Drone

DEFINITION

Any note performed throughout a composition as a sustaining bass note. Drones are common in folk music and Medieval music. The largest of the three pipes in a bagpipe sounds one deep note acting as a perpetual bass, droning to every tune. An unchanging pitch that is held beneath a melody and so serves as an aural reference point could be called a drone. Medieval notation never indicates where a drone should be used or what pitch a performer should hold, so performers must use their good judgment. <br><br>A drone can also be a string or pipe that sounds a single pitch.<br>