Space music

Space music
Space music typically evokes a sense of spatial imagery and emotion or sensations of floating, cruising, flying and other transportative sensations.
Stylistic origins	ambient, easy listening, eclecticism, electronic, elevator music, light music, lounge music, new-age, soundscape
Cultural origins	Berlin School, computer music, Krautrock, light music, lounge music, planetarium, soundtrack
Typical instruments	computer, digital audio workstation, electronic musical instrument, sequencer, synthesizer
Other topics
meditation music, program music, space age pop, space disco, space rock, space-themed music

Space music, also called spacemusic, is a subgenre of new-age music and is described as "tranquil, hypnotic and moving". It is associated with lounge music, easy-listening, and elevator music.

According to Stephen Hill, co-founder of a radio show called Hearts of Space, the term is used to describe music that evokes a feeling of contemplative spaciousness. Hill states that space music can range in character, the sonic texture of the music can be simple or complex, it can be instrumental or electronic, it may lack conventional melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic features, and may be less concerned with the formal compositional schemes associated with other styles of music. Hill proposes that space music can be found within a wide range of genres. Some claim that music from the western classical, world, Celtic, traditional, experimental and other idioms also falls within the definition of space music.

Hill believes that space music can evoke a "continuum of spatial imagery and emotion," which can be beneficial for introspection, and for developing, through a practice of deep listening, an awareness of the spatiality of sound phenomenon. This type of psychonautic listening can produce a subtle trance-like state in certain individuals which can in turn lead to sensations of flying, floating, cruising, gliding, or hovering.

Hill states that space music is used by some individuals for both background enhancement and foreground listening, often with headphones, to enable states of relaxation, contemplation, inspiration, and generally peaceful expansive moods; it may promote health through relaxation, atmospherics for bodywork therapies, and effectiveness of meditation. Space music appears in many film soundtracks and is commonly played in planetariums.