Genre story · Experimental
Drone
A musical idea can remain on one note long enough for the listener to hear it changing.
Drone music organizes itself around sustained pitches or long-held clusters of sound. Similar techniques appear in many traditions across the world, so the modern Experimental label should not be treated as an invention of one Western composer. In the 1960s, La Monte Young, Tony Conrad and the Theatre of Eternal Music helped develop a particular minimalist and amplified approach; later musicians continued through tape recording, electronic processing and guitar-based work.
The movement inside a held sound
A drone might appear to stay fixed while tiny shifts in tuning, volume or overtone alter its character. Multiple tones can create beating patterns, and a performance can explore what happens when a listener's attention changes. The material can be acoustic, electronic, amplified or environmental. Volume is optional, and silence between events can be meaningful.
Drone and its heavier relatives
Drone Metal takes prolonged sound into heavily amplified guitar music, while Ambient can use drones as part of a gentler or more spacious work. The technique deserves its own context.
Essential listening
- 1973Tony Conrad with FaustOutside the Dream SyndicateViolins and rock instruments exploring sustained sound together.
- 1993EarthEarth 2: Special Low Frequency VersionA pivotal guitar-based branch of sustained low frequencies.
- 2001Stars of the LidThe Tired Sounds of Stars of the LidA quieter development using long, layered harmonic movement.