.gif)
Drone (music)
Encyclopedia
In music
, a drone is a harmonic
or monophonic
effect or accompaniment
where a note or chord
is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.
of a note. It most often establishes a tonality
upon which the rest of the piece is built. A drone can be instrumental, vocal or both.
, east to India
, and south to Africa
(van der Merwe 1989, p.11). It is used in Indian music
and is played with the tanpura (or tambura
) and other Indian drone instruments like the ottu, the ektar
, the dotara
(or dotar; dutar
in Persian Central Asia), the surpeti, the surmandal (or swarmandal) and the shank
(conch shell). In the West, they are found since the 1960s in modern drone music
.
In vocal music drone is particularly widespread in traditional musical cultures, particularly in Europe, Polynesia and Melanesia. It is also present in some isolated regions of Asia (like among Pearl-divers in Persian Gulf, some national minorities of South-West China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Afghanistan); Drone (both instrumental and vocal) can be placed in different ranges of the polyphonic texture: in the lowest part, in the highest part, or in the middle.
Drone is the name of the part of a musical instrument
intended to produce the drone effect's sustained pitch
, generally without the ongoing attention of the player. Different melodic Indian instruments (e.g. the sitar
, the sarod
, the sarangi
and the rudra veena
) contain a drone. For example, the sitar features three or four resonating drone strings, and Indian notes (sargam
) are practiced to a drone. Bagpipes (like the Great Highland Bagpipe
and the Zampogna
) feature a number of drone pipes, giving the instruments their characteristic sounds. A hurdy-gurdy has one or more drone strings. The fifth string on a five-string banjo
is a drone string with a separate tuning peg that places the end of the string five frets down the neck of the instrument; this string is usually tuned to the same note as that which the first string produces when played at the fifth fret, and the drone string is seldom fretted. The bass strings of the Slovenia
n drone zither
also freely resonate as a drone.
On the banjo, "Drone notes are quick little notes [typically eighth notes] that are always played on the 1st string and are used to fill in around the melody notes [typically eighth notes]..." This technique is both idiomatic
to the banjo in all styles, and its sound is characteristic of bluegrass music
.
or folk music
. Examples include the following:
However, drones are less often used in common practice
classical music, because equal temperament
causes slight mistunings
, which become more apparent over a drone, especially when also sustained. On the other hand, drones may be purposely dissonant
, as often found in the music of Phill Niblock
. The best-known drone piece in the concert repertory is the Prelude to Wagner
's Rheingold
(1854) wherein the bass instruments sustain an Eb throughout the entire movement (Erickson 1975, p. 94). Later drone pieces include Loren Rush
's Hard Music (1970), Folke Rabe
's Was?? (1968), and Robert Erickson
's Down at Piraeus.
Contemporary folk music uses the drone effect extensively. In much of Bob Dylan
's early work he uses this effect with a retuned guitar, for instance Masters of War
and Mr Tambourine Man.
Contemporary classical musicians who make prominent use of drones, often with just or other non-equal tempered tunings, include La Monte Young
and many of his students, David First
, the band Coil
, the early experimental compilations of John Cale
(Sun Blindness Music
, Dream Interpretation
, and Stainless Gamelan
), Pauline Oliveros
and Stuart Dempster
, Alvin Lucier
(Music On A Long Thin Wire
), Ellen Fullman
, Lawrence Chandler
and Arnold Dreyblatt
. The music of Italian
composer Giacinto Scelsi
is essentially drone-based. Shorter drones or the general concept of a continuous element are often used by many other composers. Other composers whose music is entirely based on drones include Charlemagne Palestine
and Phill Niblock
.
Drone was virtually absent in original Rock'n'Roll music, but gained popularity after The Beatles
used drone in a few popular compositions (for example, "Blackbird
" has a drone in the middle of a texture throughout the whole song, "Tomorrow Never Knows
" has a drone in bass). They also used high drone for the dramatic effect in some sections of several of their compositions (like the last verses of "Yesterday
" and "Eleanor Rigby
"). The rock ensemble U2
uses drones in their compositions particularly widely. Also the avant-garde guitarist Glenn Branca
uses drones extensively.
A drone differs from a pedal tone
or point in degree or quality. A pedal point may be a form of nonchord tone
and thus required to resolve
unlike a drone, or a pedal point may simply be considered a shorter drone, a drone being a longer pedal point.
