Aspects of the Drone Style and Composition Technique

Doctoral student: Mykolas Natalevičius
Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Rimantas Janeliauskas, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ričardas Kabelis
Department: Composition
Duration: 2011–2015

Abstract

Mykolas Natalevičius

The artistic research Aspects of the drone style and composition technique is dedicated for a new experimental musical style which emerged in the second half of the 20th century. There has been little systematic research of drone in musicological literature although the composers of drone music (La Monte Young, Phill Niblock, Charlemagne Palestine, etc.) have gained recognition and are deemed to be significant innovators, while their music has had a major impact on the development of contemporary music.

This study discloses assumptions for drone style genesis, musical context, the most prominent representatives of the creative spectrum of the style and compositional aspects mediated through four sound dimensions (height, length, volume and timbre). The survey is conducted using a systematic, comparative analysis and experiment (creating works by discovered models). It is based on bibliographic information, claims of the authors and comparative analysis of the spectrograms.

The results help to flesh out the boundaries of style, define a different aesthetic guidelines for disclosure of the essential aspects of composition and formulate basic style and compositional characteristics. Results become very relevant to the continuous growth of the electronic music field while lacking systematic analysis techniques.