Dream trance is an early subgenre of

trance music Trance is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged from Electronic body music, EBM in Frankfurt, Germany, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and quickly spread throughout Europe. Trance music is typically characterized by a tempo between ...

that peaked prominently on the international dance scene between 1995 and 1998 (colliding with the first time for trance to reach mainstream). The "dream" term has been known to largely influence

house music House is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 115–130 beats per minute. It was created by DJs and music producers from Chicago's underground ...

in general, and therefore the subgenre is also known as dream house or dream dance on some occasions. Today, dream trance is considered to be the first and the most primitive derivative of the

progressive house Progressive house is a subgenre of house music that emerged in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. It is characterized by its evolving, melodic Musical form, structures, subtle Transition (music), transitions, and layered sound design.Gerard, ...

movement that started around 1992. Many psytrance producers emergent at the time (notably Infected Mushroom) were also influenced by it.

Definition

The key element of dream trance resides in catchy and deep melodies of such tracks, typically played on an acoustic instrument (

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

, etc.) that are mastered and then sampled onto an electronic beat structure. The melodies are considered "dreamy", i.e. tending to alter the listener's mind, hence the name.

Origins

The creation of dream trance was a response to social pressures in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

during the early 1990s; the growth of

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

culture among young adults, and the ensuing popularity of

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

attendance, had created a weekly trend of deaths due to

car accident A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...

s as clubbers drove across the country overnight, falling asleep at the wheel from strenuous dancing as well as alcohol and drug use. In mid-1996, deaths due to this phenomenon, called ''strage del sabato sera'' ("Saturday night slaughter") in Italy, were being estimated at 2,000 since the start of the 1990s. "

Children A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

" by Robert Miles influenced by Gianni Parrini Album I Love the Dream Project, is one of the pioneering tracks of the genre and was created due to these accidents. The decision by DJs like Miles to end their sets with slower, more calming music—intended to offset the high-energy, repetitive tracks played earlier—was met with approval from both authorities and the parents of car crash victims.

Structure

Dream trance uses dance beats similar to those of the

Eurodance Eurodance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of Hip-hop, rap, techno and Eurodisco. This genre of music is heavily influenced by the use ...

and

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

genres rather than genuine trance beats mixed into 4-to-4 bass patterns with a particularly repetitive sound. The focus of the music is primarily on the melody rather than the beat, resulting in a trance-like melody and a house-like beat. The rhythm structure is also very simple, however, as stated before, all the importance is accented in instrumental strings that derive on various notes and shape the songs. Therefore, the style is very similar to trance in its general consistence, with the only difference being a constant, house-like progression.

References

{{Trance_music-footer Trance genres