drone, in music, a sustained tone, usually rather low in pitch, providing a sonorous foundation for a melody or melodies sounding at a higher pitch level.
What is the point of drone music?
Use 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 early or folk music.
What instrument makes a droning sound?
Orchestral stringed instruments: Orchestral stringed instruments—including violin, viola, cello, and contrabass—can produce drones when players continually bow a single string.
What is a drone in Irish music?
I mean drones of the musical variety, like the Uilleann Pipes on the right below, a mainstay of traditional Irish folk music. A drone in a musical sense is ‘a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece.
What is the difference between a drone and a pedal in music?
A drone is a held or repeated chord, usually a bare fifth, throughout a passage of music. A pedal is a single note that is held on or repeated in, the bass. An inverted pedal note is a sustained or repeated note in a high register.
Which instrument plays only the drone?
Tambura. Also known as the tanpura, the tambura can only play the drone part, since it has four long strings that are plucked one after another. The drone gives the piece of music an atmosphere and sets the mode, or scale, of the raga.
What is an example of drone music?
Music which contains drones and is rhythmically still or very slow, called “drone music”, can be found in many parts of the world, including bagpipe traditions, among them Scottish pibroch piping; didgeridoo music in Australia, South Indian classical Carnatic music and Hindustani classical music (both of which are …
What is the difference between a drone and an ostinato?
A drone in classical music is often used to suggest a rural scene with peasant dancing, etc. An ostinato (derives from the Italian for “obstinate”) is a short melody, perhaps one or two measures, that repeats over and over while other parts play.
What is a drone synth?
Drone machines are designed not necessarily to be played melodically with a keyboard, but around standing tones, dissonances, beats, etc. (commonly known as “drones”). Noise can be generated with several small, simple devices that are absolutely only responsible for atonal, broken stuff.
How does a drone support a melody?
A musical drone does not play a melody of its own. Instead, its continuous note or chord serves as a support and focus for both the melody and harmony produced by another instrument or singer. This note or chord is typically based on the tonic note (1st scale degree of a particular key), also called the tonal center.