Drones

So this has nothing to do with the flying thingies. They are great fun but I've had very poor luck flying them. They tend to do what they want to do at the wrong possible time.

I borrowed one years ago for a concert I was taping. I got a pilot friend of my to fly it and after several rehearsals we had it all set up. And then, in mid-flight, it took an unscheduled trip into a big oak tree on the edge of a gully. After sliding down the gully through a particularly nasty patch of blackberries (with predictable results on my person!), we were able to recover it. 

But I digress!

The definition of a drone in music is "drones are long and sustained sounds, such as notes and chords. They carry on for long periods of time without variation and are most often used for an atmospheric or ambient effect." 

I first noticed this with bagpipes and it creates some very interesting emotional responses in people. For some, the drone is an annoyance but the drone is what makes the bagpipe what they are. They provide a very limited chord range that accompanies the single note the bagpipe plays. 

In other music, different instruments provide the same effect with strings, organ pipe and wind instruments. In these three songs they seem to make the singer's voice pop and they provide an emotional tone, mostly a dark feeling that is often resolved in the end with the singer's voice creating a new chord tone that can lighten up the music, though not always.

What follows are several examples of vocals, bagpipes and orchestral low brass, all taking their turn at using the drone to make an emotional impact.

"Lean On Me" by Bootstraps uses a powerful organ that changes chords in the lower part of the register but mostly keeps a high register note that contributes to the feeling of tension. The melody is also plaintively sung and contributes to the overall feeling of despair.

"Rescue Me" uses a more melodic type of drone under the almost whispering female voice, handing off the droning task to several instruments including voices. It's almost overwhelming, building tension throughout until the end of the song. 

Finally, "Awakening" by Ekaterina Shelehova uses the drone in a completely different type of music. I'm not even sure what genre to call it. She is a renowned opera singer and this tune is likely the result of several different cultures, including Mexico where she studied folk music and clearly some strong Middle Eastern influences. In this song, droning is all the accompaniment there is and she uses it as backdrop for this unique and haunting piece of music. And, her voice is simply amazing!

Hope you enjoyed this! As you might have guessed, I'm big time drone fan!