As an alternative to a music theory
approach to interval analysis, multiple drones can be used in exercises that take a humanistic or experiential approach to musical intervals.
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, a drone is a harmonic
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
or monophonic
Monophony
In music, monophony is the simplest of textures, consisting of melody without accompanying harmony. This may be realized as just one note at a time, or with the same note duplicated at the octave . If the entire melody is sung by two voices or a choir with an interval between the notes or in...
effect or accompaniment
Accompaniment
In music, accompaniment is the art of playing along with an instrumental or vocal soloist or ensemble, often known as the lead, in a supporting manner...
where a note or chord
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. The word drone is also used to refer to any part of a musical instrument that is just used to produce such an effect.
A musical effect
A drone effect can be achieved through a sustained sound or through repetitionRepetition (music)
Repetition is important in music, where sounds or sequences are often repeated. One often stated idea is that repetition should be in balance with the initial statements and variations in a piece. It may be called restatement, such as the restatement of a theme...
of a note. It most often establishes a tonality
Tonality
Tonality is a system of music in which specific hierarchical pitch relationships are based on a key "center", or tonic. The term tonalité originated with Alexandre-Étienne Choron and was borrowed by François-Joseph Fétis in 1840...
upon which the rest of the piece is built. A drone can be instrumental, vocal or both.
History and distribution
The systematic (not occasional) use of drones originated in instrumental music of ancient Southwest Asia and spread north and west to EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, east to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and south to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
(van der Merwe 1989, p.11). It is used in Indian music
Music of India
The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, classical music and R&B. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and developed over several eras. It remains fundamental to the lives of Indians today as...
and is played with the tanpura (or tambura
Tambura
The tambura, tanpura, or tambora is a long-necked plucked lute . The body shape of the tambura somewhat resembles that of the sitar, but it has no frets – only the open strings are played to accompany other musicians...
) and other Indian drone instruments like the ottu, the ektar
Ektara
Ektara is a one-string instrument used in Bangladesh, India, Egypt, and Pakistan.thumb||EktaraIn origin the ektara was a regular string instrument of wandering bards and minstrels from India and is plucked with one finger...
, the dotara
Dotara
The dotara is a two or four or some times five stringed musical instrument resembling more to mandolin than a guitar...
(or dotar; dutar
Dutar
The dutar is a traditional long-necked two-stringed lute found in Iran, Central Asia and South Asia...
in Persian Central Asia), the surpeti, the surmandal (or swarmandal) and the shank
Dakshinavarti Shankh
Dakshinavarti Shankh, Valampuri Sangu [in Tamil] or Sri Lakshmi Shankh, is a sacred Hindu object otherwise known in English as a conch shell...
(conch shell). In the West, they are found since the 1960s in modern drone music
Drone music
Drone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
.
In vocal music drone is particularly widespread in traditional musical cultures, particularly in Europe, Polynesia and Melanesia. It is also present in some isolated regions of Asia (like among Pearl-divers in Persian Gulf, some national minorities of South-West China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Afghanistan); Drone (both instrumental and vocal) can be placed in different ranges of the polyphonic texture: in the lowest part, in the highest part, or in the middle.
A part or parts of a musical instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
intended to produce the drone effect's sustained pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
, generally without the ongoing attention of the player. Different melodic Indian instruments (e.g. the sitar
Sitar
The 'Tablaman' is a plucked stringed instrument predominantly used in Hindustani classical music, where it has been ubiquitous since the Middle Ages...
, the sarod
Sarod
The sarod is a stringed musical instrument, used mainly in Indian classical music. Along with the sitar, it is the most popular and prominent instrument in the classical music of Hindustan...
, the sarangi
Sarangi
The Sārangī is a bowed, short-necked string instrument of India which is originated from Rajasthani folk instruments. It plays an important role in India's Hindustani classical music tradition...
and the rudra veena
Rudra veena
See also veenaThe rudra veena is a large plucked string instrument used in Hindustani classical music. It is an ancient instrument rarely played today...
) contain a drone. For example, the sitar features three or four resonating drone strings, and Indian notes (sargam
Swara
The seven notes of the scale , in Indian music are named shadja, rishabh, gandhar, madhyam, pancham, dhaivat and nishad, and are shortened to Sa, Ri or Re , Ga, Ma, Pa, Dha, and Ni and written S, R, G, M, P, D, N. Collectively these notes are known as the sargam...
