Drone (sound)

An adaptation of "The Skye Boat Song" for Great Highland bagpipes played by the Clan Stewart Pipe Band. A drone on the dominant (B♭) is heard throughout.

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In music, a drone is a harmonic or monophonic effect or accompaniment where a note or chord is continuously sounded throughout most or all of a piece. A drone may also be any part of a musical instrument used to produce this effect; an archaic term for this is burden (bourdon or burdon)^[1]^[2] such as a "drone [pipe] of a bagpipe",^[3]^[4] the pedal point in an organ, or the lowest course of a lute. Α burden is also part of a song that is repeated at the end of each stanza, such as the chorus or refrain.^[5]

^ Gove, Philip Babcock (1961). Webster's Third New International Dictionary, ^{[page needed]}. Riverside Press. [ISBN unspecified].
^ Brown, John (1816). Encyclopaedia Perthensis; Or Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences, Literature, &c. Intended to Supersede the Use of Other Books of Reference, Volume 4, p.487. 2nd edition. [ISBN unspecified].
^ Lloyd, Edward (1896). Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary: A New and Original Work of Reference to the Words in the English Language, Volume 1, p.743. [ISBN unspecified].
^ Wedgwood, H. (1859). A dictionary of English etymology, p.210. Рипол Классик. ISBN 9785874642921.
^ Brabner, John H F., ed. (1884). The national encyclopædia, Vol. V, p.99. Libr. ed. William McKenzie. [ISBN unspecified].

[1] Gove, Philip Babcock (1961). Webster's Third New International Dictionary, ^{[page needed]}. Riverside Press. [ISBN unspecified].

[2] Brown, John (1816). Encyclopaedia Perthensis; Or Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences, Literature, &c. Intended to Supersede the Use of Other Books of Reference, Volume 4, p.487. 2nd edition. [ISBN unspecified].

[3] Lloyd, Edward (1896). Lloyd's Encyclopaedic Dictionary: A New and Original Work of Reference to the Words in the English Language, Volume 1, p.743. [ISBN unspecified].

[4] Wedgwood, H. (1859). A dictionary of English etymology, p.210. Рипол Классик. ISBN 9785874642921.

[Brabner-5] Brabner, John H F., ed. (1884). The national encyclopædia, Vol. V, p.99. Libr. ed. William McKenzie. [ISBN unspecified].

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