online.
Retrieved 7 August 2012.

Jump up ^ "Streets of Rage 3 reviewSega Megadrive". Mean Machines. Retrieved 1 August

2012.

Jump up ^ "Paul Van Dyk - Dance FM". Dance FM. Retrieved 2017-09-03.

Jump up ^ "Is Trance Dead?". Retrieved 22 November 2016.

Jump up ^ M., John. "A history of trance music". Retrieved 22 November 2016.

Jump up ^ Hewitt, Michael (2008). Music Theory for Computer Musicians. Boston, MA: Course
Technology. ISBN 978-1-59863-503-4

Jump up ^ Paterson, Angus. "Above & Beyond talk shop on Australian tour & 'trance 2.0'".
inthemix. nthemix Pty Ltd. Retrieved 13 April 2013.

Jump up ^ "Progressive Trance". AllMusic.

Jump up ^ "A look back at April's Spirit Tribe Trance celebration". GoKunming. 6 May 2016.
Retrieved 12 May 2016.

Jump up ^ Meadow, Matthew. "Martin Garrix & Other Top 100 DJs Helped This EDM Festival
Break Massive Record". Your EDM. Retrieved 5 March 2016.

Jump up ^ https://www.wald-frieden.de/index.php/en/

Jump up ^ "Monday Bar -". Retrieved 22 November 2016.

Jump up ^ "SUMMER SOUND FESTIVAL 2015". Retrieved 22 November 2016.

Jump up ^ "dreamland greece - dreamland greece". Retrieved 22 November 2016.

External links[edit]
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trance music.

Reddit.com/r/trance

Trance.im

Trance music at DMOZ

Fractaltribe's North American Psytrance Festival Guide 2016

[show] v t e

Electronic music events

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Trance

Categories: Trance musicElectronic music genresGerman music

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