Berlin School of Electronic Music

The Berlin School of electronic music or Berlin School was a development of electronic music in the 1970s. An outgrowth of Krautrock, Berlin School was so named because most of its early practitioners were based in West Berlin, Germany. It was shaped by artists such as Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and Ashra. Music from this school is sometimes considered a sub-branch of New Age or ambient although it predates the widespread usage of both terms.

The genre's identification with space music made it distinct from the more percussive and rhythm-oriented Düsseldorf School which included Can, Cluster, Kraftwerk, and Neu!. These latter bands have had a greater impact upon synth pop and techno while the Berlin School provides roots for ambient, electronica, New Age and trance.

Vintage Berlin School tracks typically ran about twenty or thirty minutes, filling one side of a vinyl LP. With the advent of the compact disc, artists were no longer limited by the need to flip over a vinyl record. Consequently, some newer works run continuously as a single track for almost 80 minutes. Sound loops of unlimited length are now possible with MP3s. The music may also be tied to visuals, as in the 2008 project Via Lucis, an integration of ambient music by Berlin School artist Kirk Monteux and the sculptor Siegfried Speckhardt.