Drone music

This article is about the music genre. For the musical subgenre, see drone metal. For the musical sound, see drone (music). For other music topics, see drone (disambiguation).
Drone music
Stylistic origins
Cultural origins1960s, United States
Derivative forms
Fusion genres
Drone metal

Drone music,[2][3] drone-based music,[4] or simply drone, is a minimalist[5] genre of music that emphasizes the use of sustained sounds,[6] notes, or tone clusters called drones. It is typically characterized by lengthy compositions featuring relatively slight harmonic variations. La Monte Young, one of its 1960s originators, defined it in 2000 as "the sustained tone branch of minimalism."[7] Music containing drones can be found in many regional traditions across Asia, Australia, and Europe, but the genre label is generally reserved for music originating with the Western classical tradition. Elements of drone music have been incorporated in diverse genres such as rock, ambient, and electronic music.[8]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference coxwarner.359 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference droneold was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference dronenew was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Drone-based music" is used for instance in 1995 (Paul Griffiths, Modern music and after: Directions Since 1945, Oxford University Press, 1995, ISBN 0-19-816511-0, p. 209: "Young founded his own performing group, the Theatre of Eternal Music, to give performances of highly repetitive, drone-based music"), or in Cow & Warner 2004 (cf. cited quote of p. 301).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference coxwarner.301 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Drone". britannica.com.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference young2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Echo, Altstadt. "Drone Techno Introduction". www.dubmonitor.com. Dub Monitor. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.