Examples of use of drone

[Sean]

I have a short list for some notes I'm working on of music making use of drone effects- could you remind me of any others please, thanks.

...Examples include the second section of Part's Tabula Rasa and Cantus for Benjamin Britten, Young's Seventh composition (a two note chord 'held for a long time'), some medieval music including Hildegard of Bingen, and singingly intense held notes in Wagner.

Also in both the improvisatory North Indian Gandharvaved music and Scottish piobaireachd bagpipe music with their drone pipes, there are constant base notes intersected respectively by complex rapid melody or isolated groups of grace notes (all different, reminiscent of the Scelsi Fifth quartet) from the bamboo flute and chanter...Further, some effective film music is static, ambient and non-melodic, for example Cliff Martinez's for Solaris of 2002.

[karlhenning]

"Examples of use of drone"

Your threads as a collective? 

[Sean]

I could think of a use for my Dad's drone bees if I could get them near your shirt.

[BachQ]

Also in both the improvisatory North Indian Gandharvaved music and Scottish piobaireachd bagpipe music with their drone pipes, there are constant base notes intersected respectively by complex rapid melody or isolated groups of grace notes (all different, reminiscent of the Scelsi Fifth quartet) from the bamboo flute and chanter...Further, some effective film music is static, ambient and non-melodic, for example Cliff Martinez’s for Solaris of 2002.

Sean, this is a fine example of a run-on sentence that just drones on and on ........

[Kullervo]

What about the low note sounded throughout Tapiola?

[PerfectWagnerite]

How about the prelude to Das Rheingold? I think the basses play a sustained E-flat for the entire 4.5 minutes. Talk about a drone !

[Sean]

Corey, thanks for that, I was only listening to Tapiola a couple of days back, but actually I don't think it has an insistent enough background for what I'm looking for here.

Perfect, yes that would be a good enough one for my purposes, but as it happens I've already slotted it under a related heading I have of repetition- repetition and the drone effect are similar in bringing the attention back on itself.

[PerfectWagnerite]

There is also the beginning of The Pastorale. Don't remember if it is long enough to be a drone.

[m_gigena]

Here! Here!

What's really needed is to completely replace the wider political democratic systems to put good leadership in place that uses resources wisely with the rest of the planet and ensuring people live within their means and not loot the rest of the world- but it's not going to happen.

About fifty words and no punctuation marks.

[Sean]

There is also the beginning of The Pastorale. Don't remember if it is long enough to be a drone.

Good one. I have the Pastoral on my little list of repetitious pieces though, with reference to the last movement.

[Montpellier]

The use of a drone would seem different from a pedal.   I was about to proclaim the Wagner example a pedal.  The harmony doesn't change as far as I recollect.  I might be wrong.     

[Drasko]

Schnittke's Psalms of Repentance (XI Psalm would probably make the best example)

[PerfectWagnerite]

What's the difference between a drone and a pedal point again? I missed that one in music class.

[greg]

what about the LaMonte Young work, Bowed Gong, where it's a gong that's bowed for 30 minutes straight? (the most exciting work ever!) would that count as a drone?

[greg]

"Examples of use of drone"

Your threads as a collective? 

you have to admit, Sean, you should've seen that coming a million miles away

[M forever]

repetition and the drone effect are similar in bringing the attention back on itself.

Again, like Karl said, the best examples for that are your posts here.

[(poco) Sforzando]

The third movement of the Brahms German Requiem contains a lengthy fugal section over an unceasing pedal point on bass D.

The Steppes of Central Asia by Borodin contains a lengthy pedal point in the treble on E (it may go through the whole piece; I can't get to my score just now).

[Sean]

Ok Sforz, though most pre-20th c music didn't see past their structural impositions, bar Wagner of course. There's plenty of medieval music with drones but it seems to have gone out of fashion.

[gmstudio]

I thought of this thread last night as I was listening to the St. John Passion and the continuo just sits on those 8^th note "G's" for most of the opening "Herr, unser Herrscher."   Whether it fits "drone" as defined by the thread originator is up to him.

[Sean]

Sure, I've got the Tavener & Schutz St John here.