) are practiced to a drone. Bagpipes (like the Great Highland Bagpipe
Great Highland Bagpipe
The Great Highland Bagpipe is a type of bagpipe native to Scotland. It has achieved widespread recognition through its usage in the British military and in pipe bands throughout the world. It is closely related to the Great Irish Warpipes....
and the Zampogna
Zampogna
Zampogna is a generic term for a number of Italian double chantered pipes that can be found as far north as the southern part of the Marche, throughout areas in Abruzzo, Latium, Molise, Basilicata, Campania, Calabria, and Sicily...
) feature a number of drone pipes, giving the instruments their characteristic sounds. A hurdy-gurdy has one or more drone strings. The fifth string on a five-string banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
is a drone string with a separate tuning peg that places the end of the string five frets down the neck of the instrument; this string is usually tuned to the same note as that which the first string produces when played at the fifth fret, and the drone string is seldom fretted. The bass strings of the Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n drone zither
Drone zither
Drone zithers or droned zithers are stringed instruments of the zither family that have few melodic strings and a greater number of drone strings. The oldest known form of drone zither is the Scheitholt....
also freely resonate as a drone.
On the banjo, "Drone notes are quick little notes [typically eighth notes] that are always played on the 1st string and are used to fill in around the melody notes [typically eighth notes]..." This technique is both idiomatic
Instrumental idiom
In music, an instrumental idiom refers to writing, parts, and performance, those being idiomatic or non-idiomatic depending on how well each is suited to the specific instrument intended, in terms of both ease of playing and quality of music....
to the banjo in all styles, and its sound is characteristic of bluegrass music
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
.
The drone effect in musical compositions
Composers of Western classical music occasionally used a drone (especially one on open fifths) to evoke a rustic or archaic atmosphere, perhaps echoing that of Scottish or other earlyEarly music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
or folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
. Examples include the following:
- HaydnJoseph HaydnFranz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, Symphony No. 104, "London"Symphony No. 104 (Haydn)The Symphony No. 104 in D major is Joseph Haydn's final symphony. It is the last of the twelve so-called London Symphonies, and is known as the London Symphony....
, opening of finale, accompanying a folk melody - BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral"Symphony No. 6 (Beethoven)Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68, also known as the Pastoral Symphony , is a symphony composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, and was completed in 1808...
, opening and trio section of scherzo - BerliozHector BerliozHector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
, Harold in ItalyHarold in ItalyHarold en Italie, Symphonie en quatre parties avec un alto principal , Op. 16, is Hector Berlioz' second symphony, written in 1834.-Creation:...
, accompanying oboes as they imitate the pifferi of Italian peasants - BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
, in his adaptations for piano of Hungarian and other folk music
However, drones are less often used in common practice
Common practice period
The common practice period, in the history of Western art music , spanning the Baroque, Classical, and Romantic periods, lasted from c. 1600 to c. 1900.-General characteristics:...
classical music, because equal temperament
Equal temperament
An equal temperament is a musical temperament, or a system of tuning, in which every pair of adjacent notes has an identical frequency ratio. As pitch is perceived roughly as the logarithm of frequency, this means that the perceived "distance" from every note to its nearest neighbor is the same for...
causes slight mistunings
Musical tuning
In music, there are two common meanings for tuning:* Tuning practice, the act of tuning an instrument or voice.* Tuning systems, the various systems of pitches used to tune an instrument, and their theoretical bases.-Tuning practice:...
, which become more apparent over a drone, especially when also sustained. On the other hand, drones may be purposely dissonant
Consonance and dissonance
In music, a consonance is a harmony, chord, or interval considered stable, as opposed to a dissonance , which is considered to be unstable...
, as often found in the music of Phill Niblock
Phill Niblock
Phill Niblock is a composer, filmmaker, videographer, and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation for avant-garde music based in New York with a parallel branch in Ghent, Belgium.-Biography:...
. The best-known drone piece in the concert repertory is the Prelude to Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Rheingold
Rheingold
Rheingold may refer to:* Rheingold, mystic treasure mentioned in the Nibelungenlied* Das Rheingold,a 1869 opera by Richard Wagner, based on the mystic treasure* Rheingold , 2003* Rheingold...
