Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

DRONE

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V08, Page 590 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

DRONE , in See also:

music 1 (corresponding to Fr. See also:bourdon; Ger. Summer, Slimmer, See also:Hummel; Ital. See also:bordone), the See also:bass See also:pipe or pipes of the bagpipe, having no lateral holes and therefore giving out the same See also:note without intermission as See also:long as there is See also:wind in the bag, thus forming a continuous pedal, or drone bass. The drone consists of a jointed pipe having a cylindrical See also:bore and usually terminating in a See also:bell. During the See also:middle ages bagpipes are represented in miniatures with conical drones,2 and M. See also:Praetorius 3.gives a See also:drawing of a bagpipe, which he calls Grosser Bock, having two drones ending in a curved See also:ram's See also:horn. The drone pipe has, instead of a See also:mouthpiece, a socket fitted with a See also:reed, and inserted into a stock or See also:short pipe immovably fixed in an See also:aperture of the bag. The reed is of the See also:kind known as beating reed or squeaker, prepared by making a cut in the direction of the circumference of the pipe and splitting back the reed from the cut towards a See also:joint or See also:knot, thus leaving a flap or See also:tongue which vibrates or beats, alternately opening and closing the aperture. The See also:sound is produced by the stream of See also:air forced from the bag by the pressure of the performer's See also:arm causing the reed tongue to vibrate over the aperture, thus setting the whole See also:column of air in vibration. Like all cylindrical pipes with reed mouthpiece, the drone pipe has the acoustic properties of the closed pipe and produces a note of the same See also:pitch as that of an open pipe twice its length. The conical drones mentioned above 2 For the " drone," the male of the See also:honey See also:bee, see BEE. The musical sense, both for the See also:noise made and for the See also:instrument, comes from the buzzing of the bee. 2 See also:British Museum, Add.

MS. 12,228 (See also:

Italian See also:work), See also:Roman du See also:Roy Meliadus, 14th See also:century, fol. 221 b., and Add. MS. 18,851, end 15th century (See also:Spanish work illustrated by Flemish artists), fol. 13. 3 Syntagma musicum. Theatrum instrumentorum, pl. xi. No. 6. would, therefore, speak an See also:octave higher than a cylindrical drone of the same length. The drones are tuned by means of sliding tubes at the See also:joints.

The drones of the old See also:

French cornemuse played in See also:concert with the hautbois de See also:Poitou (see BAGPIPE), and differing from the shepherd's cornemuse or chalemie, formed an exception to this method of construction, being furnished with See also:double reeds like that of the See also:oboe. The drones of the musette and of the See also:union pipes of See also:Ireland are also constructed on an altogether different See also:plan. Instead of having long cumbersome pipes, pointing over the See also:shoulder, the musette drones consist of a short See also:barrel containing lengths of tubing necessary for four or five drones, reduced to the most compact See also:form and resembling the rackett (q.v.). The narrow bores are pierced longitudinally through the thickness of the barrel in parallel channels communicating with each other in twos or threes, and so arranged as to provide the requisite length for each drone. The reeds are double reeds all set in the wooden stock within the bag. By means of regulating slides (called in See also:English regulators and in French layettes), which may be pushed up and down in See also:longitudinal grooves See also:round the circumference of the barrel, the length of each drone See also:tube can be so regulated that a See also:simple See also:harmonic bass consisting of the See also:common chord is obtainable. In the union pipes the drones are See also:separate pipes having keys played by the See also:elbow, which correspond to the sliders in the musette drone and produce the same kind of harmonic bass. The See also:modern See also:Egyptian arghool consists of a kind of See also:clarinet with a drone attached to it by means of waxed See also:thread; in this See also:case the beating reed of the drone is set in vibration directly by the breath of the performer, who takes both mouthpieces into his mouth, without the See also:medium of a wind See also:reservoir. See also:Mersenne gave very clear descriptions of the construction of cornemuse and musette, with clear illustrations. of the reeds and stock .l There are allusions in the See also:Greek See also:classics which point to the existence of a pipe with a drone, either of the arghool or the bagpipe type.2 (K.

End of Article: DRONE

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
DROMOS (Gr. for running-place) 		[next]
DRONFIELD

Site © 2006 - Net Industries