Easy listening music

A genre of popular music that is meant to be soothing and relaxing to the listener. Other genres such as rock 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.