Drone

Drone (Fr.: bourdon; Ger.: Bordun; It.: bordone), 1. pipe or string that sounds a continuous tone. Drone pipes reach back to antiquity, when double pipes consisted of a right-hand drone pipe and left-hand melody pipe. The holes not required were stopped up with wax, just as they are today. Open strings of such instrs. as archlutes and archcitterns are also called drones though they do not sound continuously as do the drone strings of bowed instrs.; 2. another name of the *bladder and string.