Drone

A drone is a sustained or continuously sounding pitch that is held through a piece or passage while other sounds move above it. Bagpipes have drone pipes that sound one fixed pitch throughout a tune, and the hurdy-gurdy has drone strings that sound continuously. In Indian classical music, the tanpura plays a drone, usually the tonic and the fifth, which fixes the key for the performer. Drones usually sound the tonic and the dominant, giving a perfect fifth that defines the tonal centre without implying chord changes. Unlike a pedal point, which is a harmonic device expected to resolve into the chords above it, a drone is the fixed foundation of a whole piece or style.

Related terms

• Pedal pointA sustained or repeated bass note, usually the tonic or dominant, held while the harmony above it changes, sometimes dissonantly.
• OstinatoA short pattern repeated persistently, often in the bass, which gives a stable frame over which other material changes.
• MonophonyA texture of a single melodic line with no accompanying parts, as in Gregorian chant or an unaccompanied folk song.
• TextureHow many musical lines sound at once and how they relate, such as monophony, homophony or polyphony, and how dense the sound is.