Drone Music Guide: A Brief History of Drone in Music

In the world of music, a drone is a sustained chord or cluster of notes that linger uninterrupted for many measures or even many minutes. A wide array of instruments can produce ambient drone sounds, from Scottish bagpipes to Indian tambura to Australian didgeridoo to analog and digital synthesizers. Even rock musicians like the Beatles' John Lennon and the Velvet Underground's John Cale incorporated drone sounds into their music.

Drone music refers to a genre that uses long sustained tones with only subtle variations over the course of a piece. Drone appears in ambient music, avant-garde rock music, folk music, heavy metal, and the minimalist subset of classical music. In drone music, harmonic rhythm rarely plays an integral role because chords shift and transition very slowly over the course of a piece. Instead, drone artists focus more on elements like timbre and dynamics, which can change more rapidly than chords do in a typical drone piece.

Drone music transcends many world cultures and musical eras.

• International traditions: Western drone music largely evolved in the twentieth century, but it has existed for centuries in other cultures. Indian music, particularly Hindustani classical music and Carnatic music, have long relied on drone sonorities created by the tambura (also called a tanpura) and the sitar. Tibetan singing bowls have long produced ambient drones in the Buddhist music of central Asia. Woodwind instruments like the Scottish bagpipe and the Australian didgeridoo also produced drone sounds outside the realm of Western classical or pop music.
• Minimalism: In the late 1950s, American composer La Monte Young began experimenting with sustained drones for traditional instruments. His 1958 composition Trio for Strings helped reimagine the role of orchestral string instruments, and it is widely credited with establishing a classical music subgenre called Minimalism. In New York, Young founded the Theatre of Eternal Music where he collaborated with other fledgling drone artists such as Marian Zazeela, Terry Riley, Tony Conrad, and John Cale.
• Droning rock music: John Cale, a veteran of Young's Theatre of Eternal Music and an admirer of avant-garde composer John Cage, introduced drone tonalities to his band the Velvet Underground. As a violist and arranger, Cale brought ambient drone soundscapes to the music of Lou Reed, the singer and principal songwriter of the group. Their debut, The Velvet Underground & Nico, demonstrated how droning could function in a rock context. In the 1970s, drone was rapidly adopted by other rock artists including Brian Eno and Glenn Branca. By the 1980s, guitarists Thurston Moore and Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth incorporated drone into indie rock, merging hooks with the avant-garde.
• Krautrock drone: German groups of the 1970s also took an interest in drone—particularly drone sounds generated from keyboards and synths. Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze all leaned heavily on drones at points in their careers.
• Fanning out to many genres: Over time, drone has touched a vast array of musical genres. This includes drone metal, where artists like Sunn O))) have added droning to a typical doom metal sound. Charlemagne Palestine uses drone music in avant-garde compositions inspired by Middle Eastern tonalities. Phill Niblock uses tape loops and computers to create his own form of drone music. The indie rock label Kranky has released underground drone hits by acts such as Labradford and Stars of the Lid.

Many musical instruments, both acoustic and synthetic, can produce drone soundscapes.

1. 1. Hurdy-gurdy: The hurdy-gurdy is a hand-cranked string instrument that can sound like a violin being continuously bowed.
2. 2. Didgeridoo: The didgeridoo is an Australian wind instrument that can create steady drones when the player practices circular breathing.
3. 3. Tambura: Also called a tanpura, this four-string Indian instrument is specifically designed for producing drones.
4. 4. Sitar: Although more melodically versatile than a tambura, sitars can produce steady resonant drones when players use certain strings.
5. 5. Banjo: Banjo players may use individual strings to produce a steady drone while using other strings to play melodies. Many banjos have four strings for playing chords and melodies and a fifth drone string that continually rings and reflects overtones from the other strings.
6. 6. Bagpipes: An instrument popular in Scotland and Ireland, the bagpipe can produce continuous drones when air is pushed in via built-in bellows. Variations on bagpipes also exist in North Africa and the Middle East.
7. 7. Accordion: Like the bagpipe, accordions rely on a bellows-type mechanism to provide a steady stream of air, making them suitable drone instruments. Some bagpipes are even designated as "drone pipes" in a music ensemble.
8. 8. Harmonium: Also known as a reed organ or pump organ, the harmonium is a keyboard instrument that produces drones through a steady cycle of air passing through reeds.
9. 9. Shruti box: Also called a surpeti, a shruti box is a harmonium-style instrument used in Indian classical music.
10. 10. Guitar: Guitar players can use open strings to produce reliable drone sounds. Electric guitar effects like delay and reverb can artificially sustain drones through an amplifier. Acoustic guitarists can create similar effects without an amp, but the notes will not sustain as long. Resonator guitars are acoustic guitars with metal components that amplify vibrating strings and allow them to drone.
11. 11. Folk stringed instruments: The folk music tradition includes other stringed instruments that function similarly to guitar and they, too, can produce drones. The lute and the zither produce relatively short drones when the strings are plucked. The hammer dulcimer, which features strings struck by small hammers, can drone for much longer.
12. 12. Orchestral stringed instruments: Orchestral stringed instruments—including violin, viola, cello, and contrabass—can produce drones when players continually bow a single string.
13. 13. Synthesizers: Many contemporary drone sounds come from keyboard synthesizers. Some synths mimic acoustic instruments, while others deliberately aim for a more machine-like sound. Many of these sounds offer infinite sustain, which greatly aids drone artists.
14. 14. Piano: The piano can produce drones when a player holds down the instrument's sustain pedal. A piano is essentially a percussion instrument in which strings are struck with felted hammers and then stopped with dampers. Yet when the sustain pedal is depressed, the strings continue to ring and produce a droning sound.

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