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easy listening music

A genre of popular music that is meant to be soothing and relaxing to the listener. Other genres such as rock music and jazz tend to be more aggressive in nature and demands more attention from the listener. Easy listening music tends to be more in the background and sets a warm ambiance that is easy to relax in.

Easy listening music can be characterized by moderate to slow tempo arrangements with full and lush instrumentation typically with large string sections or synthesized string sounds. This music is most often instrumental (sometimes with a full chorus) but typically not solo vocal.

Much of the easy listening music comes from rock, country & western, and jazz genres that are arranged in the easy listening style. The melody and harmonic structure of the original music is kept in tact with the overall style replaced with easy listening music characteristics.

Although there is a large audience for easy listening music, most music critics dismiss this genre and do not consider it as "serious" music.

Popular questions related to easy listening music

Easy listening
Other namesBeautiful music middle-of-the-road Traditional pop
Stylistic originsLight music big band
Cultural origins1940s, United States
Derivative formsChill-out music sunshine pop adult contemporary space music ambient exotica lounge lofi hip hop

According to Media Studies scholar, Keir Keightley, easy listening as a title dates back to the early 1940s, though the “easy” may be in reference to the effort it took to listen rather than a particular style.

Easy listening music can be characterized by moderate to slow tempo arrangements with full and lush instrumentation typically with large string sections or synthesized string sounds. This music is most often instrumental (sometimes with a full chorus) but typically not solo vocal.

Prolactin is known to induce feelings of calmness and relaxation. It's the hormone that is released when we experience empathy, so the theory has some weight. Other research also points to the involvement of the hormone oxytocin, which some studies have linked to listening to slow, mellow music.

The Best Easy Listening Songs Ever – 4th Edition

  • All Out Of Love.
  • Always On My Mind.
  • Baby, I Love Your Way.
  • Best Of My Love.
  • Beyond The Sea.
  • Bridge Over Troubled Water.
  • By The Time I Get To Phoenix.
  • Can't Smile Without You.

Minimal music (also called minimalism) is a form of art music or other compositional practice that employs limited or minimal musical materials. Prominent features of minimalist music include repetitive patterns or pulses, steady drones, consonant harmony, and reiteration of musical phrases or smaller units.

Artists in genre Easy Listening

  • Frank Sinatra.
  • Dean Martin.
  • Bobby Darin.
  • Tony Bennett.
  • Paul Anka.
  • Doris Day.
  • The Platters.
  • Glenn Miller.

Unlike other forms of music, easy listening wasn't meant to be analyzed or even heard. Instead, albums typically featured lush orchestras playing pop melodies at a slow tempo that subliminally freed minds from the clutches of anxiety and distraction.

Easy Listening music is instrumental music that was designed to be soothing and relaxing. Unlike jazz, which demands your utmost attention, easy listening slips into the background, which is the very reason many critics and listeners dismissed the music as nothing more than disposible fluff.

Empathizers were likely to enjoy mellow but emotionally rich contemporary music ranging from indie rock to country to folk. Many have careers in the arts or helping professions, and they preferred soft music that evokes strong emotional responses. In contrast, systemizers gravitated toward math and science.

The music is relatively simplistic and similar, sonically, to other music that is popular thus bringing an aura of familiarity to a listener, making them more open to listen to it. This would also explain why certain bands are "ahead of their time," bands like Death, even Cynic and Meshuggah.

The 'Simple Music Player' has been designed to be as easy as possible to operate for the end user; that is, the person with dementia. Setting up the player is undertaken by friends, family or caregivers, as a one time process.

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