(1854) wherein the bass instruments sustain an Eb throughout the entire movement (Erickson 1975, p. 94). Later drone pieces include Loren Rush
Loren Rush
Loren Rush is a U.S. composer. His works include the drone piece Hard Music for three amplified pianos. The piece features no melodic figuration but rather clouds created by only one note, the low D above cello C, repeated quickly enough by each player to be heard as nearly continuous...
's Hard Music (1970), Folke Rabe
Folke Rabe
Folke Rabe is a Swedish composer. Works include the electronic drone pieces What?? , Basta for solo trombone, Escalations for brass quintet , Concerto for trombone: "All the Lonely People" featuring quotes from The Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby", and With Love No...
's Was?? (1968), and Robert Erickson
Robert Erickson
Robert Erickson was an American composer.He studied with Ernst Krenek from 1936-1947: "I had already studied—and abandoned—the twelve tone system before most other Americans had taken it up." He influenced notable students Morton Subotnick, Pauline Oliveros, Terry Riley, and Paul Dresher...
's Down at Piraeus.
Contemporary folk music uses the drone effect extensively. In much of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's early work he uses this effect with a retuned guitar, for instance Masters of War
Masters of War
"Masters of War" is a song by Bob Dylan, written over the winter of 1962-63 and released on the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in the spring of 1963. The song's melody was adapted from the traditional "Nottamun Town"...
and Mr Tambourine Man.
Contemporary classical musicians who make prominent use of drones, often with just or other non-equal tempered tunings, include La Monte Young
La Monte Young
La Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
and many of his students, David First
David First
David First is an American composer. His music most often deals with drones and interference beats, the latter aligning his music with that of Alvin Lucier...
, the band Coil
Coil (band)
Coil were an English cross-genre, experimental music group formed in 1982 by John Balance—later credited as "Jhonn Balance"—and his partner Peter Christopherson, aka "Sleazy". The duo worked together on a series of releases before Balance chose the name Coil, which he claimed to be...
, the early experimental compilations of John Cale
John Cale
John Davies Cale, OBE is a Welsh musician, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the experimental rock band The Velvet Underground....
(Sun Blindness Music
Sun Blindness Music
New York in the 1960s: Sun Blindness Music, better known as Sun Blindness Music, is an album by John Cale released in 2001. It is the first of a loose anthology of experimental albums recorded during Cale's tenure with the Theatre of Eternal Music during the mid 1960s. The pieces included on the...
, Dream Interpretation
Dream Interpretation (album)
John Cale: Inside the Dream Syndicate Volume 2, Dream Interpretation, aka simply Dream Interpretation, is an album by John Cale during his tenure with the Theatre of Eternal Music. It is the second in a loose anthology of minimalist pieces, once thought lost, compiled from the tape collection of...
, and Stainless Gamelan
Stainless Gamelan
John Cale: Inside the Dream Syndicate Volume 3, Stainless Gamelan or simply Stainless Gamelan is an album by John Cale, better known for his work as the violist and founding member of The Velvet Underground...
), Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros
Pauline Oliveros is an American accordionist and composer who is a central figure in the development of post-war electronic art music....
and Stuart Dempster
Stuart Dempster
Stuart Dempster is a trombonist, didjeridu player, improvisor, and composer.-Biography:After Dempster completed his studies at San Francisco State College, he was appointed assistant professor at the California State College at Hayward, and instructor at the San Francisco Conservatory...
, Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier
Alvin Lucier is an American composer of experimental music and sound installations that explore acoustic phenomena and auditory perception. A long-time music professor at Wesleyan University, Lucier was a member of the influential Sonic Arts Union, which included Robert Ashley, David Behrman, and...
(Music On A Long Thin Wire
Music On A Long Thin Wire
Music On A Long Thin Wire is a musical piece by Alvin Lucier conceived in 1977.In his own words : "Music on a Long Thin Wire is constructed as follows: the wire is extended across a large room, clamped to tables at both ends. The ends of the wire are connected to the loudspeaker terminals of a...
