On the history and influences of modern drone music

[Louigi Verona]

I would like to bring this article to your attention.

http://textura.org/archives/articles/dronesarticle.htm

[Sam_Zen]

Thanks LV, very interesting.

[uncloned]

"Of course, Young wasn't the first to use the drone—it's fundamental to Indian music—but he can be credited with reviving it within Western classical music."

Interesting that western tradition for this too started with classical music - though Young sounds like he didn't close him self off to any influence.

Though a question I have to ask - why compose in only one style?

[residentgrey]

So could one have morse code fragments as drones?

[uncloned]

So could one have morse code fragments as drones?

if you take the Phillip Glass model to heart - yes.

[Louigi Verona]

Though a question I have to ask - why compose in only one style?

Drone music is not a style - it is music which uses a specific technique. It can be in any style and as far as I know Young did not limit himself to one style.

If we do speak about a person choosing one style, it must be that that person looks at the music he plays more than just 'style'. Style is usually just a form. But if a person does classical music all his life, it must be something more than a form which he sticks to.

I cannot speak for Young, possibly he explained his interest in drone music, but for me drone music is part of a philosophy of life. It is also part of being dedicated to something. One can try this or that style but when a certain form of music is really close to you then it is a good idea to perfect it and make it a bit more than just a form - soak it with content... I hope I am making sense to you )

[uncloned]

nope, I'm afraid not at all.

I don't understand the genre pigeon holes modern music has. Why does one only write drone, or country, or techno? - It makes sense perhaps for an album but not a career.

Perhaps my view is more of a renaissance man capable in many fields as opposed to the ultra-specialization that I see in so many places - the sciences and the arts.


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A style is nothing more than a series of choices - one style implies that the  majority of the choices are the same.

[Sam_Zen]

I only know that Young and Glass have been composing in a discpline called "minimal music".

I don't think this can be called a style. Well, they both have their personal styles of course within that discipline.
I has more to do with a certain technique of composing, like there is pointilism in painting.

Music with a drone, so with one stable ground-tone, is the most ancient and basic form of music.
Like indeed the tambura-player does behind Ravi Shankar.

In global music history it's only quite recent, that changing the groundtone with chords or transpositions was 'invented', mainly in the West-European tradition.

[Louigi Verona]

Why does one only write drone, or country, or techno?

You cannot compare like this. I have told you - there is no such style of music as drone. Drone is a technique. It can be used in any music genre.

For instance, the music I write is something that one would call... maybe new age or something of that sort. My music is usually minimal, ambient (flat structure) and droning. But none of these - minimal, ambient, drone - are styles.

Of course, with time ambient did become a sort of a genre in minds of people. While I find that using this term in the meaning of genre makes things confusing, it does stand for a certain atmospheric music. Minimal is also thought of as a genre. But even when people use them, the terms are just too general to define a style, a genre.

Drone is used in many stlyles: folk, metal, new age/ambient, classical, religious genres of many cultures.

I don't understand the genre pigeon holes modern music has.

Genre is more than using certain kinds of sounds. It is having a tradition behind your back - like jazz. Like classical.

Also I have a thought that before Internet people a only local music round. So they did it and developed it to the state of absolute art. Today there is more choice and more music forms available to try out.

But you wouldn't argue that if you are new to jazz, you would probably write some crappy jazz. A genre is much more than just using a sax in a tune. Much more.

I would say that genres as strict forms don't make much sense. Genres are cool for crude categorization. They are not cool to be thought of as blocks of variety in music. Jazz, for instance, has so many styles... and classical music to my understanding is in fact simply "music" - there is no style to it.

[uncloned]

I think you are mixing two uses in english for the word drone.

one can have a drone note.... like a hurdy gurdy or classical indian music or medieval dance songs - you do not write this type of music.

and one can have a drone style

such as phillip glass, some Tangerine dream or your music where the idea is NOT to play a (traditional) melody against a drone note (or 5th etc) but to *abolish* melody and meter (Glass is a really about texture not melody). This is what you write. And it IS a style - as much of a style as Baroque, country, or a waltz. Many identical choices are made when composing in a style - choices are what defines a style.

Please do not get hung up on the word style - a style is simply a system, a collection of choices as you will. If you want to sound like Bach or Mozart or Beethoven you can study their music and understand the choices they make in their music and repeat the choices and create an emulation of the original.