), Ellen Fullman
Ellen Fullman
Ellen Fullman is a composer, instrument builder, and performer. She was born in Memphis, Tennessee, and is currently based in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, Lawrence Chandler
Lawrence Chandler
Lawrence Chandler is an American-born musician, composer and sound artist living in London. He studied with La Monte Young, Pauline Oliveros, at The Juilliard School and Goldsmiths College. He was a founder member of Bowery Electric and has worked for Philip Glass.-References:...
and Arnold Dreyblatt
Arnold Dreyblatt
Arnold Dreyblatt is an American composer and visual artist. He studied music with Pauline Oliveros, La Monte Young, Alvin Lucier and media art with Steina and Woody Vasulka. He has been based in Berlin, Germany since 1984...
. The music of Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
composer Giacinto Scelsi
Giacinto Scelsi
Giacinto Scelsi , Count of Ayala Valva was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French....
is essentially drone-based. Shorter drones or the general concept of a continuous element are often used by many other composers. Other composers whose music is entirely based on drones include Charlemagne Palestine
Charlemagne Palestine
Charlemagne Palestine is an American minimalist composer, performer, and visual artist...
and Phill Niblock
Phill Niblock
Phill Niblock is a composer, filmmaker, videographer, and director of Experimental Intermedia, a foundation for avant-garde music based in New York with a parallel branch in Ghent, Belgium.-Biography:...
.
Drone was virtually absent in original Rock'n'Roll music, but gained popularity after The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
used drone in a few popular compositions (for example, "Blackbird
Blackbird (song)
"Blackbird" is a Beatles song from the double-disc album The Beatles . Blackbird was written by Paul McCartney, but credited to Lennon–McCartney.-Origins:...
" has a drone in the middle of a texture throughout the whole song, "Tomorrow Never Knows
Tomorrow Never Knows
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is the final track of The Beatles' 1966 studio album Revolver but the first to be recorded. Credited as a Lennon–McCartney song, it was written primarily by John Lennon...
" has a drone in bass). They also used high drone for the dramatic effect in some sections of several of their compositions (like the last verses of "Yesterday
Yesterday (song)
"Yesterday" is a song originally recorded by The Beatles for their 1965 album Help!. The song first hit the United Kingdom top 10 three months after the release of Help!. The song remains popular today with more than 1,600 cover versions, one of the most covered songs in the history of recorded...
" and "Eleanor Rigby
Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45 rpm single. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney...
"). The rock ensemble U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
uses drones in their compositions particularly widely. Also the avant-garde guitarist Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca
Glenn Branca is an American avant-garde composer and guitarist known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series. In 2008 he was awarded an unrestricted grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts.-Beginnings: 1960s and early 1970s:Branca...
uses drones extensively.
A drone differs from a pedal tone
Pedal point
In tonal music, a pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i.e., dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a "non-chord tone", placing it in the categories alongside suspensions, retardations, and passing...
or point in degree or quality. A pedal point may be a form of nonchord tone
Nonchord tone
A nonchord tone, nonharmonic tone, or non-harmony note is a note in a piece of music which is not a part of the implied harmony that is described by the other notes sounding at the time...
and thus required to resolve
Resolution (music)
Resolution in western tonal music theory is the move of a note or chord from dissonance to a consonance .Dissonance, resolution, and suspense can be used to create musical interest...
unlike a drone, or a pedal point may simply be considered a shorter drone, a drone being a longer pedal point.
Use of Drones for Musical Training
Drones are used by a number of music education programs for ear training and pitch awareness, as well as a way to improvise ensemble music. A Shruti box is often used by vocalists in this style of musical training.As an alternative to a music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
approach to interval analysis, multiple drones can be used in exercises that take a humanistic or experiential approach to musical intervals.
See also
- Drone musicDrone musicDrone music is a minimalist musical style that emphasizes the use of sustained or repeated sounds, notes, or tone-clusters – called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy audio programs with relatively slight harmonic variations throughout each piece compared to other musics...
or "dronology" - a post-classical, minimalist music genre with heavy emphasis on the drone harmonic effect. - Drone metalDrone metalDrone metal is a style of heavy metal that melds the slow tempos and heaviness of doom metal with the long-duration tones of drone music...
- a form of heavy metal music focusing almost entirely on droning, heavily downtuned electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
and bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, often lacking vocals or drums. - Burden (music)Burden (music)In music, the burden is an archaic term for the drone or bass in some musical instruments, and the pipe or part that plays it, such as a bagpipe or pedal point in an organ...
- archaic word for drone