For example - Hayden liked Picardy thirds and Bach didn't - so to emulate Hayden you make the last chord of the piece written in minor major - to emulate Bach you would never do this.

It is all choices.... that is all it is....

We have the benefit of hindsight here. Hayden was doing something new(ish) when he wrote symphonies and used the picardy third. The music Mozart and Beethoven and Debussy wrote was all *new* - this is why they are famous - they *created* styles by making different choices that worked - this was how they went about solving the puzzle of putting together melody and harmony.

When people emulate the choices of other composers - you get a group of people working in a genre. This happens in art too - impressionism and cubism and realism and.... so on.

When you approach a keyboard or start a sequencer or look at a blank canvas you start to make choices. The choice are not by definition neutral. And your choices define your style.

Personally my biggest challenge is to try to NOT make the same choice every time. And when it comes to improvisation which often relies on physical ability this can be a challenge indeed. (I too often repeat what I've done already)

So... yes... drone is a style.

[Sam_Zen]

Well, in that way, I would agree with you.

[Louigi Verona]

I agree in general with how you define style. I cannot agree that "drone" alone is a style.

"Doom drone" is a style, it's bands like Sunn O))).

"Soundscape drone" is a style, like Tangerine Dream or Steve Roach

"folk drone" is a style, like Indian music.

"any other drone" which bases the music on long notes or cluster of notes

"drone" alone is not a style and I am not confusing two English words. I am well aware that there is drone as a note and drone as in drone music. I simply explain that drone is not a style, it incorporates many styles.

The reason why you might not agree with me is because you perhaps have connected with "soundscape drone" only and do not know that drone music is actually a much broader term - but now I told you. If you want to research this, just try the Sunn O))) band or Nadja or Earth and you will see that it has nothing to do with soundscapes yet it is also drone.

[Louigi Verona]

btw, wikipedia calls both ambient, minimal and drone "styles". This clearly is a mistake. It's a mistake which comes out of a stereotypical way to look at styles, out of loose thinking.

Look at the bands which are considered to be explorers of the style:

Explorers of drone music since the 1960s have included Theater of Eternal Music (aka The Dream Syndicate: La Monte Young, Marian Zazeela, Tony Conrad, Angus Maclise, John Cale, et al.), Charlemagne Palestine, Eliane Radigue, Kraftwerk, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Robert Fripp & Brian Eno, Robert Rich, Steve Roach, Stars of the Lid, Earth, Coil, Sonic Boom, Phill Niblock, and Sunn O)))

Those are absolutely different bands which play different music with different approaches, ideas and ethics behind them. The only thing that combines them is the use of drones. The rest is different.

Actually, when you do communicate with drone music lovers who mistakenly think of it as style, you can see how much confusion and holy wars it creates, because each person considers his band to be the "true" drone. And all of it is a mere misunderstanding.

uncloned: as for your opinion on styles, it is interesting, I didn't hear it from many musicians and it might be a very interesting discussion to both sides but I don't want to pursue it here because it leads us away from the main topic.

[uncloned]

LV you are seeing trees and missing the forest.

One can tell that from the answers in your rebuttal where you again mix the use of drones and the style of drones. For instance the focus of

"folk drone" is a style, like Indian music.

is not on the drone.

PS - I suggest you never tell an Indian his classical music is "folk". Indians have a very long musical history that is extremely developed and complicated. What Indian classical music misses in harmony is more than made up for in melody and the rules of improvisation during performance.  

uncloned: as for your opinion on styles, it is interesting, I didn't hear it from many musicians and it might be a very interesting discussion to both sides but I don't want to pursue it here because it leads us away from the main topic.

That came from my music theory class... so I'm not alone.....

[Louigi Verona]

I am speaking about Indian FOLK music, not Indian classical music. I am very versed in folk music of many countries and I know what I am speaking about. Indian FOLK music can be drone-based, with not much melodies at all, but several drones and rhythm over it. Same goes for some forms of Australian folk music.

With absolutely no offense intended, I believe that the reason we have a problem here is because you did not listen to much drone music. If you do (the suggested band list above, try YouTube) you will see that all this different music cannot be called one style at all. To be honest, I do not see this as something to argue about.